Jerry O
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2012
- Posts
- 2
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Quote:
Hi Jerry,
I am more than happy running the HE-6 from the NFB-10 with one caveat - the stock earpads, either of them sounded too bright and treble forward - IMO this amp is neutral (in my completely unguided opinion) meaning that it will not smooth the transients or colour the frequency response. This is though because of the HE-6 and not the amp IMO.
With STAX 007 mkii pads though, I find the sound perfectly balanced. The amplifier has plenty of gain in high gain and plenty of power as well. Bass is well defined, taught and has good impact when called for it. Midrange is very detailed, treble well extended and soundstage is also excellent, as is imaging. IMO it is excellent value for the price - however others have tried the Schiit Lyr and preferred that, but I have not been so lucky, but I intend to compare these later. If you search the thread back a couple of months there was discussion of the Lyr vs the NFB-10 driving the LCD-2.
Unfortunately though I cannot compare NFB-10 to Lyr driving the HE-6 as I think that would be the real question here. I will also have another amplifier in a few weeks to compare HE-6 with so hopefully I can speak with greater authority then. To sum up, I find the combo with stock pads bright, but very good with 007 mkii earpads, and have not listened to much other gear so cannot say if there is anything else that is better or not. Good luck with your decision!
EDIT: More caveats - I am usig the NFB-10 with John Kenny mk3 USB transport, as well as the optional DIR9001 digitial input receiver, which I also recommend.
Drez, thank you for your advice. I didnt realized earpads impact sound so big and now I have more concept what its like to paire -10SE with HE6. I am thinking that if HE6 is bright itself, maybe a tube amp is more suitable. I need to revisit related threads in order to understand more.
ANyway, thanks a lot for all your inputs, including the DIR9001 thing, I will consider it seriouely.