[steve2151]

You get a bit more clarity, some sparkle in the highs, and better quality bass in the T200b. The M200MKII has more bass quantity, but is slightly muddier sounding. Both sets have better clarity than the Audioengine A5 I auditioned, but that should be expected for the market price.
 
This may not be a fair comparison as the T200b spent most of its time connected to the NFB-10SE and the M200MKII was usually connected to the NFB12.

 

[dagothur]

Now that I've had about a month with the NFB, my impressions have changed a bit.  It's an incredibly recording sensitive unit, although this may be because of the neutral signature.  I noticed this especially when switching from a 192 kbps recording of Lamb of God's new album "Resolution" to a FLAC download.  The sibilance that plagued the album when paired with my NFB was completely gone and it returned to the high resolution, well-textured sound that I had enjoyed with other recordings.  I also discovered - although this should have been apparent rather immediately - that the NFB can't be used as a standalone amp.

 

[amcananey]

I consider the inability to use the NFB-10SE as a stand-alone amp to be one of its greatest -- probably the greatest -- drawbacks. It was the one of the primary reasons why, when I was original choosing between an NFB-10ES (not NFB-10SE) and a Burson HA-160D, I chose the Burson.
 
 
The again...the Burson has now been sold and I have an NFB-10SE sitting on my desk (although I'm only using it as a DAC to feed my tube amps).

 

[dagothur]

Quote:

I consider the inability to use the NFB-10SE as a stand-alone amp to be one of its greatest -- probably the greatest -- drawbacks. It was the one of the primary reasons why, when I was original choosing between an NFB-10ES (not NFB-10SE) and a Burson HA-160D, I chose the Burson.
 
 
The again...the Burson has now been sold and I have an NFB-10SE sitting on my desk (although I'm only using it as a DAC to feed my tube amps).

It is quite troubling.  However, if you go the balanced route it's a bit more powerful than the Lyr.  It does mean, however, that if you want to upgrade and keep your NFB in the meantime, you have to upgrade the amp first.
 

 

[steve2151]

Buy the Reference 10 when it comes out on April 15th, problem solved. That seems to have everything you could possibly need bolted on.
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/Reference10/RE10EN.htm
 
Only problem is that I'm expecting it to cost north of $1500. However, If Audio GD works their magic and brings it out for the same price as the Burson, I'm buying one on day one. After all, they did manage to create the NFB-10SE for less than the price of the Roc amplifier. Kingwa confirms it can drive the HE-6, which makes it a combination of the old Reference 5 dac and the Master 6.

 

[SemiAudiophile]

Quote:

Buy the Reference 10 when it comes out on April 15th, problem solved. That seems to have everything you could possibly need bolted on.
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/Reference10/RE10EN.htm
 
Only problem is that I'm expecting it to cost north of $1500. However, If Audio GD works their magic and brings it out for the same price as the Burson, I'm buying one on day one. After all, they did manage to create the NFB-10SE for less than the price of the Roc amplifier. Kingwa confirms it can drive the HE-6, which makes it a combination of the old Reference 5 dac and the Master 6.

Gosh darn it, they keep coming out with these goodies. I'm trying to resist any possible upgrading here.

 

[dagothur]

Quote:

Buy the Reference 10 when it comes out on April 15th, problem solved. That seems to have everything you could possibly need bolted on.
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/Reference10/RE10EN.htm
 
Only problem is that I'm expecting it to cost north of $1500. However, If Audio GD works their magic and brings it out for the same price as the Burson, I'm buying one on day one. After all, they did manage to create the NFB-10SE for less than the price of the Roc amplifier. Kingwa confirms it can drive the HE-6, which makes it a combination of the old Reference 5 dac and the Master 6.

Considering that the Ref 7 costs almost two grand, I can imagine this will be their flagship unit.  Judging by the 10SE's example, it's probably not much (if at all) weaker as an amp and certainly no worse as a DAC. 
 
 

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

Considering that the Ref 7 costs almost two grand, I can imagine this will be their flagship unit.  Judging by the 10SE's example, it's probably not much (if at all) weaker as an amp and certainly no worse as a DAC. 
 
 

Huh? From a parts standpoint it is superior in every way to the 10SE. 3 R-core transformers and the DSP-1 for a start.
 

 

[dagothur]

Quote:

Huh? From a parts standpoint it is superior in every way to the 10SE. 3 R-core transformers and the DSP-1 for a start.
 

I'm talking purely about power.  Even if it doesn't have a superior amp section - which I doubt is the case - the upgrade in the DAC section would be costly.  The Ref-7 has reference-level cost already, and adding a powerful and technologically superior amp can only serve to push the price even higher.  As much as I want to hear another AGD upgrade, I don't want to have to drop $2k for it.
 

 

[dagothur]

Has anybody tried the 10SE with a brighter pair of headphones, like the HD7/800 or an AKG offering?  I'm wondering about this because I'm going to be purchasing the ESP-950 in the fall and I know it's certainly brighter than the LCD-2s.  I just want to be sure that a brighter pair of headphones wouldn't suffer from the signature of the NFB as a source.

 

[Lurkumaural]

I have the 10SE and use it with a Q701, and I've heard it with the HD 800 (courtesy of Questhate, who also owns this DAC/amp).  I love the Q701; whereas it was sometimes strident out of my Presonus Firebox, it's nice and warm out of the 10SE.  Rewired for balanced operation, the headphones really improved in resolving bass quantity/quality, imaging, and separation.  The balanced Q701 probably did some other stuff good too; it decided to disconnect its internal wiring (both stock and modded) on its way home from the local meet in February and I've been too lazy to fix it.
 
The HD 800 I wasn't so fond of.  I don't remember the treble being peaky, but I felt during the couple of minutes it was on my head that the treble was too much.  I wouldn't mind having another listen on the 10SE or another amp, just because I hear so much about it being a step up from the 701 in terms of detail and soundstage and I'd say that warrants another chance at it.

 

[dagothur]

I figured the treble might be a beat peaky, because I noticed that the 10SE seems to give the LCD-2 better tonal balance in the upper range.  I'm not sure if that's the 10SE being slightly bright (which isn't an entirely unreasonable assumption, now that I've had it for a few months) and pushing the shelved treble of the LCD-2 up a bit, or if it is simply a tonally superior source/amp compared to the other chains I've heard.  Either way, I don't know if the 10SE would compliment the HD800 as well as the HD6x0 series or the HD700.

 

[johangrb]

Anybody got the new TE8802 yet? I'm wondering if it will make a big difference over the previous TE7022.

 

[rictee]

After 2 days with my 10SE, I'm thoroughly enjoying it!  My initial impressions with my Audioengine A2: sound like they've been upgraded up a notch! I'm surprised by how well these $200 speakers scale up.  It's giving my K601s the amp it deserves, well and truly pushing them to their potential.

 

[Punkylex]

Hi everybuddy!
 
Following your enthusiasm for the NFB10SE I’ve decided to buy one for my HD650. The headphones are plugged through the 4-pins XLR.  
 
It seems to me that the NFB10SE needs good mains filtering. Mine really blossomed since I plugged it into my Isotek Orion. The improvement is rather impressive. Better soundstage, better balance, much less harshness in the trebles. Almost perfect. I say «almost» because one never knows… The sound is so good I wonder whether updating to the NFB20.2 would bring some improvement. Does someone know something about this?
 
 
Nice to meet you! I’m really happy to join your community.