Audio-GD NFB-11.32 & NFB-11 (2014) (Delivery & Impression Thread)!!!

[Saraugie]

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Hi there,
 
I received my A-GD11.32 two weeks ago.
It took about five minutes to install W7 drivers, and I've got an incredible natural sound in my ears.

 
However, I am worried that my young daughter could burn her fingers on DAC case

. A-GD11.32 is very hot!
After one hour of usage I can easily move those silicon pads across the case with my fingers. They are almost melt.
Is it normal? Does your device become hot in same way?
Thanks!
 
I didn't notice any difference between WASAPI, ASIO4ALL, VIAASIO (foobar2000) or WASAPI (XBMC). All sounds are clean and natural.
I must admit CPlay has an interesting sound, but all charm of A-GD11 is gone. CPlay makes some unnatural modification on mid-high's.

The shell gets hot as it is helping to dissipate the heat. However, it should be so hot to burn skin at a touch. If your unit is so hot that by touching it you get a burn, then there is something wrong. Please write Kingwa to confirm what I've written.

 

[NinjaVampire]

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Windows or MAC OSX?

Windows 7!

 

[Solitary1]

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All this driver talk is fascinating but how about some pics of the 11.32...What do you plug her into?  Do you use her as a pre-amp?  A tube amp perhaps, plugged into her for the cold nights for a little warmth...lol (75-80 degrees year round down here), but I love the tubes.........I recently organized my office listening table and gave the 11.32 a little tube love....Incredible sound...
 
A wonderful sounding device indeed...
 
Pic I posted in another thread while I was getting the table ready...(W8 laptop--> 11.32--> MPX3 SLAM (2x Sylvania 6SN7GTB & 1x Westinghouse 6GU7)
 
Cheers!!!
 
 

 
 

 
I'm using the 11.32 to drive a Maverick Audio A1 tube integrated/headphone amp. Using the HD650 and K702 the results are outstanding. But, the DAC really shines use power the speakers (Wharfedale 10.1. It has made me sell my Arcam rDAC.

 

[Magdumper]

Recently (a little less than a week) my nfb 11.32 started skipping for 0.5-2 seconds at a time when playing music, a few times an hour. I have tried switching between drivers on foobar (KS, DS, ASIO4ALL) and it continues to do this with all of them. I believe I have the 1.21 drivers from audio GD's website. I just heard a *pop* for the first time that worried me enough to post here... I have been trying to fix this problem myself but have been unsuccessful. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Kingwa]

There are the class A discrete amps built in, not OPA chips.
So the power spend is more than built by OPA chips .
The temperature increase around 25 Celsius while after 30 minutes.
Keep it have not other things cover on top is enough safe for working a lot years.
I have do the test with other people of the temperature, usually hotter than 45 Celsius, the people feel quite warm.
If hotter than 55 Celsius, hold on and more than 1 minunte, the finger feel inacceptable .
If more than 65 Celsius, the finger wish take away after 10 seconds .
Some class A amp even have 80 Celsius on the heatsink like the old KRELL.
In compare, the NFB11.32 just cool.

 

[kwatch]

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Hmm I would be interested to hear anyone with experience to this as well. Mu unit has yet to be shipped and I would be very worried about getting a product that gets so hot.

My 2 weeks old 11.32 gets just warm to touch.

 

[Saraugie]

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Recently (a little less than a week) my nfb 11.32 started skipping for 0.5-2 seconds at a time when playing music, a few times an hour. I have tried switching between drivers on foobar (KS, DS, ASIO4ALL) and it continues to do this with all of them. I believe I have the 1.21 drivers from audio GD's website. I just heard a *pop* for the first time that worried me enough to post here... I have been trying to fix this problem myself but have been unsuccessful. Any help would be appreciated.

I may be wrong, but I do not think a DAC/AMP can control skipping. You could have an interruption of power but that's different,

 

[h4mm3r 0f th0r]

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Recently (a little less than a week) my nfb 11.32 started skipping for 0.5-2 seconds at a time when playing music, a few times an hour. I have tried switching between drivers on foobar (KS, DS, ASIO4ALL) and it continues to do this with all of them. I believe I have the 1.21 drivers from audio GD's website. I just heard a *pop* for the first time that worried me enough to post here... I have been trying to fix this problem myself but have been unsuccessful. Any help would be appreciated.

are you using windows 8?? i had the same problem on windows 8 and had to downgrade to 7 and now this problem is gone...

 

[HeatFan12]

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Recently (a little less than a week) my nfb 11.32 started skipping for 0.5-2 seconds at a time when playing music, a few times an hour. I have tried switching between drivers on foobar (KS, DS, ASIO4ALL) and it continues to do this with all of them. I believe I have the 1.21 drivers from audio GD's website. I just heard a *pop* for the first time that worried me enough to post here... I have been trying to fix this problem myself but have been unsuccessful. Any help would be appreciated.

 
 
What is your buffer length set at?  Start low and work your way up or vice versa.  With my Digital Interface I have to drop it to about 150-200 whereas other gear I can get away inbetween 500-900.  Lots of times with Foobar the buffer length is the culprit for dropouts.
 
Also, for troubleshooting try using other players as well to isolate the situation.
 
Cheers!
 
 
 

 

[axw]

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Recently (a little less than a week) my nfb 11.32 started skipping for 0.5-2 seconds at a time when playing music, a few times an hour. I have tried switching between drivers on foobar (KS, DS, ASIO4ALL) and it continues to do this with all of them. I believe I have the 1.21 drivers from audio GD's website. I just heard a *pop* for the first time that worried me enough to post here... I have been trying to fix this problem myself but have been unsuccessful. Any help would be appreciated.

 
Try running the latency checker tool and see if pops correlate with red spikes. If this is the case, the problem is in your computer, eg. antivirus or drivers.

 

[Magdumper]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm using a buffer rate of 510 ms, windows 7... I like to keep it above 300-400 or else it will pause very briefly when minimizing/maximizing windows. I will run the latency checker for a while and report back with my results. Also, I changed back to the previous drivers, 1.12 I think, whatever was before 1.2.. and it has been skipping much less, maybe one time an hour.

 

[NinjaVampire]

The answer to this question may be very obvious, but I'd like to put my mind at ease  
 
So if I am only using this DAC/Amp to play FLAC files (44.1kHz) through my music player (MusicBee), is it as simple as plug and play, or do you need the 32bit software to play lower bitrate files? Is something like this worth it when the only audio I will be playing is 44.1kHz? Thanks.

 

[HeatFan12]

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The answer to this question may be very obvious, but I'd like to put my mind at ease  
 
So if I am only using this DAC/Amp to play FLAC files (44.1kHz) through my music player (MusicBee), is it as simple as plug and play, or do you need the 32bit software to play lower bitrate files? Is something like this worth it when the only audio I will be playing is 44.1kHz? Thanks.

 
Hey Ninja, you are going to listen to beautiful music with this device and it will spank any headphone you throw at it....

 
The answer to your question is in your hands.  We can give input and opinions and you make the decision.
 
Now, you have to look at the device as a whole and love it accordingly...lol......The usb32 is really a beautiful thing but let's not forget you have two other inputs should you decide to use them.  The device can also be used as a pre-amp.  The headphone amp is very good with a variety of headphones.  The Sabre ES9018 is very detailed and refined...etc.....etc...etc...
 
You also have to think down the line (future proof).  If you acquire other music (HD tracks, vinyl rips, sacd rips, dvd-a, dvd rips etc.) will you be ready?
 
If you look back on this thread, I used the optical and coax inputs (Pure i-20, cd player, dvd player) for a little while before I even connected the 11.32 to a pc.  I want to maximize the full potential of the device and have options available if need be. 
 
Your other question- Yes, to use the 11.32's usb input with a pc you must install the drivers for the machine to recognize the device. 
 
I guess to sum up- I have audio in various formats but for the last month or so I have been listening to 16/44.1 exclusively.
 
Even if I continue to listen for the next year to 16/44.1 only, would my purchase have been worthwhile----Absolutely...
 
Cheers!!!

 

[all999]

Hey guys, is 11.32 good companion for DT 990 PRO 250 ohm?

 

[Jlav]

Depends on what you're looking for.  I'd say if you want a pretty analytical dac/amp combo you can't go wrong.  I use the amp with DT 880's and I find my self craving a little more lower mids.  The bass extension is pretty good however.  The DT 990's might solve this problem with their more "fun" sound sig.  Just remember before you buy this that the driver situation is not the most organized or user friendly.  I personally use a USB to spdif converter for this purpose.