[Downtheline1973]

 
 
 
 
Quote:

Hey all. I'm going to be buying my NFB-12 in the next couple of days. Any idea on when I should be expecting it. I read a while back that there were huge orders and even larger delays.

 
I ordered mine from Pacific Valve on the 5th of April - no word yet on when mine is shipping.

 

[_Spanky_]

Really? I sent Audio-GD an e-mail after I posted here and asked about ordering. They gave me an order form and on it it says: "Estimate Shipping: Around 15th June" and I haven't even ordered yet!

 

[el aye]

Quote:

Hey all. I'm going to be buying my NFB-12 in the next couple of days. Any idea on when I should be expecting it. I read a while back that there were huge orders and even larger delays.

I ordered 4/18, got the shipping email on 5/20, tracking number on 5/24, and received on 5/27 (I'm on the east coast).

 

[Tilpo]

I just recieved this little piece of audio equipment today, and I'm nothing short of impessed!

The DAC is a very large upgrade relative to the 3.5mm jack of my motherboard (although it is said to be relatively good for a motherboard). It really adds detail to the sound and removes the annoying hiss I hear at quiet parts, or when no music is playing. On top of that it also makes the sound a bit smoother and easier to listen to, maybe this is also because there is no hiss anymore.
I have also compared the headphone output of the NFB-12 to that of my Little Dot MKIV SE.
Here I find that the MKIV definitely wins, which is to be expected given that it also costs more . I'm still an amateur audiophile and I don't have much experience in commenting on the SQ of gear, but what I find most notable that the MKIV has far better soundstage. We're still speaking about headphones so the soundstage isn't perfect on the bests of setups, but I still find that the NFB-12 is lacking quite a lot when it comes to soundstage.
Then when it come to the sound signature of both amps, I find that the NFB-12 is lacking a bit of bass, and the mids of the MKIV are more detailed and smooth.

I haven't yet burned him in, so I'll tell you if I have changed my opinion in a week or so, but I think not. This is simply because the MKIV is a better amplifier, and although the NFB-12 might improve, it still can't compete with the Little Dot MKIV SE.

On a whole other note, when I ordered Edwin told me that it would ship around the 10th of June which would have been 25 days from then (I placed the order on the 16th of May).
But in fact it shipped one week early on the 3rd of June, and arrived a mere three days later at my doorstep.
Customer of Audio-GD is also good, although I have noticed their English is quite bad, which wasn't the case for the customer service of Little Dot, a similar Hong Kong based brand.

 

[ohhgourami]

Quote:

I just recieved this little piece of audio equipment today, and I'm nothing short of impessed!

The DAC is a very large upgrade relative to the 3.5mm jack of my motherboard (although it is said to be relatively good for a motherboard). It really adds detail to the sound and removes the annoying hiss I hear at quiet parts, or when no music is playing. On top of that it also makes the sound a bit smoother and easier to listen to, maybe this is also because there is no hiss anymore.
I have also compared the headphone output of the NFB-12 to that of my Little Dot MKIV SE.
Here I find that the MKIV definitely wins, which is to be expected given that it also costs more

. I'm still an amateur audiophile and I don't have much experience in commenting on the SQ of gear, but what I find most notable that the MKIV has far better soundstage. We're still speaking about headphones so the soundstage isn't perfect on the bests of setups, but I still find that the NFB-12 is lacking quite a lot when it comes to soundstage.
Then when it come to the sound signature of both amps, I find that the NFB-12 is lacking a bit of bass, and the mids of the MKIV are more detailed and smooth.

I haven't yet burned him in, so I'll tell you if I have changed my opinion in a week or so, but I think not. This is simply because the MKIV is a better amplifier, and although the NFB-12 might improve, it still can't compete with the Little Dot MKIV SE.

On a whole other note, when I ordered Edwin told me that it would ship around the 10th of June which would have been 25 days from then (I placed the order on the 16th of May).
But in fact it shipped one week early on the 3rd of June, and arrived a mere three days later at my doorstep.
Customer of Audio-GD is also good, although I have noticed their English is quite bad, which wasn't the case for the customer service of Little Dot, a similar Hong Kong based brand.
 

But you must remember the NFB-12 is a DAC/amp while the MKIV SE is only an amp.  Don't worry though, the NFB-12 will probably improve a lot in SQ with some burn in.
 
Yes, audio-gd has bad english.  It's hard to get Edwin to elaborate on the products.  I had my gf type out all my questions in chinese which Edwin replied in chinese too and my questions were answered in great detail. 
 

 

[Tilpo]

But you must remember the NFB-12 is a DAC/amp while the MKIV SE is only an amp.  Don't worry though, the NFB-12 will probably improve a lot in SQ with some burn in.
 
Yes, audio-gd has bad english.  It's hard to get Edwin to elaborate on the products.  I had my gf type out all my questions in chinese which Edwin replied in chinese too and my questions were answered in great detail. 
 

I agree with him not providing great detail; I asked him some question and he literally copied the text from the site (not even changing the font), leaving my question pretty much unanswered.

I know the NFB-12 is an amp/DAC, but that doesn't take away the fact that the Little Dot MKIV SE is obviously better at the amplification (the DAC of the MKIV SE is rather mediocre, on the other hand). Although in my opinion it wasn't so much of a fair fight, the Little Dot costing twice as much.
I actually bought the NFB-12 mainly as a DAC because of two reasons, even it being a combination it still competes with dedicated DAC's of the same price,
and the second reason is because the NFB-12 is semi-portable. If I go on a holiday or something I can always take it with me.

 

[Elanzer]

I know the NFB-12 is an amp/DAC, but that doesn't take away the fact that the Little Dot MKIV SE is obviously better at the amplification (the DAC of the MKIV SE is rather mediocre, on the other hand).

The MK IV SE has no DAC in it at all, DAC means digital to analog converter and when you're running a wire from your onboard's analog out to your MKIV SE the onboard audio is acting as your DAC, which is really poor in comparison to the NFB-12.

Even if you're just using the NFB-12 as a DAC and ignoring the amp part, it's a steal in comparison to everything else available in this price range.

 

[ohhgourami]

Quote:

Quote:

I know the NFB-12 is an amp/DAC, but that doesn't take away the fact that the Little Dot MKIV SE is obviously better at the amplification (the DAC of the MKIV SE is rather mediocre, on the other hand).

The MK IV SE has no DAC in it at all, DAC means digital to analog converter and when you're running a wire from your onboard's analog out to your MKIV SE the onboard audio is acting as your DAC, which is really poor in comparison to the NFB-12.

Even if you're just using the NFB-12 as a DAC and ignoring the amp part, it's a steal in comparison to everything else available in this price range.

Thanks for mentioning that cuz I was VERY confused when he mentioned that he uses the dac section of his MKIV SE!  I was like WAIT WHAT THAT HAS A DAC?!
 

 

[Tilpo]

The MK IV SE has no DAC in it at all, DAC means digital to analog converter and when you're running a wire from your onboard's analog out to your MKIV SE the onboard audio is acting as your DAC, which is really poor in comparison to the NFB-12.

It was meant as a joke, but maybe I was not explicit enough.

Even if you're just using the NFB-12 as a DAC and ignoring the amp part, it's a steal in comparison to everything else available in this price range

That's what I said. It's excellent even if completely ignoring the amp part (although in my case it could be useful every once in while)

 

[Eunegis]

Hi HeadFiers,
 
got mine.
 
For those who are still in doubt I would like to post my first impressions after ~24h. For comparison I have a Fun with all available modules. I figured out that I prefer the WM8741/WM8805 combo over the rather bright AD1852 and the DIR9001, the latter giving me slightly less detail, air and bass warmth. I prefer the Earth OPA module over the Moon and the Sun which both give me a little less involving sound (the Sun being better than the Moon for me), even though both may fit into appropriate chains. At the moment I'm listening through Beyer DT880/250, and I've connected the NFB-12 to a dedicated music PC (cMP²) through A-gd's Digital Interface (DI).
 
I'm listening to a wide variety of music, a lot of classical, but also ethno/world, lounge and some modern pop music.
 
 
The NFB-12 is somewhat airyer and more spacious than the Fun right from the start, even before burning in. The soundstage seems to be a little more recessed which turns it into a more natural one, its width/depth-relation is intuitive to me.
 
Many here call the NFB-12 very warm and sweet, and I've got the impression that it is supposed to be the most clearly so adjusted device in relation to all other A-gd gear. But I can't confirm that. Maybe I'm spoiled by the Fun which might have a similar personality soundwise, so that I'm no longer able do differentiate adequately. But the NFB-12 to me sounds even slightly less warmly coloured and slightly more neutral than the Fun/WM8741/WM8805/Earth, even though it is still very pleasant and surely on the musical side rather than on the analytical.
 
I hear no veil and no harsh, and bass is what I would call normal, not noticably lean, bloomy or dull. I'm sure there's punchyer bass out there, but I'm not missing anything.
 
All in all I'm truly surprised what this little thing deliveres. I was sceptical because its supposed to have a weaker power supply than the Fun (and I wondered if I should have taken an NFB-2 instead), but I don't notice any practical difference. In fact everything seems to sound a little more refined and less grany compared to the Fun. Its definitely a keeper, especially for the price (€200 at Audiophonics/Fr.), and I guess my search has come to an end for some time.
 
 
I'll report back after two or three weeks of burning in.

 

[Vall]

Hi!
 
As discussed before, there are some changes on frequency response curve depending on the signal's resolution. I think it's a good idea to aways mention, when reviewing NFB-12, how it has been linked and what kind of signal/source has been used. A brief line like one of these examples would be helpful:
 
Laptop > NFB (usb) - flac/wav upsampled to 96k
 
or
 
PC > NFB (usb) - mp3 and flac/wav 44k
 
or
 
Media Center > NFB (coax) - flac/wav 44/96k

 

[Eunegis]

Yes Vall, you're right.
 
In my case at the moment:
Music PC (44/16 .flac upsampled to 96/24 through Foobar's Sox) -> DI via USB (upsampling to 192) -> NFB-12 > Beyer DT880/250
 
I find DI's upsampling slightly more refined in the hights at the moment, but I'm still testing since differences are very subtle.
In the future I'll change software to cMP² to use upsampling to 96 through SRC (secret rabbit code) - its even softer and clearer than Sox.
I'll see if I'll keep DI's upsampling then or not.

 

[moocow111]

How is the NFB-12 with Denons? I'm thinking about upgrading my amp/dac to the nfb-12, but I'm not sure what it will sound like with Denon D2000s

 

[tim3320070]

Very nice with my D7000- it's a quality product and would sound good with about anything IMO.

 

[Elanzer]

How is the NFB-12 with Denons? I'm thinking about upgrading my amp/dac to the nfb-12, but I'm not sure what it will sound like with Denon D2000s

It has good synergy with "U" shaped frequency response headphones, D2000 falls into this category so it should work well.