[khaine1711]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the 5LE supposed to be the darker Hifiman ortho and the He5 is actually the very bright one. How does the brightness of the 5LE compared to your 880.
 
Also how did the nfb 12 amp section handles the Hifiman ortho, compared to your EF5 (IIRC you have one =p) or compared to some speaker amps. I've heard that the old gen Hifiman orthos (he5, 5le, 6) are quite power-hungry.
 
Quote:

In case anyone cares - the weaknesses of the HP out with the Hd650's turned out to be strengths with the 5LE's. NFB-12 helps calm the highs, fill out the mids, and add heft to the bottom.
Even more pleased with the NFB-12 now!

 

 

[mac336]

It would be a big help if anyone using the NFB-12 to power the hd-650 or HE-500 could give me their opinions on how these headphones sound/pair with the NFB-12

 

[khaine1711]

I'm having both my Nfb-12 and a hd600 on my table. However I mostly use audio-gd's own amp (the C2.2). Also got several chances to try the hd650 on both. 
 
My opinion is the nfb12 wasn't really a good match for the hd600/650, but wasn't bad either. I think it mates better with the hd600 rather than the hd650 (please note that I myself prefer the hd600 to the 650 so I may be a bit biased). It worked well as a portable/office setup, or something to use until you got funds for bigger, badder components.
 
The amp part is very beefy, but I think it's the dac part of the nfb12 is bottlenecking the hd600/650. No ideas about the he-500, I'm dying to try one, but the shipping cost and custom tax to my location is ... painful. 
 
Quote:

It would be a big help if anyone using the NFB-12 to power the hd-650 or HE-500 could give me their opinions on how these headphones sound/pair with the NFB-12

 

 

[AF115]

Hi.
I'm another happy owner of a NFB-12. 
After reading around and having done some tests I'm currently using it set to [size=medium][size=x-small]4X oversampling , [/size][/size][size=medium][size=x-small]Minimum phase 'soft-knee' filter.[/size][/size]
I'm curious to know which filter other owners prefer (and why).
Thanks.

 

[captouch]

 
Quote:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the 5LE supposed to be the darker Hifiman ortho and the He5 is actually the very bright one. How does the brightness of the 5LE compared to your 880.
 
Also how did the nfb 12 amp section handles the Hifiman ortho, compared to your EF5 (IIRC you have one =p) or compared to some speaker amps. I've heard that the old gen Hifiman orthos (he5, 5le, 6) are quite power-hungry.
 


 

 
I heard the 5LE is darker than the HE-5, but the HE-5 was very bright from what I understand.  So darker relative to HE-5, but still bright to me.  But the 880 is also bright to my ears (though I haven't listened to them recently) - but I don't recall the 880 being sibilant at all, which the 5LE can get with certain music.
 
The NFB-12 amp drives to louder than I'd want to listen to at 10 or 11 o'clock, so volume isn't an issue.  I think it's quite powerful.  Volume wise, the EF5 probably is sitting a notch lower at 9 or 10 o'clock most times, but not a big difference.  This is with High gain setting on both.
 
I'd put it this way: If the music were perfectly recorded, and especially if it were folk/jazz, I'd probably opt for EF5 because the clarity and dynamics are better.  If the recording needed smoothing or it was crunchy guitar/hard stuff, I'd probably go with NFB12 to make it less fatiguing.  And again, the NFB12 does have noticeably more bass weight - so that's a factor as well.
 
 

 

[mac336]

the NFB-12 came in today.  I have to say, I'm pretty impressed.  listening to them with the hd-650.  I've been comparing the NFB-12 to the HDP extensively and honestly they sound pretty much the same.  Only able to make out differences when doing direct comparisons immediately after each other.  If I had to identify differences between the 2 amps, maybe the NFB has a tad thicker sound with a ever so slight roll off treble and tad emphasis on the bass. The HDP is a tad thinner, maybe alittle bit more precise.  But these differences IMO are so obscure and are only able to be heard when comparing short 10 second clips of music immediately after each other.  Overall I am pretty impressed with the NFB and agree with others who say its probably the best budget amp/dac

 

[haejuk]

Does anyone have any comments about how the NFB-12 sounds with D2000?  I am thinking of upgrading from E7/E9.  How do the mids sound?  Do the rolled off highs help or hinder the D2000 in your experience?  Better soundstage than E7/E9?  Any comments to help me decide would be helpful!

 

[mac336]

I dont think any amp/dac combo would change/improve the AH-d2000 much let alone switching from E9/E7 to NFB-12.  In my experience, they were perfectly fine straight from the pc.  I thought my amp gave it a tiny improvement but it wasnt justified by the price of buying an amp (just my opinion).   I would save your money and buy another headphone if your looking for any sort of improvement or something different in your listening experience.   

Does anyone have any comments about how the NFB-12 sounds with D2000?  I am thinking of upgrading from E7/E9.  How do the mids sound?  Do the rolled off highs help or hinder the D2000 in your experience?  Better soundstage than E7/E9?  Any comments to help me decide would be helpful!

 

 

[scannon18]

My advice is to do what I did: keep the e9 because it is a fabulous amp and the denons are easy to drive and upgrade the dac. I bought a dedicated dac and thought it was well worth the hundreds of dollars. YMMV.

 

[haejuk]

The main thing I like about the NFB-12 is that I can hook up my PS3 to the optical and my computer to the USB and switch between the inputs on the face of the device (for $240 I haven't been able to find that feature anywhere).  I would mostly be using the amp in the NFB-12 for gaming and watching video, I have a hybrid tube amp for music.  Most of my music collection is lossy (320k mp3), so I don't really plan to move up to other headphones (I am afraid they will reveal the poor quality of my source files).  The only changes I plan to do for headphones is getting lawton angle pads for my D2000 and maybe wood cups further down the line.  If you really think I wouldn't be able to hear the difference then this sounds like the perfect desktop setup for me.  I am concerned about the grain people have mentioned, but by the sound of things I wouldn't be able to notice it, right?
 
Just found the Matrix Cube that seems to have the features I want that the NFB-12 also has, but the power output specs and headphone out impedance aren't published for it.

 

[mac336]

I have a pair of HD-650 and have used the nuforce HDP and NFB-12 with it.  i have listened to everything from flac to music on youtube.  i have not noticed any grain yet unless its a poor quality youtube file, but that sounds bad on anything.  All my ipod songs are not FLAC, and they all sound good to me from my 650s.  Ofcourse the FLAC sounds better, but I do not find the "lossy" files sounding grainy at all; in fact, they sound pretty darn good.  I would highly recommend the NFB-12; before I bought it I read that its one of the best budget buys and can compete with many things priced 2 or 3 times higher than it.  After listening to it myself, I would have to agree with them.   

 

[Tilpo]

I concur,

Although I definitely do have a preference to using FLAC files, about half of my music collection is in mp3 (although nothing less than 192kbps). The lossy half of my collection gets as much plays as my lossless half. As far as sound quality is concerned you probably won't be hearing any difference when you're just listening. If you directly compare the two (esp. non-blind) you might hear a difference, but even that still doesn't mean you can't enjoy both an equal amount.

On a related note, you mentioned that you already have an E7/E9 combo. In that case I don't recommend upgrading to the NFB-12. While it might be an upgrade, it probably won't be the best way to invest your money unless you can sell the FiiO pair for a good price. I recon the improvements will be small, and unless you directly compare the two you might not even notice the difference.
These are just my expectations though, I have never heard the E7/E9 combo nor have I heard the D2000. All my knowledge is derived from what little measurements I have seen and from anecdotes of fellow head-fiers.

 

[Brooko]

Quote:

I concur,
Although I definitely do have a preference to using FLAC files, about half of my music collection is in mp3 (although nothing less than 192kbps). The lossy half of my collection gets as much plays as my lossless half. As far as sound quality is concerned you probably won't be hearing any difference when you're just listening. If you directly compare the two (esp. non-blind) you might hear a difference, but even that still doesn't mean you can't enjoy both an equal amount.
On a related note, you mentioned that you already have an E7/E9 combo. In that case I don't recommend upgrading to the NFB-12. While it might be an upgrade, it probably won't be the best way to invest your money unless you can sell the FiiO pair for a good price. I recon the improvements will be small, and unless you directly compare the two you might not even notice the difference.
These are just my expectations though, I have never heard the E7/E9 combo nor have I heard the D2000. All my knowledge is derived from what little measurements I have seen and from anecdotes of fellow head-fiers.

I had both.  IMO, the NFB-12 was quite a big step up.  I think it was mainly the DAC from the E7 holding the combo back.
 

 

[scannon18]

Yes, for the above poster with the denons, let me just reiterate that your amping needs are taken care of the by the E9.  The E9 is a great amp for the denons.  If you really want to improve the sound quality you have to start thinking strictly about dacs. 
 
I think if the above poster (haejuk) buys the 12.1 most of the improvement will come from the dac.  As Brooko said above, the E7 is really the weak link in the E7/E9 combo.  The E7 is a nice dac, sure, and I used mine happily for over a year.  But ultimately I had to upgrade and I'm happy I did.   My advice would be to maybe look at dedicated dacs in the <$300 range in addition to the 12.1 because the extra powerful amp on the 12.1 isn't exactly necessary.  Also, lots of dacs feature switchable inputs.  Be sure to take a look at the "For Sale" forum here, there are lots of good dacs at very reduced prices.
 
 
 
The Denons are relatively revealing headphones, I have always been able to tell a difference between source components when listening to my pair.  

 

[haejuk]

I think Scannon is probably on the right track.  I have found a nice amp for the D2000 on the used forum, but I am holding off on buying it because I am waiting to find a good dedicated DAC with the features I am looking for.  Any dedicated DAC suggestions with both USB and optical for around $150?