[OPrwtos]

hey havoc, what rate is going into your dac? 44.1 or 96? or another?

 

[vmajor]

Regarding "lower quality components" I'm with King Wa. I have not heard of "SMD = low quality" either. The rest of the components seem unchanged and you gain the filter control on the front panel.

The NFB-3.1 will be my third DAC. The first was the original head-fi favourite the Zhaolu D2, modded with various opamps (I forgot now which ones I swapped out) and with upgraded caps, and an eBay non-oversampling DAC.

Why did I choose the NFB-3.1 over a plethora of other DACs in the market? The main reasons are: dedication from King Wa towards continuous development of his products, and a strong philosophy on what is "the best". I have no idea of course if his philosophy is correct, but he sounds rational, focused, and many head-fi posters seem to agree with him. Yulong was another option, but I came across several premature failure/malfunction posts and I do not want that, Matrix was also considered, but the King Wa dedication and public presence overcame that temptation. Versus Schiit Bifrost it was a harder choice, so it came to cost and again whose philosophy you prefer. Bifrost also does not exist yet and upgradeability is only attractive if the company exists for a long time (see Tag McLaren Audio). I do not doubt that Bifrost will sound great and that it will sound different to the NFB-3.1

My setup atm:

Amplifier: ME Sound ME 550 - Australian, getting old now, does not always turn on, but could not find anything better yet
Preamp: HLLY AMK-II - new, works, looks nice, philosophy of design seems very sound, remote control is great
DAC 1: Zhaolu D2 modded
DAC 2: eBay NOS DAC
Source 1: SONY CDP-X3000 - used as transport now
Source 2: Diyomate S12 - Dealextreme media NAS, does great 1080P video, no idea about its S/PDIF output quality, will do some testing with flac files
Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-A900, Etymotic ER-6, many others
Speakers: Genesis IM8300 - truly awesome, cannot find anything better in a same size package, also getting old now, but still fine, to Genesis' great credit they STILL have spare parts and service advice for my speakers
Sub: mid priced eBay something with 15" driver, crossed over to below 45Hz since that is where my IM8300 cut off, abruptly, due to their sealed cabinets

I will be back with some feedback on how NFB-3.1 sounds once I get it, but unfortunately no headphone listening since I do not yet have a headphone amp. The only headphone jack is on the Zhaolu D2.


V.

 

[HaVoC-28]

 
Quote:

hey havoc, what rate is going into your dac? 44.1 or 96? or another?

44.1 khz (Mostly Ripped CD , FLAC) .
 

 

[OPrwtos]

ah ok, so your not upsampling to 96khz with a usb to spdif converter or anything?

 

[Wingstrike]

Ok, but what does oversampling do? If i use 4x oversampling, I can't have 192khz? What does this all mean?
 
Quote:

i just tryed briefly some settings . The defaut setting for me was great ( Linear phase 'brickwall' filter.)
 
actually using Linear phase 'brickwall' filter. (with 4x oversampling no need for 192khz ) (dir9001 user) (dind't notice difference beetween 2x and 4x oversampling , but it was not tested in depth )
 
But beetween (Linear Phase , Briwall filter ) Minimum phase 'soft-knee' filte the difference was noticeable . 
 
Minimum phase 'soft-knee' filter : Highs rolled off a bit , sound is less dynamic , more soft , not my taste at all .
 
I was just for testing not many time for it soo ...
 
Best thing is to try yourself and find the best setting .

 

 

[OPrwtos]

wingstrike, if your input into the dac is 96khz it oversamples it 4x to 384khz.
So im guessing the reason why you cant input 192khz with 4x oversampling is because it only oversamples to 384khz max....but this is just my guess.

 

[HaVoC-28]

 
Quote:

ah ok, so your not upsampling to 96khz with a usb to spdif converter or anything?

No upsampling at ALL .


Quote:

Ok, but what does oversampling do? If i use 4x oversampling, I can't have 192khz? What does this all mean?
 


 

Oversampling and upsampling are not the SAME thing , oversampling is something like a digital fitler used in sigma delta DAC 
 
If you set 4x oversampling with WM8741 you can't read 192khz files etc .Don't know why ^^ . DACs have their own limitations i guess ...


Quote:

wingstrike, if your input into the dac is 96khz it oversamples it 4x to 384khz.
So im guessing the reason why you cant input 192khz with 4x oversampling is because it only oversamples to 384khz max....but this is just my guess.

like i said oversampling have nothing to do with upsamling , when you set 4x oversampling it's not upsampling anything 4x , Some DAC can go up to 128x oversampling it's just digital fitring ...
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversampling
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsampling               (well upsampling is also digital filtring but no the same thing at all)
 

 

[OPrwtos]

yh but, it still takes the frequency higher right?

 

[HaVoC-28]

well oversampling 4x is more like an anti aliasing filter (cause it's only use integers)
 
it's no like upsampling 44 khz to 96 khz (upsampling can create artifacts , distorsions etc (upsamling is not a easy task in comparaison to oversampling) ...  in general it's good to avoid upsampling).  
 
sorry i don't have enough knowledge to explain how both works , just oversampling is OK , and upsampling can be bad ...
 
someone else should bring us light about upsampling , oversmapling , NOS DACS etc
 
soo Upsampling 44khz to 88khz and oversampling 2x is not the same thing at all

 

[jageur272]

FYI, SMD parts are generally better than their leaded counterparts in terms of technical specifications.  They tend to have issues with heat/power dissipation, but nothing that a well thought out design can't handle.

Regardless, I'm probably going to order a NFB-3.1 along with a C-2.1 so I can get a taste of this ACSS tech that's all the rage.  Is there a distinct advantage to buying a dedicated DAC and a separate dedicated headamp as opposed to getting a FUN or the NFB-5?

 

[HaVoC-28]

Quote:

FYI, SMD parts are generally better than their leaded counterparts in terms of technical specifications.  They tend to have issues with heat/power dissipation, but nothing that a well thought out design can't handle.

Regardless, I'm probably going to order a NFB-3.1 along with a C-2.1 so I can get a taste of this ACSS tech that's all the rage.  Is there a distinct advantage to buying a dedicated DAC and a separate dedicated headamp as opposed to getting a FUN or the NFB-5?

Much more cleaner power supply  in going on dedicated DAC and AMP than using a FUN or NFB-5 ^^ 
 
 

 

[jzono1]

I ordered a nfb 3.1 last friday... I'm so excited. It's time to say good bye to my broken 80$ ebay special pcm1793 dac.
 
How long time does it usually take before they ship? And am I correct if I think the "consignment" page on their website lists when people's orders are shipped?
 
I'm impatient since my current dac has a subtly broken left channel.

 

[HaVoC-28]

 
Quote:

I ordered a nfb 3.1 last friday... I'm so excited. It's time to say good bye to my broken 80$ ebay special pcm1793 dac.
 
How long time does it usually take before they ship? And am I correct if I think the "consignment" page on their website lists when people's orders are shipped?
 
I'm impatient since my current dac has a subtly broken left channel.

nice choice ^^
 
long depend if it's in stock or no , they will send you a mail when they shiped it , consignement can be a bit slow in updating .
 

 

[pmostert]

Hello, first post for me. Have been reading this forum for a while and I think it's excellent but never felt I had something to contribute to the forum, but I thought I let you know how my NFB 3.1 sounds. My system is a Naim XS amp incl flatcap 2x, SB classic with Teddypard ps into NFB 3.1 with Oyaide coax.
 
I owned the AGD dac 19 mk3, the EE Minimax and Metrum acoustics NOS quad dac. The dac 19 was excellent, wide soundstage far beyond the speakers in fact I never heard Roger Waters 'amused to death' so far from the back, but it was a little dark sounidng and felt I lost details. So then I bought the EE. This is a fantastic resolving DAC very nice and clean.
 
By then in Holland there was a raving review about the Metrum acoustic quad dac, it was under 300 euro so I thought to give it a try. It was very similar tot the EE, resolving, fast and clean. In fact it was as good as the EE, so I sold the EE and played with the metrum dac and I loved it. But then Audio GD NFB 3.1 was released and I couldn't resist and bought one. At first I thought I made a mistake as it made my ears bleed with ssss. So I let it burn in for at least 3x24 hours and got back for a listening test.
 
That made a world of difference. The nfb 3.1 had a "full bodied' sound, bass is there and it's tight, soundstage is wider, the overall picture has more fundament compared to the EE and the metrum. It's sounding 'darker' than the EE and the quad dac but this time without me feeling (compared to 19mk3) that I'm  loosing details. Listening to the nfb3.1 made me realize what I was missing with the EE and metrum and that is that music is emotion and that  has happened more the last week than my entire  time with the other two. Don"t get me wrong the EE and the quad dac are excellent dacs and in hifi/high end terms probably better but in my system and to me personally a bit boring. I have tried some of the filters on the NFB 3.1 but it's to early to decide. I may get back to report. I"m hanging on to the quad dac for now and maybe hook them up together later for comparison. I'm happy.

 

[pmostert]

Oh and bought the DIR 9001 module extra but have not used it yet. So still much to look forward too.