[Solude]

   
I have the 2014 model, yes.  There aren't any significant differences between the two, just some minor feature tweaks.

 
Nothing minor about the change.  It is drastic.  Even if you know nothing about circuits, just eyeballing it tells you just how much was changed.  Kingwa is just too humble and tends to speak in measured performance terms since talking about the circuit would just go over people's heads.

 

[Stillhart]

   
Nothing minor about the change.  It is drastic.  Even if you know nothing about circuits, just eyeballing it tells you just how much was changed.  Kingwa is just too humble and tends to speak in measured performance terms since talking about the circuit would just go over people's heads.

 
I'll believe it when I hear it.  If there's one thing I learned at Canjam, it's that specs and tech don't tell the whole story.  I'm going to err on the side of "if it were a significant change to the sound, he'd be more explicit about it".
 
No offense intended, by the way.  If there really is a big difference in the sound, I think they should probably split this thread so we don't have to have conversation about two different devices and wonder which people are talking about.  It would be very confusing for anyone coming in later to try to figure out which model people were talking about.

 

[conquerator2]

   
Unfortunately, I did not spend any time with the HA-1 when I was at CanJam.  All my time at Oppo was spend with the PM-3 and HA-2.  
 
But here's some food for thought:  I brought my NFB-28 and HE-560 with me and kept them in my hotel room.  After a long day of listening to all sorts of gear, including things like the Ragnarok/Yggdrassil and Hugo and Cavalli, etc... I'd go back to my room and listen to my setup and smile.  Would I love to have a Rag/Yggy/Ether combo?  Sure.  But my $1500 combo sounds good enough that the $5300 combo doesn't really tempt me.  
 
I think the NFB-28 is a budget king (compared to equivalent gear).  Kingwa has achieved something really special with this unit.  

Of course it doesn't 

 

 

[Stillhart]

  Of course it doesn't 

 

 
Put it this way... if I wanted it, I could afford to buy it today.  It would obviously involve a lot of opportunity cost, but I could make it happen.  And yes, it sounded fantastic and I'd love to have it.  But my system is nearly as good and I just don't feel like having that extra few % of improvement is worth the money.

 

[bimmer100]

I'm jealous about going to CanJam! I would have loved to of been there!
I'm going to pretend like I don't want to try anything else since I'm truly happy with what I have as well. I can't imagine anything being much better anyhow.  
Simply drooling over some nice gear would be fun!  I'm really interested in the Mr. Speakers Ether's... just saying.
Although how much better can they be than the HE-560's?
 
All I really need is a nice set of sealed back headphones... I'm leaning towards Fostex Th900, Kennerton Magister, or Some Denon AH-D5000's. Or tempted to get the wireless Sennheiser Momentum 2.0...  Comments? Listening in private is a nice option.

 

[Stillhart]

 
I'm jealous about going to CanJam! I would have loved to of been there!
I'm going to pretend like I don't want to try anything else since I'm truly happy with what I have as well. I can't imagine anything being much better anyhow.  
Simply drooling over some nice gear would be fun!  I'm really interested in the Mr. Speakers Ether's... just saying.
Although how much better can they be than the HE-560's?
 
All I really need is a nice set of sealed back headphones... I'm leaning towards Fostex Th900, Kennerton Magister, or Some Denon AH-D5000's. Or tempted to get the wireless Sennheiser Momentum 2.0...  Comments? Listening in private is a nice option.

 
Those are some bassy choices... not much like he HE-560.  Some other ones worth considering:  ZMF (Zach owned the NFB-28, I suspect they'll pair well), Mr Speakers whole line depending on your preferred flavor, the Shure 1540 (comfy and BASSY), Oppo PM-3 or the humble-yet-capable Soundmagic HP100/150.

 

[Rockcoon]

Put it this way... if I wanted it, I could afford to buy it today. It would obviously involve a lot of opportunity cost, but I could make it happen. And yes, it sounded fantastic and I'd love to have it. But my system is nearly as good and I just don't feel like having that extra few % of improvement is worth the money.

Reading trough many reviews here, i noticed, that after 1,5k price point for one piece of equipment (dac, amp, cans) sound quality stops to grow in significant manner, and unleash the ego.
Yes, 5000$ stack will sounds better, than 1500$, but not in 4 times as well

 

[jodgey4]

Past an O2/ODAC, you start posting mostly for features, power, I/O, different flavors. I think diminishing returns hit in gear faster than with headphones.

 

[Stillhart]

Reading trough many reviews here, i noticed, that after 1,5k price point for one piece of equipment (dac, amp, cans) sound quality stops to grow in significant manner, and unleash the ego.
Yes, 5000$ stack will sounds better, than 1500$, but not in 4 times as well

 
 

Past an O2/ODAC, you start posting mostly for features, power, I/O, different flavors. I think diminishing returns hit in gear faster than with headphones.

 
I spoke with Mike of Woo Audio (@HiFiGuy528) about this for a bit at Canjam.  He made a simple point, which has really resonated with me over the last few days.  He said that it's about the musicality.
 
I think we can all agree that after a certain price point, diminishing returns hits hard when you're discussing objective performance.  What you start to get instead are minor differences that make a huge impact subjectively.  For me, sitting and listening to the Ether/Yggy/Rag combo was just super pleasurable...every song sounded so good and all those little details just add so much character to the song.  Objectively, my HE-560 and NFB-28 are probably 90% as good.  But the subjective difference is more than that.  It's about the musicality.
 
Or how about spending $500 on a USB cable.  Mike let me A/B his with a normal USB cable and I could clearly hear the difference.  It was subtle but it smoothed out the harsh highs on one song, and opened up congested mids in another.  It made those songs sound more listenable and enjoyable.  The difference wasn't massive, no.  But sometimes it's all about the musicality.
 
And the other side of that is that you don't NEED to spend the big bucks if you can get that connection from a cheaper rig.  I've recently realized that the joy I got from my HD650 and Project Ember is not easily replicated.  "Upgrading" in that case has resulted in a less musical experience in some ways.  Or, as you'll read in my write-up for Canjam, I had a really visceral response to the ENIGMAcoustics Dharma.  It was only $1200 compared to the $1500 Ether and $3000 HE-1000 and I think it was probably my favorite headphone at the show because of that emotional connection it facilitated.
 
Anyhow, just some ramblings on an interesting subject.  I think one of the reasons I like the NFB-28 so much is that it's very detailed, yet also really smooth.  That smoothness helps the musicality a lot.  The Wolfson in the NFB-15 was smooth and listenable but the lost detail I think detracted from the music too much for me.  Man, I'm starting to sound like @mikemercer talking about how it makes me "feel".  lol  

 

 

[Liu Junyuan]

I spoke with Mike of Woo Audio (@HiFiGuy528
) about this for a bit at Canjam.  He made a simple point, which has really resonated with me over the last few days.  He said that it's about the musicality.

I think we can all agree that after a certain price point, diminishing returns hits hard when you're discussing objective performance.  What you start to get instead are minor differences that make a huge impact subjectively.  For me, sitting and listening to the Ether/Yggy/Rag combo was just super pleasurable...every song sounded so good and all those little details just add so much character to the song.  Objectively, my HE-560 and NFB-28 are probably 90% as good.  But the subjective difference is more than that.  It's about the musicality.

Or how about spending $500 on a USB cable.  Mike let me A/B his with a normal USB cable and I could clearly hear the difference.  It was subtle but it smoothed out the harsh highs on one song, and opened up congested mids in another.  It made those songs sound more listenable and enjoyable.  The difference wasn't massive, no.  But sometimes it's all about the musicality.

And the other side of that is that you don't NEED to spend the big bucks if you can get that connection from a cheaper rig.  I've recently realized that the joy I got from my HD650 and Project Ember is not easily replicated.  "Upgrading" in that case has resulted in a less musical experience in some ways.  Or, as you'll read in my write-up for Canjam, I had a really visceral response to the ENIGMAcoustics Dharma.  It was only $1200 compared to the $1500 Ether and $3000 HE-1000 and I think it was probably my favorite headphone at the show because of that emotional connection it facilitated.

Anyhow, just some ramblings on an interesting subject.  I think one of the reasons I like the NFB-28 so much is that it's very detailed, yet also really smooth.  That smoothness helps the musicality a lot.  The Wolfson in the NFB-15 was smooth and listenable but the lost detail I think detracted from the music too much for me.  Man, I'm starting to sound like @mikemercer
 talking about how it makes me "feel".  lol    

I think this is a great post.

 

[Rockcoon]

I think one of the reasons I like the NFB-28 so much is that it's very detailed, yet also really smooth. That smoothness helps the musicality a lot

On a words it's should be a close to perfect sounding dac
Well, thanks to everyone, for sharing your impressions. I have made my decision. And think nfb 28 will be a great match for my he500s and tellurium q usb interconnect- a king of smoothness among usb cables

 

[casper3127]

Do let us know your impressions when both are paired together wuth the subtle aid of a smooth-sound headphone cable.

 

[bimmer100]

 

 
 
there does seem to be a difference in the internals of the 2014 and 2015 model...
top is 2015, bottom is 2014.
 
other than the wall between amp and digital section... the digital section seems to be revamped a bit on the 2015 model.

 

[catcherfly]

Hi all,
 
I have the 2014 NFB-28 and recently hooked up a 15 ft USB cable connected to a MacBook. The sound is good however if I move the cable it will cut out and depending on the moment it may or may not reconnect without powering off and back on again.  I have have tried many cables of different lengths and makes and found that past a certain length the NFB-28 gets really finicky most cables. I also have a NFB-10ES2 that is even more finicky and doing a firmware upgrade didn't help.  As another point of reference, the DAC in my Cypher Labs Theorem 720 workers flawlessly with all the cables I have tried. So I am wondering if  anyone has tried running through a powered USB hub? Or has anyone found another resolution for a long USB cable that cuts out?

 

[bimmer100]

Maybe try a Schiit wyrd usb decrapifier.

I use a Pangea usb cable at 1.5meters. But don't need anything longer.... Yet. But I would like to move my amp so am looking to get a new Pangea AG usb cable about 10-15ft. Good to know.

I plan on getting a schiit wyrd anyhow. I get the occasional drop out with some of my Dac's I use and with various cables I've tried. I would think my 500 dollar Asus x79 black series rampage IV motherboard would have good USB ports. Meh. I also will be trying a "magic" cable from Lhlabs. They claim to have good USB cables. I'll have a micro USB 1G light speed for the xdf256 I ordered as well as a a to b type 1G cable to try with my NFB-28... But so far the Pangea USB cable is pretty darn good! I just wish I ordered a longer one now.
I'm not sure why you are having problems with your NFB and not other dacs. Maybe it's less tolerable of errors. So having something like the Wyrd would likely be a way to eliminate that possibility.