[butch111]

Ordered

 

[Suopermanni]

  I wonder if the NFB28.38 is still a good all in one dac and headamp like before. Since the nfb 1.38 dac cost 750$ and the nfb 28 cost 880$. Thats mean 130$ for the amplifier part 

 
Umm...no, it does not mean that at all. The retail price we pay does not necessarily equal the total cost of production, thus making no profit. Businesses exist to make some level of suitable profit so there has to be some profit margin somewhere. Frankly, we don't know how much it actually costs to produce NFB. 1.38 or NFB 28.38. So we can't really say 'this much was spent on that part' with any degree to accuracy.

 

[butch111]

stupid....otherwise you can calculate that an 9038 costs 50 bucks.

 

[Bri81]

I also ordered a NFB-28-38 to replace my Grace m9xx. I'm mainly looking to move to a balanced headphone connection. I hope it pairs well with the Ether C Flows.

 

[phthora]

Looking at the specs for the NFB-28.38 vs the NFB-28, there doesn't seem to be any difference. But, surely the 28.38 would measure better, right? Have these just not been updated?

 

[Pumba101]

I emailed them about the difference between the NFB1.38 + NFB1AMP vs NFB-28.38. This was the response.
 
"The NFB1.38 +NFB1AMP had slightly better sound , the most advantage is they can easy change the signal cable to had different sound flavors.
But the cost is a bit expensive."
 
I'm now wondering if the difference between the NFB28.38 and the new NFB27.38 is worth the extra money. I've never tried an Audio-GD product before... maybe the NFB-28.38 is a good place to start and can always upgrade in the future. (holding back the urges to get the 27.38)

 

[phthora]

  I emailed them about the difference between the NFB1.38 + NFB1AMP vs NFB-28.38. This was the response.
 
"The NFB1.38 +NFB1AMP had slightly better sound , the most advantage is they can easy change the signal cable to had different sound flavors.
But the cost is a bit expensive."
 
I'm now wondering if the difference between the NFB28.38 and the new NFB27.38 is worth the extra money. I've never tried an Audio-GD product before... maybe the NFB-28.38 is a good place to start and can always upgrade in the future. (holding back the urges to get the 27.38)

 
I'm not sure I understand his response. Do you think he's referring to digital filters?

 

[Pumba101]

   
I'm not sure I understand his response. Do you think he's referring to digital filters?

As the NFB-1.38 and the NFB-1AMP are separate boxes you can use different interconnects between them. Different cables give different sounds. I remember reading somewhere that splitting out the DAC and AMP in to separate boxes would be beneficial as well for interference - not sure how true this is.
 
I just got a response on the difference between the NFB-28.38 and the NFB27.38:
 
"The NFB27.38 is a little better on transparency, image, detail and dynamic, like to said over all , but just a little.
And NFB27 had a little more smoother than NFB28, but the price is much expensive."
 
Decisions, decisions, decisions... 

 

[phthora]

  As the NFB-1.38 and the NFB-1AMP are separate boxes you can use different interconnects between them. Different cables give different sounds. I remember reading somewhere that splitting out the DAC and AMP in to separate boxes would be beneficial as well for interference - not sure how true this is.
 
I just got a response on the difference between the NFB-28.38 and the NFB27.38:
 
"The NFB27.38 is a little better on transparency, image, detail and dynamic, like to said over all , but just a little.
And NFB27 had a little more smoother than NFB28, but the price is much expensive."
 
Decisions, decisions, decisions... 

 
Well, I suppose that helps a little. Thanks for sharing that. I am still trying to decide on one box or two to handle decoding and amping. The only thing keeping me from buying the NFB-28.38 is that the digital filters seem to require opening the lid. If that's the case, I'm going to lose out on a lot of the flexibility I've got used to with my DAP.

 

[jodgey4]

All-in-ones can be nice because you only need one PSU, and the signal path can be shorter sometimes with less buffering for i/o... but personally i think I'd go separates if I could afford it.

However, noise can be an issue for an AIO - my NFB-28 doesn't work well with most IEMs tho I think Kingwa claims he fixed that in the 2015 revision.

 

[bayareabiker]

 
I too received similar, refreshingly honest responses from Kingwa. I considered (NFB-1AMP + NFB-1.38) and NFB-27.38, but ultimately pulled the trigger on NFB-28.38. Ultimately, I did not want the extra expense and bulk for a little improvement. Of course, somebody else might consider that a a huge improvement . Hoping for a significant improvement over my NFB-10SE.
 
Quote:

  ...
I just got a response on the difference between the NFB-28.38 and the NFB27.38:
 
"The NFB27.38 is a little better on transparency, image, detail and dynamic, like to said over all , but just a little.
And NFB27 had a little more smoother than NFB28, but the price is much expensive."
 
Decisions, decisions, decisions... 

 

[Botudi]

anyone here jumping from 9028 to 9038 ?

 

[CarlosUnchained]

  anyone here jumping from 9028 to 9038 ?

That would be dangerous Doc! It's too far in the future!

 

[jodgey4]

I'm actually a little confused here and would like some help if y'all wouldn't mind... when was the 9028 released? I thought the 9018 was the TOTL, and the 9028 was the two channel version and now I see that I'm wrong (thankfully I don't think I was ever confident enough in that to have spread misinformation ).

What're the main differences between the 18 28 and 38? Is there a thread where this is discussed? I've only found a thread on the 9018. Are they pretty similar in requirement for I/O, power, implementation, etc?

 

[sheeshon]

The 9028 and 9038 were released together last year. The 9028 was meant to easily replace the 9018 in various applications while offering improvements, while the 9038 is hailed as the new king (per say) but requires different implementation.