[Darien]

actually i ended up selling my nfb-11, i 100% recommend the o2odac. best sounding dac/amp on the planet, problem is lot of people think a dac/amp has to be harsh and painful to be detailed - the o2odac blows it out of the water. i also do have teh bottlehead crack amp, i enjoy it but it will make the sound warmer and i think with the 650hd it gets too warm for my taste.
 
also be warned if u get the nfb-11 and decide you do not like it, you are looking at about 120$ to return it and they wont refund you the shipping cost from when you purchased it. 
 
i can see what people mean now when they say the o2odac is the best dac/amp - if it looks too cheap then get the oppo ha-1 for 1200 bucks, it will sound the same and be more expensive and look more expensive too. 

 

[ravid350]

  Hi All,
 
I have been a long time lurker of these forums. I'm very new to all this and I couldn't stop thinking about it and finally bit the bullet and got myself my first decent headphones. The Sennheiser 650 was the one I settled on after such a long time reading every review I could get my hands on. Mostly I got them because they seem to be okay for a beginner like me. 
 
Now I realise that these would sound so much better if I actually had a dac/amplifierto go with them. So yes i have been listening to music without an dac/amp.
 
After much thought I'm torn between 2:
 
1. NFB 11.32 (Which is a DAC and amp combined)
 
2. The bottlehead crack with speedball upgrade.
 
Now I am leaning more towards the crack with the speedball upgrade as so many people rave on about it and how much it does for the HD650s. Im also inclined towards tubes than SS.
 
What do you guys think? What should i get?
 
And if I get the crack, what is a good DAC to go with it.
 
This is another concern form me... the price for the crack setup seems to be going up and up. I was first inclined towards the nfb11.32 because no setup and combined DAC/Amp. Im also slightly afraid that I will screw up putting together the bottlehead... haha.
 
I'm really torn guys... I'm willing to spend money if I must. I would like better bass (more punchy and prominent... its almost taken a step back compared to cheaper headphones I have... should this even happen?) and a more open sound stage then the current setup I have, which is basically laptop to the HD650s haha.

 
I'm afraid to say but you should have gone for closed cans (say Fostex th-600 etc.) in the first place if you are looking for punchy bass.
 
Try using some sort of software equalizer and see if it makes things better for you.

 

[jasvanth]

   
I'm afraid to say but you should have gone for closed cans (say Fostex th-600 etc.) in the first place if you are looking for punchy bass.
 
Try using some sort of software equalizer and see if it makes things better for you.

I do like punchy bass, but after having the HD650 for a while now, I do like the clarity to hear all the layers of music. Punchy bass headphones I had before somehow muffle those in the background and I find it fun to differentiate all the sounds I'm hearing. The bass is sometimes disappointing, a little low and I am hoping the amplifier fixes this, but if it doesn't i might try the equalizer as you mentioned. A lot of the songs I listen to dont rely on bass as well, so I will just have to make do for the songs that do have a lot of bass. The fostex th-600 was something I was looking into getting as well, but settled for the HD650s instead.

  actually i ended up selling my nfb-11, i 100% recommend the o2odac. best sounding dac/amp on the planet, problem is lot of people think a dac/amp has to be harsh and painful to be detailed - the o2odac blows it out of the water. i also do have teh bottlehead crack amp, i enjoy it but it will make the sound warmer and i think with the 650hd it gets too warm for my taste.
 
also be warned if u get the nfb-11 and decide you do not like it, you are looking at about 120$ to return it and they wont refund you the shipping cost from when you purchased it. 
 
i can see what people mean now when they say the o2odac is the best dac/amp - if it looks too cheap then get the oppo ha-1 for 1200 bucks, it will sound the same and be more expensive and look more expensive too. 

 
The o2odac is only about 50 dollars difference for me from the NFB11. Thanks for clarifying that the bottlehead is in fact too warm, thats definitely something I dont want.
 
I actually went around reading a lot on the o2odac and comparisons to the NFB11 and in the end I don't think I have changed my mind. What you described as it beinging harsher and painful to give detail is the opposite of some reviews. They describe the NFB11 as removing the harshness.
 
Regardless most who have compared the 2 say there is very little difference and since I have been looking into the NFB11 for the longest time now, I will probably just go with that.
 
THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP GUYS!

 

[jasvanth]

Hi guys!
 
I got the NFB 11 two days ago! It was very exciting and came in very good condition, wasnt damaged.
 
My first impression was not very impressive haha. I was a bit disappointed. I believe this might have been because I was perhaps not used to it or the particular music I was listening to was not good quality (youtube). I then got spotify premium and set it to high quality, which I believe means 320kbps.
 
My god classical and contemporary instrumental music really shines. I can really feel every note and I think i know what they mean by the sound stage expanding now. I think I will be listening to this more and more.
 
Where it suffers a little is electronica. I had misgivings about the bass initially when I got the HD650s but the amplifier really does fix this! I didnt think it would but it did. Its not heavy pounding in my head (which i sometimes enjoy with other headphones) but it is very present! Thats the best way i can describe it. Its there and I can feel it and hear it. Im very happy with that aspect.
 
As to why electronica suffers, I believe that electronica to me was always more "fun" as I had always listened to it with headphones and sound cards which would colourise the music, make it warmer. BUT having said that, the clarity of it is still very astounding. I think I just need to get used to the sound of the HD650s with the NFB11 to really enjoy it. Vocals are very clear but seems a lot of the electronica music I was listening to didnt have great vocals as I had once believed. The clarity that these cans and DAC/Amp give me sort of doesnt hide how ordinary some of them sound behind the music that was always at the forefront before.
 
Any recommendations for great vocals? I really like Rachel Yamagata. Beautiful voice and power.
 
 
EDIT: Don't know if burning in is real or not. If it is though I have read that it does get better and better. If it does it would be even more amazing since I am super happy with the sound right now. Although burning in might just be our brains and ears getting used to the sound produced haha.