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New Audio-gd NFB-8 (WM)
Jul 9, 2011 at 6:20 PM Post #76 of 140
Oculus,
 
A fellow Kiwi but North Island based, Silverstream in the Hutt Valley.
 
I've had an Audio-GD DAC19-DSP through ACSS into an Audio-GD C400 for the past 9 months driving Rega R5's through Naim NACA5 speaker wire. Love the combination. Your's will be a step on that given specs of both units and of course being a balanced rig. Recently added an Audiophilleo 2 US/SPDIF converter to my setup. "Music to my Ears".
 
See you also have a Bereford Caiman, me too......., its my headphone DAC/amp in my home office. Great little unit, did all Stan's and others mods, caps, regs, gator, etc. Interested to know how the Caiman stacked up vs the NFB-12?
 
Frizzup
 
Jul 10, 2011 at 12:20 AM Post #77 of 140
Small world, was dating someone from Silverstream a couple of years back!   Sounds like a good rig you have there!  With regard to the Cayman v the nfb-12,  the Cayman does sound more neutral and sibilance is a little more noticeable with the Cayman.  The nfb-12 at the moment is being run on its usb port and there is practically no floor noise, pretty impressive.  In the sounds department, it is definitely gentler on the ear and you can go for hours with it.  With the Image Revelations being very revealing of source,  I find the sound can be a touch harsh but to be fair its **** good for the money.  I have not round to using the nfb-12 as a preamp but overall I prefer the sound on the headphones through the nfb.   
I have not done any mods to the cayman to be fair and I hear you can get some good improvement with a bit of tinkering.
Cheers
 
 
Jul 29, 2011 at 11:56 PM Post #78 of 140
Well the NFB - 8WM has been shipped with the C500 integrated ampliifer so should be with me by the end of next week.  A mini review will be on the cards soon.  I have just picked up a squeezebox touch as a source so will be a fun few weeks setting this lot up. 
 
 
Aug 14, 2011 at 8:36 PM Post #80 of 140


Quote:
mtntrance said:
I have had my NFB-8 for over a week and I am nothing short of amazed but its difficult to write impressions because I am listening on a Phoenix that is still new and burning in and with new LCD-2s. (extract of original post)
Click to expand...

I'm very interested in your set up as I too have the LCD-2 headphones and the Audio-GD Phoenix. Do you hook the NFB-8 to the Phoenix using ACSS? If so, have you compared the ACSS connection to other connection methods? (ie XLRs)
 
I am also interested in using the NFB-8 in a planned Mac based system. I note that none of the Audio GD DACs offer Firewire (Firewire is the preferred connection for a computer based music system, or so I have read...) Do you use Toslink 'out' on the Mac to get the digital signal to the NFB-8? Do you (or anyone) know if you can get 24/192 from a Mac to the NFB-8 (reliably, BTW)? What's the BEST (as in quality, not convenience) way to connect the NFB-8 to a Mac? Toslink? I have a glass fibre (ie not plastic) Toslink cable I could use.
 
The other DAC I am considering is the Weiss DAC2. This has got rave reviews, it's widely used by the 'Pros', has Firewire connectivity, and comes with software for a Mac (and Windoze too). It's more money....much more.
 
However, I can't help but wonder what's inside the (very small) Weiss DAC2 box. For a start, the power supply of the NFB-8 is massive. The Weiss unit can't possibly offer the same quailty of power supply in the space of a DAC-2. Also, for all I know, the Weiss could be filled with OPAMPS. Does anyone know what's in the Weiss DAC-2 box? I have been told that Weiss uses Burr-Brown chips. I realise that implementation counts for more than the parts, but is it really worth $2K more than the NFB-8? Does it really offer better sound quality (I know, I know - it's subjective) than the NFB-8?
 
 
Aug 14, 2011 at 10:17 PM Post #81 of 140
I had the Ref-1 (not too different from the NFB-8) and Phoenix for a long while. The ACSS connection between these two is really very good and I don't know how anybody would have a problem with the SQ- you should consider that this is how Kingwa designed these components (to compliment each other). I have not tried firewire but I cannot hear any real difference between USB, toslink or coax, they all sound great. This combo does not emphasize bass like some systems can so bass heavy cans/speakers sound exceptional IMO (I am a bass lover BTW- D7000). 
 
Aug 14, 2011 at 10:40 PM Post #83 of 140
I use the Digital Interface from my computer which will feed a new (coming soon) preamp/head amp which in turn will feed my C10 speaker amp. Many say that USB audio is crap but I have never heard a significant different between any digital source using this gear.
 
Aug 17, 2011 at 11:26 PM Post #86 of 140
Its a little hard for me to compare to something of similar value, but compared to the beresford caiman that was on preamp and dac duties, there is a much appreciated difference in sound.  Without listening to the NFB-8 I would of said the Caiman was doing a good job with the standout points of the dac being tight bass and clear mids.  The weakness would be some exaggarated sibiliance with female vocals on occasion.
Now having the NFB-8 in my speaker system and allbeit with the Audio-GD C500 amplifier in the system, the sound I am getting is the best I have heard.  The first thing I noticed with the very first song I played which was a track from the Adele 21 album was her voice sounded quite different which I thought was a bizarre!  Settling in I realised that her voice was sounding so natural as though there was no hint of digital influence.  Soundstage was so good I was hard pressed to say the music was coming from the speakers at all.
I have ran through a fair few tracks and found the same thing.  How much of this improvement is the amp and how much is the dac? Not sure but the amplifier is noted as being neutral in sound allowing your source (DAC/Squeezebox Touch) to show its character.
Summing up as I said before an organic sound with very good detail.
 
Aug 18, 2011 at 4:36 PM Post #88 of 140
Not at all, the sound is presented as it should be, playing bob marley's natural mystic the sound is presented fully and correctly with bob sitting a little back in the soundstage and the instruments being more to the front but bob's voice comes through in it's full glory. It is a studio recorded song but you would swear the rasta is in the room! ( RIP) and it's a full on live gig. The bass is superb, fast and accurate ( perhaps more of a reflection of my speakers).
I have rediscovered Marc Cohn's self titled album (mofi)and the piano playing is weighted perfectly in silver thunderbird and his voice wow. On my nfb-12 and hd650 it sounds **** good but the nfb-8 must be teasing out everything from the Wolfson chip.
:D
 
Aug 19, 2011 at 7:56 PM Post #89 of 140
Thanks! If there is a test for well recorded, analogue, full-sounding bass then Bob Marley has gotta be at the top of the list. Nice comments on the soundstaging ability of the DAC too. Like you suggest, it seems like Kingwa has really tweaked the unit to get the best out of the Wolfson chip. This DAC is looking like a real goer - thanks again for your comments, Oculus.
 
Aug 22, 2011 at 1:40 PM Post #90 of 140
Just got my NFB-8 today wohoo!



It dwarfs my other equipment :).
Impressions will follow but I can already hear that it is many leagues above the rough digital sound of the Cambridge Dacmagic (imo).
 
 
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