FauDrei
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2007
- Posts
- 768
- Likes
- 51
From my experience with A-GD products: If you can scrape the money for their TOTL product - just do it.
If huge, overweight, overbuilt class A SS gear is your thing, you will, very likely, be satisfied with whatever lower product level you choose... but then you'll start wondering something like: this product of mine is great VfM... and if they value this product that amount of money... what would, the difference that I've "saved" by not going to the higher level of their product, brought to the table? Is this difference really worth it? Can it really be that much better?
My experience says - it is worth it and it is much better.
Not that I dislike my headamp - on the contrary, I like it very, very much... but now I regret not going directly for Phoenix which, at the time, seemed absurd amount of money for an overkill dual mono headamp. After "snapping" and getting their (back then) TOTL DAC for an obscene amount that would caused me serious problems with She Who Must Be Obeyed if she'd ever found out how much that big black block of aluminum really costed...
I was shocked when I realized that, even though it was and it still is, very expensive for me - this thing is even greater VfM! Easily the best piece of audio gear I've ever owned.
So, CyaN, if I'd be in your shoes, determined to get a Sabre DAC, and if the money thing would not be unsolvable showstopper - NFB-7 would be my decision. Unheard and unreviewed. This guy that we call KingWa (He [size=x-small]Qinghua in real name[/size]) has rare honesty in valuing his gear and if he estimates that NFB-7 is half K$ better than NFB-1 - this would surely be well spent half K$.
Yeah... You may call me a fanboy. Now, about solving my mistakes from the past... this new headamp of mine... hmmm... how about converting that C3 into "Super Phoenix"?
If huge, overweight, overbuilt class A SS gear is your thing, you will, very likely, be satisfied with whatever lower product level you choose... but then you'll start wondering something like: this product of mine is great VfM... and if they value this product that amount of money... what would, the difference that I've "saved" by not going to the higher level of their product, brought to the table? Is this difference really worth it? Can it really be that much better?
My experience says - it is worth it and it is much better.
Not that I dislike my headamp - on the contrary, I like it very, very much... but now I regret not going directly for Phoenix which, at the time, seemed absurd amount of money for an overkill dual mono headamp. After "snapping" and getting their (back then) TOTL DAC for an obscene amount that would caused me serious problems with She Who Must Be Obeyed if she'd ever found out how much that big black block of aluminum really costed...
So, CyaN, if I'd be in your shoes, determined to get a Sabre DAC, and if the money thing would not be unsolvable showstopper - NFB-7 would be my decision. Unheard and unreviewed. This guy that we call KingWa (He [size=x-small]Qinghua in real name[/size]) has rare honesty in valuing his gear and if he estimates that NFB-7 is half K$ better than NFB-1 - this would surely be well spent half K$.
Yeah... You may call me a fanboy. Now, about solving my mistakes from the past... this new headamp of mine... hmmm... how about converting that C3 into "Super Phoenix"?