[BLacklWf]

A few pictures of the final internals.

Beautiful!!!

 

[Arnaldo]

A few pictures of the final internals.

Beautiful on the inside, but rather plain-vanilla on the outside, vis-à-vis its asking price. And while it's the sound that matters, the superficial side of me finds the rugged good looks of the V281 & Co. much more appealing...

 

[noplsestar]

Beautiful on the inside, but rather plain-vanilla on the outside, vis-à-vis its asking price. And while it's the sound that matters, the superficial side of me finds the rugged good looks of the V281 & Co. much more appealing...

Exactly. The Niimbus almost looks like a studio amp. Professional. Not so freaky. Which is good and bad. But what counts in the end is the sound.

 

[ArthurPower]

Everyone has different opinions and taste on how things look. The Niimbus is a minimalistic industrial design. Heavy, thick, but simple looking. Some prefer a slender more elegant refined design. So it depends on how you like your women... I mean audio equipment.

Perhaps a better comparison is cars. Some prefer the looks of a Mercedes Maybach where others prefer a Mercedes Unimog. Luxury sedan versus big diesel truck. In the USA we love our pickup trucks, why I'm not sure since many of the people who drive them are not tradesman and have no use for a truck. Perhaps it's to make a statement (especially those with a wife who owns a Toyota Prius) and let people know that you are a man and proud of it!

Introducing Niimbus for audiophiles who are not afraid to declare I am a MAN Hear Me Roar! *

* Oh and don't forget to ask your wife for permission before you purchase one.

 

[roskodan]

kappa

 

[Fegefeuer]

some pictures from the High End Show in Munich

 

[andromeda1954]

What is the difference in sound between the two?

 

[Fegefeuer]

There is none. You make your choice based on the features you need. I personally would never go without a preamp function.

 

[roskodan]

how well does the relay volume control work?

the units look much better than expected, tho the side thing still looks wired

 

[Cobold]

The casing is still the prototype.
You can expect the final version to look better.

 

[Fegefeuer]

how well does the relay volume control work?

the units look much better than expected, tho the side thing still looks wired

They really look better in "person" or live, especially the front. The rest ist indeed not final yet.

The relais volume doesn't give away a noise when moved/operated. While listening you get a tiny artefact after bigger steps but it's wholly different than the V281, so all those who still get startled by the V281 relais can rejoice. I personally never cared for it after the initial surprise how a relais volume can sound.
Much more important however is how it improves upon the V281 and this amp is a definitive upgrade. Some will probably be very happy to hear that the treble improved. Talking to you @Justin_Time. What users of beastly tube amps called a slight hardness in the treble is gone with the US4. It didn't bother me on the V281 because a HD800SD brings the real treble flavor some might run away from in panic and thus I learned to choose my music more carefully and go to another headphone for pop and modern stuff. Still, the treble is more natural and neither subdued or rolled off, artificially warm or anything. It's simply more refined which for instance is easy to hear on rimshots and cymbals.
Also: the US4 has more low end heft, thump, grunt, kick in general with a grip on the driver control like Sauron on his mace. There is no artificial boosting or "sounding" here either. Man, did those LCD-3s sing with that amp. Other headphones used during the comparison: HD 800, Kennerton ODIN, Meze Empyrean.

For more detailed impressions I'd need to listen to them somewhere quieter of course. For now I'm kinda jealous though.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Many top notch/end game amps on this price category. Interesting how Nimbus will fare. Boils down mainly on taste on my opinion. But still curious on their all-out take.

 

[vortrex]

Really should remove the "Premium Balanced Headphone Amplifier" text. What's the point of that? Do users get confused and forget the device is for headphones? Such an odd location for the placement of such text too.

 

[roskodan]

helloooo, it's the added value feature, doh

 

[zhgutov]

What is the purpose of the Status led?