[Envyous]

(Please note that the prices I mention under will be the price I have to pay in Norway, so don't get too surprised if it is more expencive than you are used to).
 
Hello my friends.
 
I have a HD650 that I want a good AMP+DAC combo for. I also have DT990 Pro and DT770 Pro 32Ohm that I will use. This will only be used on a stationary PC so they don't need to be portable. As you probably can see on the previous types of headphones I own, I like bassy sound. I want the music to sound as amazing as possible, prioritizing that over a "neutral" sound. This also being my argument for buying the HD650 over the HD600. My main genres I listen to is Electronica, House and Hip-Hop.
 
I am aware that the most common answer to a good AMP+DAC for HD650 (and most other headsets in the same or smaller pricerange) is the Schiit Magni/Modi or the JDS LABS O2/ODAC. The problem is, first of all, that these are maybe not good enough. The biggest problem is that I live in Europe (Norway). Getting these delivered here adds a bunch to the price, and with import fees etc. they end up costing almost 400$. I am sure I could get better AMP+DAC combo for that price if I just got something more "common", that I did not have to import myself.
 
I have heard some good things about the Audio gd NFB-11/15. I hear you in USA have trouble getting a hold of Audio-gd NFB-11 or Audio-gd NFB-15. These are available here with good service, and reasonable price (I think? 350$ for NFB-15 2015 version and 400$ for the NFB-11 version). Should I just go for one of these?
 
Anyone have some better suggestions?
 
I don't really want to use much more than 400$. I think having a way more expencive AMP+DAC than on the actual headphones, is kinda silly (?).

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Originally Posted by Envyous /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

I have heard some good things about the Audio gd NFB-11/15. I hear you in USA have trouble getting a hold of Audio-gd NFB-11 or Audio-gd NFB-15. These are available here with good service, and reasonable price (I think? 350$ for NFB-15 2015 version and 400$ for the NFB-11 version). Should I just go for one of these?

 

With AudioGD in general the problem basically is that they don't have international dealers, and their payment method isn't something that people are used to. You email for a shipping quote, confirm ,and they send you a link to a PayPal invoice, as opposed to that interface on Amazon or eBay with a shipping calculator and one button that opens up the payment system. Shipping is actually easy once you get past this part, since many buyers sometimes get them within a week. The problem there is return shipping, since it will cost $70 to send it back, and then if they find no problems with it, you have to pay that amount againt to ship the unit back to the US.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Envyous /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I am aware that the most common answer to a good AMP+DAC for HD650 (and most other headsets in the same or smaller pricerange) is the Schiit Magni/Modi or the JDS LABS O2/ODAC. The problem is, first of all, that these are maybe not good enough. The biggest problem is that I live in Europe (Norway). Getting these delivered here adds a bunch to the price, and with import fees etc. they end up costing almost 400$. I am sure I could get better AMP+DAC combo for that price if I just got something more "common", that I did not have to import myself.

 

Then don't get the O2+ODAC from JDSLabs, get it from Head-N-HiFi in Switzerland - it'll be a little over €200+shipping, which will likely be cheaper, and there might be trade agreements that exempt or lower the import taxes.

http://www.headnhifi.com/OBJ_O2_ODAC_digital2

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Envyous /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

I have a HD650 that I want a good AMP+DAC combo for. I also have DT990 Pro and DT770 Pro 32Ohm that I will use. This will only be used on a stationary PC so they don't need to be portable. As you probably can see on the previous types of headphones I own, I like bassy sound. I want the music to sound as amazing as possible, prioritizing that over a "neutral" sound. This also being my argument for buying the HD650 over the HD600. My main genres I listen to is Electronica, House and Hip-Hop.

 

Here's your biggest problem really - you're looking at amplifiers, and especially in the case of  the O2, it's one of those that are amplifiers in the purest sense of the term. All these will do is amplify the input signal into it, and the DACs aren't going to mess with the sound either - the point is to amplify that input signal to the highest level possible with minimal deviation from the signal, not to euphonically boombasticate the signal so a bad recording sounds better by intentionally rolling off the highs. If anything, the pure amp that has equally low distortion as the O2 and Magni, but has a slightly different kind of distortion pattern (plus filters) and thus sounds a little different, are Violectric amps. You order those from Germany, but apart from saving on the shipping and import taxes, they're still expensive.

 

You'll likely be better off with the Little Dot MkII, but it'll be expensive to acquire, you might as well just save up and get a Violectric HPA-V90, or their Lake People G103 (shipping it back and communicating for repairs would be easier too). As for the DAC, this is where it gets tricky - some cheap Non-Oversampling DACs can have output stages that euphonically boombasticates the output signal with a tube, this all adds to the cost. You might as well just get an ODAC from HeadNHiFi, and while it's relatively neutral, at least the distortion pattern on the Violectric/Lake People amp will be slightly tilted towards the warm side. Alternately, the Violectric HPA-V90 has an optional USB DAC, so you can just get that one.

 

[Luhaine]

 

 

With AudioGD in general the problem basically is that they don't have international dealers, and their payment method isn't something that people are used to. You email for a shipping quote, confirm ,and they send you a link to a PayPal invoice, as opposed to that interface on Amazon or eBay with a shipping calculator and one button that opens up the payment system. Shipping is actually easy once you get past this part, since many buyers sometimes get them within a week. The problem there is return shipping, since it will cost $70 to send it back, and then if they find no problems with it, you have to pay that amount againt to ship the unit back to the US.

 

 
This is simply not entirely correct. There is at least 1 European based dealer of Audio-GD, which happens to be the one where I bought my NFB-28 a month or so ago. http://www.magnahifi.com . It's a company based in The Netherlands which ships within the EU and to the US. They support a number of payment methods such as VISA / Master and paypal. So you don't have to order directly from Audio-GD if you don't want to. 

 

[Hammy]

@Envyous Very good advice in both of the posts above.  I've no experience with AudioGD but the HeadnHiFi site is relatively popular place to get the O2 / O2+ODAC.  I was >< this close to pulling the trigger on this bad boy before deciding I didn't need one for my purpose.  I also believe he hops over the border to Germany every Wednesday/Thursday to post orders for EU customers, so no import tax.

 

[Envyous]

 

 

With AudioGD in general the problem basically is that they don't have international dealers, and their payment method isn't something that people are used to. You email for a shipping quote, confirm ,and they send you a link to a PayPal invoice, as opposed to that interface on Amazon or eBay with a shipping calculator and one button that opens up the payment system. Shipping is actually easy once you get past this part, since many buyers sometimes get them within a week. The problem there is return shipping, since it will cost $70 to send it back, and then if they find no problems with it, you have to pay that amount againt to ship the unit back to the US.

 

 
As I said, I have a local distributor of both the NFB-11 2015 edition and the NFB-15 2015 edition. We have national rules that ensure that I will be able to send it to that local distributor with full support for the whole guarantee period. Support for these products (and shipping prices) won't be a problem.
 

  @Envyous Very good advice in both of the posts above.  I've no experience with AudioGD but the HeadnHiFi site is relatively popular place to get the O2 / O2+ODAC.  I was >< this close to pulling the trigger on this bad boy before deciding I didn't need one for my purpose.  I also believe he hops over the border to Germany every Wednesday/Thursday to post orders for EU customers, so no import tax.

 
While it is nice to hear that most EU countries gets this for free, Norway is not in the EU so we have to add 25% to the price immediately + pay the customs to add the 25% for me (like 30$) + shipping. I would end up with almost the same price as if I ordered it from JDS LABS.
 
Are you guys saying that O2+ODAC or Magni/Modi combo is "that much better" than any others in the same pricerange that it is worth buying them for almost 400$? They might be, I have no idea.

 

[Lorspeaker]

Are u able to bring your cans to the shop to test out both amps? 
 
The NFB15 should be less bright than the NFB11 (sabre chip) ? 
Mine (NFB10.32)  is the balanced version of the NFB15,
but most of the time i am using it in single ended mode..
i love this amp
 
 
===========
 
one point to note :
 
u can use both NFB11/15 as a DAC to a future dedicated amplifier...eg a tube amp;
but u cant use them as an amplifier to a future dedicated dac.
 
becos there is only a pair of "dac out " connectors at the back. 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

This is simply not entirely correct. There is at least 1 European based dealer of Audio-GD, which happens to be the one where I bought my NFB-28 a month or so ago. http://www.magnahifi.com . It's a company based in The Netherlands which ships within the EU and to the US. They support a number of payment methods such as VISA / Master and paypal. So you don't have to order directly from Audio-GD if you don't want to. 

As I said, I have a local distributor of both the NFB-11 2015 edition and the NFB-15 2015 edition. We have national rules that ensure that I will be able to send it to that local distributor with full support for the whole guarantee period. Support for these products (and shipping prices) won't be a problem.

 
My post about about AudioGDis only in response to "I hear you in the US have trouble getting a hold of," quoted and highlighted for emphasis below, as many of the cases of there being any issues or those who were dissuaded in anticipation of possible issues cite that process as the problem. Also, even if there is a distro in Europe that ships to the US, that only removes the language barrier and customer service speed (or lack thereof) with AudioGD, but shipping will still cost about the same, you just never have to deal with having a returned item go through Chinese customs first, whereas same those in the US - and I repeat, I am talking about those in the US specifically and in a narrower sense - can just go with Schiit in the same way that those in the EU can go with Meier Corda for example.
 

 
I have heard some good things about the Audio gd NFB-11/15. I hear you in USA have trouble getting a hold of Audio-gd NFB-11 or Audio-gd NFB-15. These are available here with good service, and reasonable price (I think? 350$ for NFB-15 2015 version and 400$ for the NFB-11 version). Should I just go for one of these?

With AudioGD in general the problem basically is that they don't have international dealers (edit: in the US, that I'm aware of), and their payment method isn't something that people are used to. You email for a shipping quote, confirm ,and they send you a link to a PayPal invoice, as opposed to that interface on Amazon or eBay with a shipping calculator and one button that opens up the payment system. Shipping is actually easy once you get past this part, since many buyers sometimes get them within a week. The problem there is return shipping, since it will cost $70 to send it back, and then if they find no problems with it, you have to pay that amount again to ship the unit back to the US.

 
Also, I forgot one detail - regarding the NFB-15, nowadays everyone will have trouble getting it because it's phased out. Unless that dealer in the EU still has some on stock, there's no way to get it or something like it until the replacement product line comes out.
 
 
 

 
Are you guys saying that O2+ODAC or Magni/Modi combo is "that much better" than any others in the same pricerange that it is worth buying them for almost 400$? They might be, I have no idea.

 
Yes but probably not for what you expect from them.

 

[Envyous]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just ordered the headnhifi O2+ODAC as suggested here. Looking forward to it

 

[Hammy]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just ordered the headnhifi O2+ODAC as suggested here. Looking forward to it

Sorry, forgot Norway isn't in the EU. Let us know the final price and how you find it pairs with your headphones!