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Review: Audio-gd NFB-7
Dec 16, 2014 at 5:58 PM Post #91 of 201
ohhgourami said:
 
Pairing the M7 with an OR5 transforms it significantly. Weaknesses of the 1704 simply disappear with an OR5. Without something as good as the OR5, I prefer the NFB-7 greatly.
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Does the OR5 only work with USB? and is it really $1300!!
 
When you add the price of the OR5 to the already greater price of the M7 then I would expect any SQ advantages of the M7 to be mitigated by the big difference in price.
 
Dec 16, 2014 at 7:35 PM Post #92 of 201
nigeljames said:
   
Does the OR5 only work with USB? and is it really $1300!!
 
When you add the price of the OR5 to the already greater price of the M7 then I would expect any SQ advantages of the M7 to be mitigated by the big difference in price.
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I believe its USB input but has many outputs with I2S being the best. Yes, it is $1300 with most people getting them for ~$1800 when loaded with options.
 
M7 sounds pretty boring to me as is, but the OR5 really gives it life. It's not something people are will to toss money on. It's something I haven't come around to getting either.
 
Dec 16, 2014 at 8:29 PM Post #94 of 201
preproman said:
 
It's interesting that you find the Master 9 + Master 7 to be slightly bright but the Master 7 to be warm.  I find the Master 10 + Master 7 to be on the warm side. I also found the Master 3 to be on the warm side as well.
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Definitely, although when you toss words like "warm" around people think lush or lacking detail.  The Master 3 simply plays slightly to the warmer side of neutral.  The Master 3 is a great amp, I'd sell my dac 10 times over before I'd sell it.  People sleep on the Audio GD speaker amps.  I have personally heard the old SA-300 wipe the floor with a pair of Rogue M150 tube monoblocks and heard the Master 3 beat out a expensive pair of Cary Tube Monos.  The owners of the Rogues and the Carys sold them in favor of the Audio GD amps.  My own Master 3 replaced a pair of Wyred 4 Sound monos - it wasn't a contest.   
ohhgourami said:
 
Different sound. Master-7 needs to be pair with an OR5. If it's not, I prefer the much livelier sound of the NFB-7.
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Reportedly the OR5 brings the absolute best out of the M7 but other (and cheaper) USB to I2S solutions will also do the trick.  DACladder did a comparison of the OR5 and the CI Audio Transient MKII in the Master 7 thread and the Transient was not put to shame.  The Transient comes in at about $700 + $300 for a separate power supply.  The Dynamo power supply for the OR5 alone will run you $700.  The latest USB firmware and driver got thumbs up from many M7 users as it was a marked improvement over previous versions, but if you want the absolute best and your wallet doesn't mind get the OR5 with the Hynes HDMI upgrade.
nigeljames said:
 
Neutrality, tightness (bass?) and agility are also IMO technicalities and it's nice to hear that those areas are still the domain of the NFB-7. Surprised you feel the M7 is more dynamic as that is a strength of the Sabre32 chip and a weakness of many 1704 dacs including older Audio-gd REF series.
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The M7 is simply a different beast from the older 1704 Audio GD dacs.  I have heard the SA-2, the Reference 7.1, Reference 5 and DAC 19 and those four have more in common with each other than they do with the M7.  I actually wasn't really that big of a fan of the old Reference series.
 
Dec 16, 2014 at 9:31 PM Post #95 of 201
ciphercomplete said:
  Definitely, although when you toss words like "warm" around people think lush or lacking detail.  The Master 3 simply plays slightly to the warmer side of neutral.  The Master 3 is a great amp, I'd sell my dac 10 times over before I'd sell it.  People sleep on the Audio GD speaker amps.  I have personally heard the old SA-300 wipe the floor with a pair of Rogue M150 tube monoblocks and heard the Master 3 beat out a expensive pair of Cary Tube Monos.  The owners of the Rogues and the Carys sold them in favor of the Audio GD amps.  My own Master 3 replaced a pair of Wyred 4 Sound monos - it wasn't a contest. 
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I agree, That's why I went out and got the Master 10.  
 
I heard the Master 3 at a meet up against my First Watt F1J.  I loved the slightly warm sound.  The F1J has a more airy sound.  Both very good at what they do.  To my ears the Master series speaker amps are a better fit for the HE-6.  The F1J is great as well - just difference sound sigs.
 
I sent my Master 10 to be upgraded to the Master 10 (2015).  Also looking at the NFB-7 to give me more punch and better dynamics.
 
Dec 17, 2014 at 4:08 AM Post #97 of 201
According to Kingwa, HDMI-I2S is the best way to go with his DACs, leaving USB converting duties to external converters [DI-V2014, OR5, etc.]
I'll see in a few days how the NFB7 fares with vs without the DI-V2014 
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Dec 17, 2014 at 10:21 PM Post #101 of 201
Any ideas on how the latest NFB-1 would compare to the NFB-7 ?
I have the Master 3 / Master 1 combo and seems totally neutral to me... and I think the power specs are such that I have many options if the time arrives to upgrade the speakers
Thanks for the tip about the possibility to upgrade the Master 3, I will check with Kingwa about that
 
Jan 7, 2015 at 4:29 PM Post #102 of 201
Mine is for sale, if anyone's interested 
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Jan 7, 2015 at 4:54 PM Post #104 of 201
Mar 18, 2015 at 3:30 PM Post #105 of 201
Do you think that it will be a worthy upgrade coming from an NFB28?
My system is made by an integrated amplifier Roksan Caspian M2 and speakers Klipsch Cornwall iii. Will I hear differences? Do I need to use any digital interface?
 
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