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Thanks for that suggestion! It's exactly what I'm looking for. Now how would they compare to the E9/E7 combo and what's price on them? Thanks!
The E7/E9 combo is $200 USD. The NFB-11, by comparison, is $280 USD (but has to be shipped from China). I think shipping cost me about $40 USD.
As far as SQ goes, both are good buys at their respective prices. The E7 uses the Wolfson WM8740 chip, which is known to be a good chip. The Sabre32 ES9018 is a newer chip, and is being used in a lot of higher-end DACs as well. However, as far as which one is "better", that's highly dependent on the end user's ears.
The Wolfson chips tend to have good detail, but are also a little bit warm and smooth. If you've ever listened to a Zune straight out of the headphone jack, that's the kind of sound you get out of Wolfson chips (as the Zune line employs Wolfson chips for their onboard D/A conversion). The Sabre32, on the other hand, is highly-detailed and more neutral. I wouldn't describe it as analytical, but if there are flaws in your source, they're going to be glaringly obvious with this DAC chip. Based on its ruthlessness, I'd go with the Wolfson-based DAC if your source isn't up to snuff. Also, make note, this doesn't just mean that your files should be in 320kbps mp3 or lossless, because even the highest-quality audio files will sound horrendous if they weren't recorded/engineered/mastered properly.
The NFB-12 is basically the same as the NFB-11, except using the Wolfson WM8741 instead of the Sabre32 ES9018. At $200 USD, I always felt it was a better buy than the E7/E9, but seeing as you already own the E7/E9, I wouldn't go this route. It's not a significant enough upgrade.
