Audio GD

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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,967
    edited January 2012
    You sure about that retail pal ? On their website the nfb 10 is 800....dac/headphone amp, which is for sale on the bay right now at 105 with 5 days left. Keep an eye on it.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • FTGV
    FTGV Posts: 3,649
    edited January 2012
    IMO properly implemented both SPDIF and USB can provide excellent results.IMO using SPDIF with a DAC that has an input reciever section that has good jitter rejection and preferably a pulse transformer for isolation from PC generated noise will sound better than poorly implimented USB such as a the basic BB PCM 27** chips that are limited to 16/48k adaptive mode non I2S.As Brock mentioned to get the best from USB requires asyncr. operation and preferably the data would be transmitted directly to the actual DAC chip via I2S thus bypassing the DIR IC therefore not requiring conversion to SPDIF.
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,171
    edited January 2012
    tonyb wrote: »
    You sure about that retail pal ? On their website the nfb 10 is 800....dac/headphone amp, which is for sale on the bay right now at 105 with 5 days left. Keep an eye on it.

    What does the NFB-10 have anything to do with my post? It's the NFB-12 I'm talking about.

    Retail is $200

    http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB12/NFB12EN.htm

    http://app.audiogon.com/listings/4590

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • FTGV
    FTGV Posts: 3,649
    edited January 2012
    Brock for less than $50 you could retro one of these 24/192k boards into your present chassis.:biggrin:I have built three variations and so far IMO the results have been outstanding considering the low cost involved.
    CSD1.JPG 277.4K
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,171
    edited January 2012
    FTGV wrote: »
    Brock for less than $50 you could retro one of these 24/192k boards into your present chassis.:biggrin:I have built three variations and so far IMO the results have been outstanding considering the low cost involved.

    You think I could use the chassis I have? The AMC has almost nothing inside the huge box. No PS mods, etc? If you would tutor me, I would certainly give it a go. Is that board populated as pictured? Or do I need to populate it? I'm up for some DIY, but I don't have any measuring equipment and it's been a long time since having to think things out. I am a "paint by the numbers" guy when it comes to actual hands on stuff.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited January 2012
    I don't like buying chinese products, but I liked my MDHT Havana a lot. I have never heard anything else from the other Chinese companies mentioned.
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited January 2012
    SolidSqual wrote: »
    I don't like buying chinese products, but I liked my MDHT Havana a lot. I have never heard anything else from the other Chinese companies mentioned.

    Don't think of Audio GD as "Chinese" product. Think of it as an audiophile product whose owner, founder, and proprietor happens to be a Chinese national who lives and works there.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • FTGV
    FTGV Posts: 3,649
    edited January 2012
    heiney9 wrote: »
    You think I could use the chassis I have? The AMC has almost nothing inside the huge box. No PS mods, etc?
    This particular board is only 3"x 4" so should be retrofitable to most most any chassis.You might loose input switching and all you would need to keep from the units power supply is the transformer.The rest of the power supply comPonents are contained on the PC board.
    Is that board populated as pictured?
    It can be purchased assembled or unassembled with just the three main surface mount IC's soldered in place and a bag of parts. The one in the pic was purchased unassembled as I wanted to substitude better parts (ie. Panny FC's and stacked film bypass's etc.) and change the values in the low pass filter.The integrated USB reciever is nothing special(C Media CM102) so you'll likely want to use a better outboard unit.
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  • vcwatkins
    vcwatkins Posts: 1,993
    edited January 2012
    Agree on the Maverick. Mine only sounds its best on one pair of speakers, and not great at all on my usb crs+ office rig. I have ordered a different tube and op amp to darken it but I'm not very optimistic. I may have to consider a new NFB-12. I'd like to improve this system since the room is small with good acoustics and I spend a lot of time here. But I can't justify even $300 here.
    b]Beach Audio[/b]: Rega RP6 (mods) - AT33PTG/II - Parks Budgie SUT - PSAudio NPC * Eversolo DMP-A6 * Topping D90iii * Joule-Electra LA-100 mkIII * Pass Aleph 30 * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 2.3tl (mods) * PSAudio PPP3
    Beach Study: Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra & Pre Box S2 * Pass ACA * DH Labs SS Q10 * Brines Folded ML-TQWT RS 40-1354 * PSA Dectet
    Beach Master: WiiM Pro * Dayens Menuetto * Zu Libtec * Dynaudio Audience 50
    Beach Den: Bluesound Powernode 2i * DH Labs SS Q10 * Zu Omen DWII * Richard Gray RGPC
    Town Study: WiiM Pro * Chord Qute (Pardo) * Elekit TU-8600 * MIT S3 * Revel M22 * Beyer DT-990 * Shunyata Hydra 2
    Town Den: Music Hall mm5.1se - Denon DL-103r - Jolida JD9ii (mods) * WiiM Pro * Cary xCiter * Rogue 99 Magnum * Schiit Aegir * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 1.2tl (mods) * Dectet * Bottlehead Crack - Senn 600
    Town Porch: WiiM Pro Plus * Sunfire Sig II * Canare 4S11 * Magnepan 1.6 * Dectet
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited January 2012
    falconcry72 wrote: »
    Don't think of Audio GD as "Chinese" product. Think of it as an audiophile product whose owner, founder, and proprietor happens to be a Chinese national who lives and works there.

    Yeah, I feel ya'. I'm warming up to Chinese products as they continue to improve. My favorite Chinese brand that is without a doubt better than many USA brands is Audio Space.
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,171
    edited January 2012
    Well, I was in this same boat last year before I bought the Musiland Monitor 02, which I only use an USB to SPDIF converter. It works quite well, nice software, etc. It even sounds pretty good as a dac, but I'm looking for more and wanting to get rid of my AMC DAC8 and associated cables. One box, one cable is what I'm looking for. Give me my desk space back.

    I have considered the MDHT Constantine or the Paradesia. The Paradesia has a tube and I am already running a full tube intergrated so I am not really looking for a tube dac. I have also looked at Keses DA-151 as well as the Firestone DAC, PS and Digital interphase, Stello DA-100 and Audio GD NFB-12, all on the used market. For various reasons none of them hit the mark on all accounts and have some sort of short coming I'm not willing to live with. The shortcoming being either in my mind or consistent issues in various reviews.

    If I can get the Keses at a killer price I may just see how that stacks up. My biggest concern is the USB is not Asynchronous and it uses essentially the same Burr Brown chipset the PopPulse I had did. But, the Keses has some nice coupling caps as well as a nicer Op-Amp which is socketed and can be rolled like a tube.

    The Firestone comes in 3 separate chassis so that's a turn off. The Stello USB performance looks like it could be an issue and it's not ASIO compatible. The NFB-12 is also a headphone amp that I will never use and I'd rather have just the DAC without all the other switches, control's etc. The Constantine is essentially the Paradesia w/o the tube, missed one for auction recently. The Paradesia sounds the best with the Bendix 2C51 tube, or so I've read. Those are spendy so I'd prefer not to go down another tube rabbit hole.

    Still leaning towards the Audio GD NFB-3.1 but that's new and over my arbitrary budget, but in the end is the most logical choice and it may end up being the cheapest in the long run. Plus, I like that it's all discrete and has a "flavor" button to select the type of digital filters you can use.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited January 2012
    Have you considered an HRT MusicStreamer II+? I really like their DACs, especially for the money. I think their size is also very conducive to complete a nice office rig.
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  • FTGV
    FTGV Posts: 3,649
    edited January 2012
    heiney9 wrote: »
    The Stello USB performance looks like it could be an issue and it's not ASIO compatible.
    Otherwise it looks good with a discrete analog section,serious looking power supply and AK4395 number cruncher.
    Still leaning towards the Audio GD NFB-3.1
    With it's use of the Tenor USB reciever IC I think you'll also find it to be non async and ASIO only if a custom driver is available.
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  • vcwatkins
    vcwatkins Posts: 1,993
    edited January 2012
    That Firestone is just weird. Way too cumbersome and too much cabling risk. I don't care how good the guts are, it just seems to create problems instead of solving them. I ordered one of the HRT's to try out and will likely compare to the Audio GD NFB 12 with a Yamaha integrated and CRS+ or Hartley H100's.
    b]Beach Audio[/b]: Rega RP6 (mods) - AT33PTG/II - Parks Budgie SUT - PSAudio NPC * Eversolo DMP-A6 * Topping D90iii * Joule-Electra LA-100 mkIII * Pass Aleph 30 * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 2.3tl (mods) * PSAudio PPP3
    Beach Study: Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra & Pre Box S2 * Pass ACA * DH Labs SS Q10 * Brines Folded ML-TQWT RS 40-1354 * PSA Dectet
    Beach Master: WiiM Pro * Dayens Menuetto * Zu Libtec * Dynaudio Audience 50
    Beach Den: Bluesound Powernode 2i * DH Labs SS Q10 * Zu Omen DWII * Richard Gray RGPC
    Town Study: WiiM Pro * Chord Qute (Pardo) * Elekit TU-8600 * MIT S3 * Revel M22 * Beyer DT-990 * Shunyata Hydra 2
    Town Den: Music Hall mm5.1se - Denon DL-103r - Jolida JD9ii (mods) * WiiM Pro * Cary xCiter * Rogue 99 Magnum * Schiit Aegir * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 1.2tl (mods) * Dectet * Bottlehead Crack - Senn 600
    Town Porch: WiiM Pro Plus * Sunfire Sig II * Canare 4S11 * Magnepan 1.6 * Dectet
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  • vcwatkins
    vcwatkins Posts: 1,993
    edited January 2012
    Got the HRT Music Streamer II today from Amazon, 2nd day, 150 bucks. Love the simplicity of this thing. Perfect for my simple little vintage office rig. Hooked up a Marantz 2270 and CRS+ (orig tweets) and it's very good. The Maverick D1 was just too harsh with the sl2000's (haven't changed them out since I need to do a some other things to these). But this little DAC with the Marantz is smooth, warm and detailed. On Elton's Madman title cut I heard fingers on strings that I've never noticed. And in dense sections, all remains clear and organized. Think I'll just pass on the Audio gd for now.

    I'm gonna take the CRS+'s out tonight to work on a bit and will try the Hartley's, and I'm betting that will sound fantastic. But the more I listen to CRS's the more I love their lush sound.
    b]Beach Audio[/b]: Rega RP6 (mods) - AT33PTG/II - Parks Budgie SUT - PSAudio NPC * Eversolo DMP-A6 * Topping D90iii * Joule-Electra LA-100 mkIII * Pass Aleph 30 * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 2.3tl (mods) * PSAudio PPP3
    Beach Study: Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra & Pre Box S2 * Pass ACA * DH Labs SS Q10 * Brines Folded ML-TQWT RS 40-1354 * PSA Dectet
    Beach Master: WiiM Pro * Dayens Menuetto * Zu Libtec * Dynaudio Audience 50
    Beach Den: Bluesound Powernode 2i * DH Labs SS Q10 * Zu Omen DWII * Richard Gray RGPC
    Town Study: WiiM Pro * Chord Qute (Pardo) * Elekit TU-8600 * MIT S3 * Revel M22 * Beyer DT-990 * Shunyata Hydra 2
    Town Den: Music Hall mm5.1se - Denon DL-103r - Jolida JD9ii (mods) * WiiM Pro * Cary xCiter * Rogue 99 Magnum * Schiit Aegir * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 1.2tl (mods) * Dectet * Bottlehead Crack - Senn 600
    Town Porch: WiiM Pro Plus * Sunfire Sig II * Canare 4S11 * Magnepan 1.6 * Dectet
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,727
    edited January 2012
    I know you didn't really create this thread asking for suggestions on a DAC, but I'll offer mine anyway.

    If you're a fan of a more analog type of sound then I would highly recommend the Musical Fidelity V-DAC, if you want it all in one box get the Mk II version. If you don't mind 2 small boxes you could go with the combo of the original V-DAC and V-Link and likely save some cash. If you're looking for something that's more forward sounding then I would skip the MF DAC, but if you're looking for a sound slightly warm of neutral that still digs all the details out of the sound then you should take a look at this DAC.
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