The top 10 reasons why......

heiney9

I'm just glad the check is in the mail to you, before you change your mind and want it back.

I think the sound quality of this unit comes from careful design, discrete components and attention to the power supply. I have heard several dac's in this price range and they all seem to have the same glaring faults, they sound too digital. This one definitely errs on the side of analog. As good as the Keces is for the price, it still leans towards the digital sound and even though it's relatively neutral the op-amps are pretty lively.

Having to choose one or other (Keces or Audio GD) for the office rig the Audio GD is the choice in the end. But, since I'll be keeping them both I don't have to choose. :cool:

H9

EndersShadow

heiney9 wrote: »

I'm just glad the check is in the mail to you, before you change your mind and want it back.

I think the sound quality of this unit comes from careful design, discrete components and attention to the power supply. I have heard several dac's in this price range and they all seem to have the same glaring faults, they sound too digital. This one definitely errs on the side of analog. As good as the Keces is for the price, it still leans towards the digital sound and even though it's relatively neutral the op-amps are pretty lively.

Having to choose one or other (Keces or Audio GD) for the office rig the Audio GD is the choice in the end. But, since I'll be keeping them both I don't have to choose. :cool:

H9

Interesting.... the Keces was on my list but now will have to look into the Audio GD pending Assimilated DAC thread.......

heiney9

If you can get one. New from China they can get a little on the pricey side with Paypal fees and shipping. Either one would be a great purchase.

H9

EndersShadow

heiney9 wrote: »

If you can get one. New from China they can get a little on the pricey side with Paypal fees and shipping. Either one would be a great purchase.

H9

Yeah we will see how things pan out in a month or so. Its 300 on their site but not sure how much that actually ends up being when you add in shipping and PP fees......

heiney9

$300 + $60 + 10.50 = $370.50.

Keep an eye on it because it seems lately they are discontinuing a lot of their models. Best to email them when you are ready to see what's available.

H9

EndersShadow

heiney9 wrote: »

$300 + $60 + 10.50 = $370.50.

Keep an eye on it because it seems lately they are discontinuing a lot of their models. Best to email them when you are ready to see what's available.

H9

Gracias and will do. Now to see the shootout results . Worst case I just get the Keces instead but its all depending on what budget I have to work with from my bonus. The office rig is last on my list to buy stuff for so it may fall by the wayside.

sucks2beme

I watch for bargains on audiogon or head-fi. The Audio-gd stuff shows up over there
quite a bit. I saw a guy with both the nfb3.1 and the 19 for sale a day or two ago.
You can land the nfb-3 well under $300 lightly used all day long. Mine was $250.
There was a couple of DACS on the Dallas CL last month as well. So the market
is out there. Even two years ago, finding good used DACS was a pretty tall order.

heiney9

Hmmmmm.....been looking for a used Audio GD for a few months, never saw one listed. Guess I didn't look in the right places. Until Tony put his up for sale.

H9

sucks2beme

The real trick is watching. I missed a couple on audiogon( the nfb-2)
and a steady stream of Audio-gd popped up on Head-fi. The Head-fi guys
run through a lot of mid-priced DACs. They have a for sale section for
sources, and a run through there shows a lot of the $100-$500 DACs.
I always take reviews over there with a grain of salt. Many over there are
young whippersnappers who think anything better than an IPOD is
top notch. I waited for a while and found one for sale by someone with some
post counts and a couple of sales feedbacks. The NFB-3 isn't going to beat
any $1k DACs, but it ain't bad for the money.

EndersShadow

sucks2beme wrote: »

The NFB-3 isn't going to beat any $1k DACs, but it ain't bad for the money.

Yup, I will probably have 250-350 max if anything left over for my office setup. I want to get my HT finished with another set of LSi 15's, a Sunfire Signature, some MIT EXp speaker cables and a Squeezebox. After that I need to replace my 7 yr old headphones and then comes the office DAC ..... So how much I have depends on the price I get the LSi 15's & Sunfire Sig and MIT cables for.......

heiney9

I'd agree it won't beat out some of the $1K dac's. The problem is Wolfson and Burr Brown have a different sound signature so you never know if it's the engineering contributing to the sound or the actual chipset. Also many dac's have a very different reciever chipset as well as clock management, so even if all other things being fairly equal there is no way to say a certain $$$ or brand, etc is going to be better. Far, far too many variables. Best thing to do is buy quite a few contenders and start your own comparison. There is no way to look at a spec sheet or individual reviews and determine which YOU will like better.

I will say in the $300 and under catagory the Keces and Audio GD are clear winners of the few that I have tried for a computer rig. The Audio GD could run with the next tier up and be a contender in a main rig, with a few shortcomings.

H9

heiney9

I just spent the past 4 hours off and on comparing the modded Adcom to the Audio GD. The Adcom is the superior performer in every regard. I'm sure the Audio GD needs more break-in and in and of itself it's a good performer, but head to head with familiar music the shortcomings are definitely noticeable.

The Audio GD sounds murky and slow and closed in. The Adcom is quick, sharp, very open and incredibly life like. Instruments and vocals just pop and the texture and layering is complex and has depth and air. The Adcom is liquid and transparent and the realism is startling at time on some simply mic'd acoustic/vocal material. It's like she is sitting with me in the room and no speakers are present. With the Audio GD it's like listening to a recording of someone in a room playing an acoustic guitar, more of a cardboard cut-out than a real person. The attack and decay on the Audio GD is just alright.

I will continue to evaluate in the main rig.

H9

tonyb

Do you have the SB going directly to the nfb-3, by spdif ? Do any analog cable changes ? Should sound better than what your describing.

heiney9

Same everything for both.

MIT Shotgun S2's for analog cables, MIT Z cord for a power chord, Blue Jeans 75 ohm coax.

My descriptions are in comparison to each other, not necessarily how the Audio GD sounds as a stand alone. Also remember the new SPDIF module isn't broken in, but then the Adcom doesn't use such a module.

H9

heiney9

The Keces DA-151 is definitely holding it's own against the Audio GD NFB-3. It has better instrument delineation and soundstage depth, not by a lot but with recorded material that has a lot a recording hall cue's it seems more fleshed out with the Keces. It has a slightly greater sense of realism and seems more sharply focused.

The NFB-3 can't hang with the Adcom. The Adcom is clearly the more exciting dac to listen to and does everything better and to a higher standard than the NFB-3.

No shame in that.

The Audio GD NFB-3 is a really nice dac and only with rigorous comparison to other units do some of it's shortcomings become apparent. It's a hard choice between this and the Keces in my office rig. They both do a great job. Knowing me and my ability to not be able to decide, I'll probably keep both for the time being.

I can highly recommend both the Audio GD NFB-3 and Keces DA-151 as excellent choices. The NFB-3 having SPDIF inputs as well as USB and the Keces being USB only.

H9

sda2mike

brock..is the adcom you're reffering to, the one in your sig? is it modified?

thanks
mike

heiney9

yes, and yes, it is modded. Fairly extensively and the modded parts are, on the surface, better parts that should sound better. The NFB-3 uses Nover caps in the power supply and mostly WIMA caps in the signal path. Some Dale resistors as well. The Adcom uses REL, Nichicon Muse, Panasonic FC and Multicaps; all are known to probably sound a little better than the lower end WIMA's (which are still decent caps).

The Keces uses Nichicon Muse and ELNA Cerafine II which are very good as well some decent Dayton poly coupling caps. I will be replacing the Dayton coupling caps with something nicer, shortly.

H9

sda2mike

thanks...i have a virgin 600....been in the 'to do' pipeline for awhile

heiney9

sda2mike wrote: »

thanks...i have a virgin 600....been in the 'to do' pipeline for awhile

I was just encouraging a local Polkie who has aquired all but a few parts to get goin' on his. It's a real GEM when you get done. It really is a superb piece with just a few updates and better key parts. I was amazed at how much better it got. It really sneaks up on you after awhile.

H9

agfrost

...and who might that be? :razz: