Audio-GD NFB-11

This is really interesting. I thought you thought that AGD amp's were good (ish at least?)

As far as I know the NFB-1AMP is based off of the Master 9. I've had the Master 9 in since Monday, and think its pretty good. Definitely better than my Auralic Taurus mk2 was, and very different from the Headtrip. I'm not hearing it as veiled or dull at least, but your ears are much more experienced than mine. If I had to pick a veiled, dull and warm amp that I have heard it would be the Mjolnir 2 that I heard (stock tubes)...which makes me wonder if I'm f'ing deaf as you would prefer the even Magni 2U over the NFB-1. What would you describe as a Neutral, non dull or veiled amp as a point of reference? Man, the nervosa is kicking in, I should probably just go enjoy some tunes.

 

Perhaps I'm more f'ing deaf than I first thought in that case. Dull? Veiled? Porridge? Not to these battle scarred aural appendages. Not even remotely.

 

Regarding gain:

Master 9
Low Gain : +14 dB
High Gain : +20 dB

NFB-1AMP
Gain: +16 dB
(I don't believe that there really is a "high" or "low" gain mode; the "Gain" button just changes the curve used for attenuator relay values)

 

Can we expect community NFB-1amp measurements at any point? I'd be particularly interested in THD figures, seeing as the official listed specs have been believed to be inaccurate on some other Audio-GD products, if I recall correctly.

 

In other words, there's no point in most people bothering with dedicated audio gear.

 

I used an NFB-1 Amp for about a month. It's been a few years now, but it's still memorable due to the fact that I can't recall hearing an all-around shittier amp since then. Smeared, flat, compressed, veiled and defective are words that come to mind. It just did several things very poorly, and you couldn't walk across the carpet in socks and touch it, or the volume would go haywire. Kingwa said that was user error. LOL.

 

Man, you guys are killing me. Now I really want to try something else with my headphones. A quick question, though, Bazelio. You're definitely referring to the NFB-1AMP? I didn't think that was even available a "few years ago." For some reason I'm thinking that it's been out for less than 2 years; I could be wrong though.

As a test, last night, I removed the NFB1-AMP as a preamp for my active monitors and hooked back up my passive attenuator (Emotiva Control Freak, nothing fancy). It could be my mind playing tricks on me, but it did seem livelier without the AGD amp, so maybe you guys are onto something.

I'll be a bit disappointed, if this amp turns out to be crappier than I thought, since the specs. look great, and it did receive a fair amount of praise (even on this forum, not just the other one, where everything gets praised), but I'll bite the bullet and try something else. I'm interested to see the results of the loaner tour here. In the meantime, I've been checking out some other amps (Schiit, among others).

 

I suspect based on availability of gear that regional 'tastes' develop. South Africa doesn't have a great selection and it's relatively much more costly to buy gear. Europe also seems to have its differences. That doesn't in any way disqualify the opinions of those who have access to lots of gear like Marv, but goes some way to explaining why opinions can clash.

 

Go listen to other stuff and make up your own mind. Don't read shit of forums and have it change your perception. That's how shitty little circlejerks and echo chambers happen and shit like Ultrasone still has fans. Marv himself said it:

 

Ok I got the timeframe wrong. Here's my old for sale ad.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/agd-nfb-1amp-like-new-3-weeks-old.791583/

I remember I'd placed an order for the ZDS and got the NFB-1 while I was waiting. I was curious to see if it was something I could use at work, and if it even partially lived up to the hype. It didn't. Looks like I took a bit of a haircut on that thing. Oh well.

We used to say around here that some things just aren't a matter of "preference"; some things just flat out suck. NFB-1 falls in to that category. Or at least mine did.

 

My unit was a turd as well

 

Well put, and that is what I intend to (augmenting that with the data provided by others). I wasn't implying that I trust someone else's perceptions over my own, and we do have our own individual tastes, after all. However, my perceptions are based on my own experiences and what I've tried so far (which isn't very much, in the way of better amps), so I'm attempting to become more informed with the information available. Of course, ultimately I'll have to decide for myself, but I'll use the experience and impressions of others, as well, especially since I probably won't have the opportunity (or time) to audition all of the gear that the folks here do.

Wait, Ultrasone still has fans?

 

He's going to have to throw in a free massage and burritos for a week to move that thing