REVIEW: Audio God NFB11.28

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Tenflare

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How do you become an Audio God?

One way is to drop Gupta money on a WAF-worthy setups like these... https://za.pinterest.com/emaileddiechan/audiophile-listening-rooms/

The other is to buy yourself an Audio Gd... or "Audio God" to the enlightened.

For a Chinese company, Audio Gd have adopted an approach that's more NWAVGuy than Fiio. Their vast collection of attractively-priced DACs and amps aren't made in a Shenzhen factory with nets below the windows, free surgeon masks, and 3 minute tea times.

No, everything is handmade and tested by Chinese Audiophiles in a such a way as to have earned the company legend status. Sure, a tedious but amicable email correspondence is needed to get any of the devices, but you will find that the products are very much worth the compromise of their web-designers just not bothering to add a Shopify widget to their site. Because despite a design language so utalitarian and spartan that it makes SMSL look like B&W, they pretty much only make fantastic things. 

The NFB11, is no different. And when my R2R11 order fell through, and a generous fellow forumite came from on high, I couldn't say no -- both because I'd never live it down, and because I'd never hear the end of it from Arie (Capetownwatches).

And very much like Arie, I now own the the NFB11.28 and even more like him, I can now extoll its infinite virtues. Long story short: I REGRET NOTHING. This thing is well and truly deserving of its giant-killer mantle.

And I quite like the look of it to be honest.

It has this kind of first draft, inoffensive design language that for some reason, makes it a metric ton more serious than a Schiit Jotunheim. And inside this metal lunchbox you will find the most sensationally capable DAC, able to run any DSD's or 384khz FLAC files you can throw at it with generous aplomb.

Now this is the part where I go all Inner Fidelity on you and wax lyrical about some measurements. Here's a graph! Here's some specs! Here's a picture of a multimeter WOW!

I really don't care what equipment output looks like.

I care about what it sounds like.  Here it is: You turn on the Audio God, you let it warm up some, you plug in headphones... Suddenly, Chris Cornell is alive and playing "Like A Stone" in the tiny room your wife allowed you to share with a litter box.

This, is audio's answer to the virtual reality headset. It's an immersive product that breaks down the membrane between you, your source, and the magnetic spinny clicky thing that source is stored on. It's different to valves -- different to vinyl. Imagine you could take a flac file and somehow return that file to the way it sounded when it was first heard by its artist and production crew off of a Reel To Reel. That's what this sounds like.

Then, you realise that this thing comes with a headphone amp. And the headphone amp can comfortably run headphones with impedence ratings that don't even exist yet. Into 32ohms it'll plow over 3 watts, making it equally capable of running Audeze LCD 4's (if you have these, come over and listen) or blowing up a pair of Skullcandy Heshes (which I'd film but I really like their cables).

Furthermore, the NFB11 comes equipped with options galore.

Its RCA lineouts are able to become pre outs at the flick of a switch (making it one of the best DACs for active monitor-aficianados like myself) and it has high and low gain settings that actually make a difference.

Then you get the inputs. Amanero -- previously an optional extra on the old NFB11-- now comes standard, meaning even lower jitter than the XMOS standard still heralded in pricier DACs. The toslink-in helps when I connect the PS4. And if in need of added processing power for editing or design work, I can play music from my laptop via the coax out on my Nuprime uDSD.

Weaknesses?

Other than a, let's face it, absolutely terrible ordering process that scares off more patrons than it really should, there aren't many from my standpoint. I know some combo DAC/amps have line in functionality but with the ESS Sabre ES9028 Pro on board, I can't really see why anybody would want to. Another "kinda" weakness is the lack of a balanced 4-pin. But the jury is out on whether or not balanced is even a thing. 

All in all this isn't just a DAC, this is a digital to analogue converter in the truest sense. It's not bits and bytes decoded into audio; it's bits and bytes turned flesh and blood. This isn't Mid Fi. It's Hi Fi priced as Mid Fi. It's Hi Fi that sets fire to any idea of Hi Fi having a price barrier.

All in all I could not be happier. My Monolith M1060's have been both awakened by its arrival, and utterly supplanted by it as my purchase of the year.

If you want to upgrade yourself to Audio God, I highly recommend the uncompromised and omnipotent Audio Gd NFB11.28. Praise be. :notworthy:

:whistler: Maybe try getting it through the MagnaHiFi, though.  :whistler:
 
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