Review and Measurements of Audio-gd NFB2 192 DAC

[Veri]

Don't shoot the messenger lol.

Touché

 

[Calexico]

If you want subjective reviews there's tons of websites such as HeadFi that you might wanna check.

Audio gd don't claim good measurements they claim good sound so what's the goal of making a review to say that it measures bad without even trying to see if indeed it sounds good?
Don't make the review then as it's not a secret that it measures bad.

 

[Calexico]

I think that's called confirmation bias, something we all suffer from.

Yes you want to believe in that.
That is your bias.

 

[Calexico]

@Duckeenie
@amirm
ASR should be more rigorous and confirm that the audio gd dac don't sound better by validating with a blind test.
If not you re biased like the audiophiles.
And then for us readers who want the truth we don't know who to trust.
Neither scientists neither audiophiles do blind test.
You re all in the same bias and not open minded.

 

[Stein]

Lets refrain from further diluting the topic please.

I don't see why you need to get so riled up over these measurements if you think the products sound good.

 

[Bamboszek]

Not worried about his electronics. That, we know is great. The worry is about his measurement mic. He is using the Head Acoustics HMSII.3. This is the spec for that: https://www.head-acoustics.com/downloads/eng/hms_II/D1230_HMS_II_3_e.pdf

And 2nd harmonic alone versus frequency:

View attachment 27720

As you see, SINAD is as low as 28 dB at 50 Hz. And only climbs up to 65 dB or so. A perfect headphone would measure like the above graph.

ITU-T P.58 by the way is highly permissive in this regard as you can tell from above graph:

View attachment 27721

These fixtures are designed for other characteristics than pure distortion measurements. The requirement for low distortion is to make sure it doesn't interfere with other measurements.

I think you are looking at wrong thing. HATS can simulate both directions - sending (mouth) and receiving (ear). Quoted graphs shows performance of mouth (used for testing of headset micropohone for example), not ear. It is stated at title of table "Maximum harmonic distortion of HATS mouth".
ITU-T P.58 is standard used mostly in communication. In this field they are rarely interested in signals outside telephony 63 Hz - 8 kHz band. IEC 60318-4 standard is probably better suited for evaluation of high quality audio. Unfortunately it is not freely avaliable and costs about 100 dollars.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Where is the dislike button?

Honestly, ASR is about true fidelity and not about nice sounding equipment. If I want to manipulate the sound I use my Behringer Ultrafex Pro or the tone controls in my AV processor (which I do for bad recordings), but I expect my hardware to put out what is put in with as low THD and noise as possible.

Feedback sounding bad is a myth. Just because somewhere in the 70ies one or two power amps were designed so badly that the feedback was too high and made them sound worse doesn't mean that feedback as such is bad. Actually feedback, if properly designed, makes everything better.

There is ignore button just fyi.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Proper b&k gras mics can measure down to 0.00x% range of distortion harmonics.(probably even lower because we haven't seen a better output device)

 

[JohnYang1997]

As per Audio gd.
Firstly, I don't think banning audiogd future measurement is a good idea. We should be open about companies and manufacturers. Not because it measures bad, we just ban them. That's irrelevant.
Secondly, putting everything else aside, audiogd is(should be) capable of making good measuring audio products. They just chose not to. They color the sound the way they like and many people like them. If that's their goal, that's perfectly fine. It's just that we are objective and want to reproduce hifi audio. By our standard it's bad.
Today someone came to demo my burson that I was selling. He has audio gd dac/preamp. He is happy about the preamp not so much the dac. He thinks the dac sounds like tube that doesn't suit his purpose. So he needs something more neutral. He demoed my burson and my current setup, dx3pro and my own amp. He likes my setup a lot. So good measurement equipment is for him. Burson sounds warmer and lacks some sparkles, sounds wider than it should. So he didn't buy it from me.
And we both understand why people may like burson and audio gd they have their own sound. People may like it. Then let them be.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Audio gd don't claim good measurements they claim good sound

Wrong. Their website is full of measurements and they claim using an Audio Precision. "good sound" is not a measurable value here. I suggest you to check SBAF instead.

Firstly, I don't think banning audiogd future measurement is a good idea. We should be open about companies and manufacturers. Not because it measures bad, we just ban them. That's irrelevant.

100% agree! Nothing says AGD units will get better in the future for some reasons.

 

[Veri]

Wrong. Their website is full of measurements and they claim using an Audio Precision.

This* especially is problematic. They are now trying to appeal to those who think products should be tested, cfr. ASR movement.
But so far, their advertised specs have not even once matched what Amir measured iirc...

 

[JohnYang1997]

They especially is problematic. They are now trying to appeal to those who think products should be tested, cfr. ASR movement.
But so far, their advertised specs have not even once matched what Amir measured iirc...

That's indeed a big problem.

 

[Veri]

But, it seems they now separate 'Music version' from 'Performance version'. So music != performance hahah.

Perhaps someone will send one of these in to Amir for a review in the future. Note for example, 28Pro and 38Pro chip have same measurement graph. Not really good as far as individual product measurement goes. The entire product page for both is just a 'replace' for 9028 to 9038...!
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/N11.28PE/NFB1128PEN.htm
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/N11P/NFB1138PEN.htm
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/AS1/AS1EN.htm

 

[Joachim Herbert]

Audio gd don't claim good measurements they claim good sound so what's the goal of making a review to say that it measures bad without even trying to see if indeed it sounds good?

If I do not like the sound of a recording, and I believe the recording is worthwhile, I will throw izotope Ozone at it. But before I do so, I want a signal chain (JRriver MC>ADI-2 DAC>Neumann KH120A/Focal Elex) that is as clean as can be, just to be sure I add the right kind and amount of distortion. That's way easier and much cheaper than changing the DAC or the amp whenever my mood / perception changes. This does not happen often, though.

 

[ryohnosuke]

@Duckeenie
@amirm
ASR should be more rigorous and confirm that the audio gd dac don't sound better by validating with a blind test.
If not you re biased like the audiophiles.
And then for us readers who want the truth we don't know who to trust.
Neither scientists neither audiophiles do blind test.
You re all in the same bias and not open minded.

Just add some EQ effects to your music ir order to please you. That's fine.

 

[MZKM]

Show me a trustworthy distortion measurement for headphones

Rtings is another good site:
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests/sound-quality/total-harmonic-distortion

They use an HMS ahead and RME UFX, the bad thing is..they use a Schiit Ragnarok amp.

 

[Shadrach]

What a shame. It is still worth bearing in mind that it is doubtful that anyone will hear a difference between this and a better measuring dac.
For me the problem is I can buy a far better measuring dac for a quarter of the price. Still, it does come in black which makes an awful lot of difference to how it would sound to my ears.

Placebo based effects work this way. Since they are based on one's mindset and not auditory input, when that mindset changes in the future, so does impression of said gear. You want to know why high-end audiophiles keep changing gear? This is the main reason.

This is an assertion without evidence. I'm inclined to beleive you may be at least part right but it's almost impossible to prove.

 

[jeroboam]

I just knew the review following best measuring device yet would be fun.

Not sure how exciting this place will be when multiple devices exceed measurement capability into excellence. Well, a couple iFi's buzzing around a pile of Schitt might get some cheap laughs.

Seriously though, is there a contingency plan?

Love your analogy haha humour here has decreased since a certain Savage fellow is less active.

 

[Krunok]

What a shame. It is still worth bearing in mind that it is doubtful that anyone will hear a difference between this and a better measuring dac.
For me the problem is I can buy a far better measuring dac for a quarter of the price. Still, it does come in black which makes an awful lot of difference to how it would sound to my ears.

LOOL So, which DAC sounds better, silver or black?

 

[Shadrach]

LOOL So, which DAC sounds better, silver or black?

I'm kind of partial to the black ones. I hear a much greater depth in the lower bass regions and that digital type glare one associates with silver boxes just isn't there with the darker colours. Of course, the finish of the black is critical. It's one of the reasons I like my Exposure amplifiers.......they're just sooooooooo smooth and this gives deep base that liquid quality silver just can't match, no matter what the finish.