A very different preamp/DAC/headphone amp from Rupert Neve Designs

More info, Rupert Neve Designs, fidelice.com
Available through Headphones.com, www.headphones.com/products/rupert-neve-design-fidelice-precision-dac
#audiophile #highendaudio #headphoneamps

[@angusvanhalen2886]

This one is beyond my means, but I have a Neve headphone amp and that thing is sweet. It looks like something an elderly fella would have his oxygen tank hooked up to...I love it

[@rb032682]

Sound City is a great documentary for those interested in that sort of thing.

[@dougg1075]

Yes

[@filipecunha4931]

Hi Steve, Thanks for bringing such a great products :-D

[@bicyclejoelofisoundandvisi523]

A Neve BCM10 loaded with eight 1073 modules cost $8000.00 in 1973. It had direct outs on every channel and seven 1272 amps in there for various things... even the talkback mic on those things were AKG's!

[@brotherbrian5625]

Im sorry for laughing but when you said it shouldn't ring like a bell I just thought how do you even do that? Lol your reviews are always well thought out and spot on. Thank you

[@dougg1075]

Love the look

[@bilguana11]

The ELAC DDP-2 is what I use. It is a DAC/pre-amp and has a headphone amp plus a remote. The design is by Peter Madnick. And it is less than half the cost of the Neve.

[@chipsnmydip]

Minus the transformer coupling and Neve signature this DAC shares a lot of similarities with the Mytek Manhattan II, pro audio roots, balanced, and analog inputs. The headphone amplifier is also pretty good and clean.

[@pauldemara7633]

Neat piece and interesting pro audio pedigree.

[@jhabawack]

That Neil Young soundtrack is so great. I'm glad someone else listens to it on its own. Are there are any decent quality versions available?

[@elisha770]

Amazing that Mr Neve is still designing. Such slick design but VERY weird that connectors are not aligned.. As always $ tag is way out there :)

[@elisha770]

@@stopthefomo i guess

[@asgiov]

@@stopthefomo The headphone section is his design... maybe he contributed to the analog output section of the DAC as well... but he is on record for saying is not really an expert on 'digital' so that is definitely the case.

[@rb032682]

Rupert Neve makes some great stuff. The console at Sound City was famous for being able to push it into saturation (soft clipping?) which actually added sweet harmonics. Steve, when you say the "sound" of the DAC varied , did it vary with different source material, or did the sound vary while listening to a single piece of audio? (I could have said that better if I was a little more buzzed.)

[@lukeshatterhand1969]

R.I.P. Rupert

[@BrianNavalinsky]

Cutting edge 1960's industrial design. What is old is new again.

[@slidetek]

Since it looks like my old late 60's Sony alarm clock, it _still_ looks old. _Toggle switches?_ Check! _Lots of little blinking lights?_ Check! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@BrianNavalinsky]

@@slidetek It is almost identical to a control panel on my parents massage chair- right down to the walnut insert. Frighteningly similar. I think I will go with the Denafrips Terminator.

[@martytoo]

@@BrianNavalinsky Maybe compatible with "Magic Fingers". Got quarters? Only 20,000 quarters and it's yours. Or is it 19,980?

[@BrianNavalinsky]

@@martytoo That is exactly what it was like... It gives one "paws".

[@f1flick]

The Industrial Design is the worst.

[@oliver4005]

Thanks for you're nice Videos. What do you say about the Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt? Less Money, but I love it for easy to drive Headphones.

[@AlainCliche]

Neve are among the best mixing boards (with SSL)... have you had the chance to review the Lavry Dac ? (Lavry also does pro sound gears)

[@Beyondabsence]

Must be really good. 5K. I'm sure some of that is paying for the name.

[@pennfootball71]

Please please please review the phono not one video on that yet.

[@lukeshatterhand1969]

Take a look at german studio gear manufacturer RME and LakePeople/Violectric which are used as Hi-Fi gear here in Germany more and more :)

[@512bb]

There are many good headphone amps to choose from, I'd put my money on the better stand alone DAC every time.

[@lewbarrett]

Rupert's revered and legendary expertise is with respect to analog domain as Steve mentioned.. Without doubt RN's hand in the analog circuitry makes everything the better for it. But as a guy who already owns a decent preamp to switch sources and control levels, the higher end consumer DAC/Pres on the market waste money I'd rather put directly towards the DAC as a stand alone (e.g Denafrips). I certainly understand why people looking for a one box solution will find this feature set interesting but that's not me at least in my main rig. I wouldn't buy a box that expensive for desktop, but I understand the appeal of the format. Still, for all its differences the Neve will still be competing as a chip DAC against everybody else who makes a $5K and under desktop styled solution. A lot of competition in the segment.

[@HowieHaigh]

Any chance you can review the RME ADI-2 FS DAC? It's a DAC and headphone amp combined and hugely tweakable. I'd love to know how you think it compares to this and other DACs.

[@gregolsen4048]

Howard Haigh well if you go to AudioScienceReview where Amir actually tests things on a proper audio analyzer then you will find that it is amazing and will not need an entertaining but vacuous subjective review here.

[@Nomad-Rogers]

The Neve pre-amps are now all plugins for DAWs.

[@HungryEatNow]

How do you measure transparency?

[@RBLevin]

I don't think my amp should cost 10x more than my headphones (or, in the case of my classic 1980s AKG K240, 102x more expensive).

[@RBLevin]

@Tasunke GENIUS!

[@craigenputtock]

I doubt if it sounds different the Topping D10.

[@emarshallp]

For the price i prefer something else. Notice is a great product, but can´t afford it. And this is the time of hi fi audio gear at low cost. So, i would go with something totally different and don´t want to offend with a chinise product, but my future dac will be the smsl m500. Great review, thanks!!!!!!

[@gregolsen4048]

Marcial Pairola you are a man who thinks with his brain not his wallet/ego/dick.

[@billdunn8542]

Bragging rights for sure! 👍

[@dougg1075]

Looks like a DAC Syd Mead would design.

[@TimofejNenarokov]

Nice Monty Python reference (((:

[@jamiemcneil9462]

So, just exactly what kind or topography are we talking about? Is this FPGA , R2R, a chip DAC or what is it, really? Looks like a Swiss Army Knife in a box to me. Never heard of this component before but it sure looks like 5K worth of snake oil to me.

[@caminglis53]

Digital is used to go from Computer workstation back to analogue The analogue I/O would never go digital unless it was a DA AD converter

[@mumulove]

Steve just reads the specs on the box. No information about sound stage, or imaging. No noise analysis. COmpares it to another dac he "reviewed" for which he also didnt talk about any of those things. Very helpful. I know the price and that dave grohl made a documentary.

[@johnnorris7289]

I have the RNHP, which is an excellent headphone amp, but it has a problem which it shares with the Fidelice headphone amp. That is there is a serious turn on / turn off transient which requires you to disconnect your headphones before powering off or on. This is exacerbated by a serious snap when the headphone jack first touches the headphone socket on the RNHP. Serious enough that it makes me cringe and fear for the safety of my headphones. It seems that Neve's engineering doesn't extend beyond the amp circuitry to the human interface. Even the $100 Schiit Magni has a protective relay.

[@asgiov]

I don't know why either... their goal was to have as low of an output impedance as possible, and anything added to the circuit might add to that, I might imagine, but I don't know. IMO... I use one as well... put electric tape over the LEDs and just never turn it off. LOL

[@ArmandoGarcia-rz1ij]

Did this guy just design a phono stage? Could you review it?

[@TheMrgonzalo05]

That's exactly what I'm looking to get since it's price at a very competitive price.

[@doriarama]

This is what I call diplomatic review. But who can really blame him if we already have the updated RME ADI-2 DAC lol

[@nostro1001]

Zero difference in sound between the updated dac and original. Hence, no name change either. Just marginally improves on some specs, but gives a better remote control. Oh with no price change either!!!

[@doriarama]

@@nostro1001 "New model moves the AKM decoder silicon from AK4490 to AK4493 to net better SNR (up from 117dB to 120dB) and decreased distortion (down 10dB to -120dB)...The pricing remains the same as before". So no complains here :)

[@nostro1001]

@@doriarama Definitely no complaints agreed. As per my original comments was all about the spec sheet and no audible sound difference. So anybody wanting the original at a discount if they can found one, wouldn't be doing too badly at all & wouldn't have to worry they have purchased an entirely inferior product. I personally really like the new remote, even though a logitech remote can be programmed and the new remote can be purchased separately. Last time I checked there was no pricing on just a remote. Cheers!!!

[@bunozen1]

1w into 16ohms... it will not drive the Susvara or he6se. It will sound very thin. Good luck with that.

[@sashacolic2427]

Fantastic Steve, Rupert Neve gear :) Hey, just behind your right shoulder is a stuck Border Patrol DAC, you wanna sell it? :) Cheers!

[@mikrophonie5633]

Fide - Lice, the best fidelity for lice who will pay 5k for a DAC.

[@MrDwadi84]

This price is huge, but I am more than a happy also what cheap solutions could do specially like DAC's for Raspberry Pi, there is also tube option.

[@rickym.5271]

I'll would only spend $2k or less for a headphone amp or dac/headphone amp. New or used.

[@redstarwraith]

Speaking of expensive British-made stuff that I'll never be able to afford . . . when can we expect the review of those Tannoys you've been sitting on?

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

redstarwraith the Neve is made in Texas. The Tannoy review will post in two weeks

[@redstarwraith]

@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac Yes, made in Texas, by a Brit. right?

[@slidetek]

Why is the first thing I see _Flied Lice?_

[@GlaciaDay]

Not availble in Japan, meh.

[@cosmonaut9942]

Looks like a toy and is expensive. Is the DAC a delta sigma based design or is it old tech R2R? For Five grand I can buy a Denafrips Terminator AND a Schiit headphone amp. This product is doomed IMO.

[@user-sz2nc7hg8e]

I have heard that this does not have enough power for susvara's?

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

It did for me, but I'm not into playing really loud

[@mhp9843]

I'll probably go for a Denafrips Terminator soon, after all these talks about it : D.

[@josesantiagoortiz5341]

As far as I know this pro-sound slogan belong to JBL,,,,,,,,,,,pro sounds comes home.

[@60zeller]

I take it you have not seen the series. Each show showcases the music history of a diffirent city and they record a song in a notable ( to them ) studio in that city. Sound city is the name of the last studio featured.

[@BoomBoomBoom..]

The Soundcity doc was a separate full length feature documentary

[@djb113]

I would love to know how many people stopped watching when he revealed the price

[@nicholastaylor7737]

No left/right balance control = no use to me at all

[@dougg1075]

5k dangit! I’m out... ( poor)

[@emreisiklar]

He didnt like it, just being nice

[@ThermaL-ty7bw]

payed 120 euro for a FIIO K3 , i'm good 5000 euro is a bit much for the normal consumer my kiio k3 goes in to a SubPac M2X which are connected to HD 280 Pro sennheisers probably kids stuff for a guy like you , but it sounds good to me for now ... sound always changes and gets better , so we need to change with it

[@mdr4670]

No Remote means the manufacturer does not care about Disabled customer's needs.

[@hemantishwaran5741]

Overpriced. No treble no bass no equalizer minimal controls I’ll take my RME Adi-2-DAC which has all the above has XLR and two headphone output and costs 1k and sounds lovely

[@christopherhudson3163]

Steve, love your shows, love your music reviews. But DAC reviews? Not so much. These days a $100 DAC provides completely transparent analog sound. $5000 for a DAC? Insane waste of money. It's 'signature' is simply it's distortion profile. Suggest a you need a bit more science/'objectivism' when doing these DAC reviews.. Just suggesting :)

[@mixodorians12]

5000 quid? Just buy a cheap guitar and spend it on guitar lessons. You will be about to 40 times better than Neil Young.

[@i20010]

So its a 5K mediocre dac.

[@wa2368]

I'll go with the Denafrips Terminator you reviewed, which will be the last DAC i ever bought. Thanks Steve, but, i don't give a ratsass about Neve and his heritage. Heritage?!!? whytf would i care about heritage?!?! Solid engineering and sonic ecstasy is all that matters to me.

[@yaniv-nos-tubes]

he makes the best preamp on the planet for professional use, your'e favourite music has been recorded using his gear,so heritage matters in that case but as a dac only you can't beat the terminator for the price .as a preamp you can't get close to neve for the price even ignoring the dac.

[@jlmain5777]

The deal breaker wasn’t not having a remote. The deal breaker was that price $4995! I just lost my cornflakes. Nice review Steve. Sounds interesting.

[@atoz6552]

Here we go again. 5k? I don't want to be a party pooper, but comon sense tells me that this headphones amp is outrageously overprice. No matter how I look at it. No matter how good it sounds, no matter the construction quality, no matter the features, to me it's way way overpriced! You can tell this company reaches out to either very passionate in dept audiophiles (who are sometimes ready to be surrounded by ten of thousands of dollars of equipment but in a small appartment with barely a chair and a bed) but in most cases, very wealthy people who might not care about audio quality. Personnaly, even if I had the money, i'd look for something else. Not my kind of products at all.

[@wolfgangpoller7810]

Hi, 1st

[@filipecunha4931]

Hi Steve, Thanks for bringing such a great products :-D