NVA TFS

Docfoster

As requested...

A bit of a new one for me this. My fist serious experience of 'compurter audio', the NVA TFS is sitting on a side table in betweem my hifi shelves and my right channel speaker.
It arrived with Jason to my speaker bake-off on Sunday. It is the production model complete with a familiar looking separate NVA PSU (linear) encased in the trademark black acrylic. (The PSU has twin transformers to power 2 different parts of the TFS (I think mother board and sound card) separately.) The unit is 98% finished, requiring just its badge, wifi aerial and some software (e.g. for playing Bluray discs). Jason assured me that should I want to make a purchase he will exchange the unit I currently have on loan for a 100% complete version.
I am using my flatscreen TV as a monitor (via HDMI), and a wireless mouse and keyboard as a control.

My first impressions of the TFS at my speaker bake-off were extremely positive. In fact, I don't think my system has ever sounded as good (digital or vinyl). I should underscore that I have never used computer audio seriously in my system before. The only time that I have had any sort of decent listen to computer audio was to Hugo's setup at the London bake-off show (this convinced me that computer audio was something that I should take a serious listen to). Thus my opinions on the TFS cannot be made in the context of digital audio generally, but rather in the conext of my system, and specifically my current digital front end (Song BDP into Musical Fidelity A3 24 192k upsampling DAC).
Sonically the TFS, playing ripped CDs, trounces every aspect of my ususal CD replay. The sound is smoother (lacking all grain) - snare drums snap rather than grind, more balanced, more controlled, more musical and more listenable. It is providing me with moving moments on an hourly basis. The sound is remarkable, and typically NVA in the way that it leaves no sonic footprint on the music. The time that Jason has spent tuning by ear the variables of the design and components has been well spent.

Jason will be selling the first half a dozen or so models, through the usual NVA channels and with the usual NVA after sales care, at £1800. Thereafter they will be £2200.
He is preparing some documentation which may give more info on software and hardware.

Hope that's OK for a starter.

Ben

Theo

I remember enjoying listening to an earlier prototype at the Whittlebury show: it pressed my buttons in terms of both sound quality and convenience - and I thought it looked pretty damn good too. I'd love to home dem this in the near future: it would be interesting to compare it against my Esoteric CDP.

figlet108

Hi Theo,

good to see you on here.

If you are serious about a TFS home dem I happen to be driving down to Reading Saturday week (12th) for a DAC bake off and I could maybe swing by your neck of the woods and drop one off for you if the timing works ok.

Ben, likewise in terms of bringing down your TFS.

Jason

figlet108

Hope no one minds me pasting my TFS post from HFS.....

So, after many many months of hard R&D I am very proud to announce and unveil the production TFS, a state of the art all-in-one digital HiFi source:

You can just about see the slot and eject button on the front for the slot-loading bluray drive

The dual power supply is at the bottom powering both the PC and the analogue stage of the DAC separately. The XLR connectors have different numbers of pins and are different colours so you can't go wrong

Lots of connectors! Wireless, blutooth, hdmi, usb, GB ethernet, and of course audio.

It's the bottom row of audio connectors that are the interesting ones. Those belong to the modified and upgraded Xonar Essence DAC that is being powered by the blue XLR connector. The other audio connectors built into the motherboard also give good sound and provide 7.1 surround for movies and multichannel tracks.

The TFS runs Windows 7 Pro and comes with a fully licensed version of J River Media Centre installed and configured for best quality audio playback. It's also set up to rip CDs into bit-perfect FLAC files.

And of course it's a Windows PC, so you can use it for Spotify, Internet radio, TV, Movies, You Tube, Office, email etc.

It's also completely silent, low power and very eco-friendly and designed to fit in aesthetically into your living room hifi racks. I tested the WAF at home and all my wives gave it the thumbs up

And the icing on the cake for all you long suffering NVA modders: the case opens up very easily - it's not glued on!

Oh, and there's a remote control too.

Here are some meaningless specs:

• Dual core 1.6Ghz Intel processor

• 4 GB ram

• 128 GB SSD (solid state drive) capable of storing over 200 uncompressed CDs or 2000 high quality mp3 CDs

(there's provision for 2 more drives so you can increase your capacity as your music collection increases)

• Blu-ray drive (including DVD/CD writer)

• IR remote control

• Windows 7 Pro

• J River Media Player 15 (full version)

Built in DAC in the form of the highly regarded Xonar Essence

• This has been modified and improved from stock 

• Built in DAC eliminates the need for expensive interconnects or external clocks

Separate high quality dual linear power supply

• One 300va supply for the PC

• One 300va supply for the built in DAC

FSQF (Figlet Sound Quality Factor): 11 (out of 10) 

Here are some usage scenarios:

a) Connect TFS to existing screen in living room (e.g. plasma screen TV)

In this scenario you would probably have a wireless kb/trackpad like this Keysonic one

And you would also be using the IR remote for immediate controls like volume and skipping tracks etc

As secondary controls in this scenario you could also use a tablet or smartphone for most common controls including changing albums and playlists etc, but not for the more advanced controls that would benefit from proper screens and keyboards

This scenario does not necessarily require a home network if you are playing off the internal SSD.

b) There is no screen and the TFS is used headless

In this scenario you would really want to use a laptop or large tablet PC/Mac as the controller. Effectively the screen, keyboard/trackpad for the TFS would be on your lap.

This scenario *does* need a home network for the controller laptop/tablet to communicate with the TFS.

Again you would probably want to use the IR remote and or smartphone for simple and immediate controls like volume etc, but again, small screen interfaces will never be satisfying or effective controllers for everything you might want to do, so you will need a larger screen laptop or tablet.

c) A variant on a) is to use a touch-screen display connected to the TFS and then add any/all of the other options (wireless kb/trackpad, remote laptop/tablet, IR remote, smartphone etc)

Controlling via laptops/tablets/smartphones can be done by either remote controlling Windows as a whole, or just J River Media player, which has iPhone, Android and internet browser interfaces. (J River Media Player also has a dedicated IR remote) that some may want to invest in.

Personally I seem to have fallen into scenario a) with the Plasma TV and the IR remote + wireless KB/trackpad, even though I have the facility to use all of the above mechanisms.

This is generally available from now. The price for the first run of these will be £1800 and thereafter will be £2200

Please form an orderly queue  

Jason

Alan

I would queue Jason, but I'd have to pay you with buttons & belly button fluff, as Coops has had all my money.

I wish you every success with this - I hope the viral engine gets in in gear for this. I suspect it is rather excellent.

sq225917

It's common courtesy to tell people why you have moderated their posts.  Or aren't we allowed to post on advertorial threads?

uglymusic

Simon

I haven't modded this one, but there's a PM for you.

Cheers

Dave

Alan

A general point on what has been described as an 'advertising' thread.

First - there's no point in arguing over definitions, Simon has background in marketing and I am sure this thread can be defined as marketing.

Marketing is generally seen as a cynical exercise, selective highlighting of part truths to promote something or someone, often for profit. However, often a community - especially an enthusiast community like AudioChews,  consists of people making recommendations based on incomplete understandings, anecdotal 'evidence' and personal experience. This is not as cynical, but it is no more accurate for it.

Any trade or dealer has the right to be an enthusiast, as does a designer. Especially a designer. For that reason, all such are treated as regular posters here on AudioChews (until such time as they prove they are spamming).

Jason is known here by all 5 moderators from a previous forum, and his enthusiasm for music & audio is above questioning. His product is a result of the enthusiasm and ability he has.

Many new products are of general interest to forums - the TFS is one such - and posts concerning them are welcome but subject to careful monitoring.

These are meant as general comments on policy, and not aimed at either the TFS or Simon specifically. We want to maintain an inclusive, interesting and easy-going environment here at AudioChews. I hope that clarifies things a little.

coops

I believe the problem every manufacturer or 'servers' is that everyone is going t oask what does it do that my Pc/mac can't?
Daniel Weiss is launching one too ,hugely more expensive than Jason's, there will be a small percentage of customers for something more convenient ,which is already pre- configured but I believe it is going to be a small market.
No reflectiononJason or his product just my general observation.

Docfoster

I've bought one.
Thanks to Jason for delivering and setting it up on Saturday morning.
I continue to be really happy with the sound. The groovy dub bass on Burning Spear's 'Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost' was shaking my booty this evening. (My sudden exclamantion of 'Jah rastafari and glory to God!' startled my cat.)
Over the coming weeks I'll play around with it (the TFS, not my booty) a bit more and see what happens...
Ben

Alan

Shiny black booty shaking in deepest Gloucestershire....- priceless.

uglymusic

I've bought one.
Thanks to Jason for delivering and setting it up on Saturday morning.
I continue to be really happy with the sound. The groovy dub bass on Burning Spear's 'Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost' was shaking my booty this evening. (My sudden exclamantion of 'Jah rastafari and glory to God!' startled my cat.)
Over the coming weeks I'll play around with it (the TFS, not my booty) a bit more and see what happens...
Ben

Well, now you know what you can do with all that rehearsal time ;-)

Mervyn

Well done that man !

Ben you must have the full NVA set now ie TFS and TSS and Cubes. Bit of a trend starting there !

Mervyn

ps how are you controlling the TFS ? Was thinking about plugplayer for the Nexus.

Docfoster

Let's not start the 'fan-boy' thread again...



:-"

Currently I use a combination of my TV, wireless keyboard/mouse and the Asus remote now supplied with the TFS.
I'd like to try something like plugplayer...
Unfortunately I have no wifi in my house (I assume this is necessary...).

I really need to learn more about all of this stuff.

Ben

Docfoster

Starting to get to grips with this lovely piece of kit.
It plays music and movies beautifully.
As I'd privately hoped, Jason has been very helpful holding my hand through my first tentative steps with computer audio.

My life has been busy for a wee while, so my computer audio learning curve has been gentler than I'd hoped, but who knows, I may even have the confidence to post something here about computer audio soon...

X_X