My modest/compact but really nice sounding system

[Toby]

Here are some photos of my relatively small but very nice sounding system.

This is my PC based music system, until I get an external DAC im using the PC with a decent sound card connected to my NJC Audio Monitor II headphone amp which has my AKG K702 headphones plugged in, my M-Audio keyboard is also connected to my PC so I can create my own songs using Cubase as I have always been around music of some sort all my life & really have a great interest in anything musical.

Photo 1 (my system)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/MusicSetup2.jpg

Photo 2 (PC system with my headphone amp & headphones)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/MusicSetup1.jpg

Photo 3 (the NJC Audio Monitor II headphone amp with AKG K702 headphones)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/AKGphoneswithMonitorIIamp.jpg

Photo 4 (An arty shot of my AKG's) ;)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/AKGK702.jpg

Photo 5 (My M-Audio MIDI keyboard, great for making music)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/Mykeyboard1.jpg

Photo 6 (An arty shot of the keyboard) ;)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/Mykeyboard2.jpg

Photo 7 (Another closeup of the AKG's playing around with my camera) ;)
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/TobyJ88/Hifi%20Setup/AKGK702closeup.jpg

Thats about it, its quite a compact setup which really suits me as I dont have lots of space for hifi units with large speakers so I needed a really good quality headphone set up, thats why I went for the AKG K702's with the NJC Audio headphone amp as the AKG's really sound great with this amp & the whole system doesnt take up much room which is perfect :)

[Thing Fish]

Very nice Toby. I've always liked AKG headphones.

[Tim]

Nice pictures there fella :) What are your thoughts on the Headamp?

[Alex_UK]

Nice, Toby. Have you tried Propellerhead Reason? Awesome software. :)

[Marco]

Nice, Toby. What's the headphone amp? I like the simplicity of it :)

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

NJC

Nice finished face plate, very clean sharp edges

Hi Toby
A late welcome by the way

Re: Headphone unit...Can i ask why the facia has no text applied? also is their plenty bass from the unit?

[Toby]

Nice pictures there fella :) What are your thoughts on the Headamp?

Thankyou :)

In short its a superb amp, somebody else asked me about that on the other page here so ive just put up a few words about it over here (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10950)

[Toby]

Nice, Toby. Have you tried Propellerhead Reason? Awesome software. :)

No I seem to have always kept with Steinberg, pretty hefty learning curve but im not a stick in the mud so im always willing to try out new software, I will give it a google & see what its about, thanks :)

[Toby]

Nice, Toby. What's the headphone amp? I like the simplicity of it :)

Marco.

Its full name is the Monitor II Class A headphone amplifier, from the "Reference Series" range by NJC Audio.

Me too, I like simple but nicely made things.

[Rare Bird]

Blimey they still making Cubase!, i was using that years ago with Atari on studio engineering courses..

[Toby]

Me too, small world, on the Atari ST 520 with one of those black & white monitors they used to make, oh that brings back memories, that is how I first found out about Cubase, been using one version or another ever since.

[Rare Bird]

Aye Atari 124..I love the Engineering courses, it was just really to touch up on new ways of doing things i suppose.. i still had, till recently my old Akai S1000 sampler i bought around that time.That was a real great thing back then..i suspect studio Engineering is a whole different ball game these days. Are they still using MIDI or has that been subseeded by something else? MIDI was all new to me.. Being an early Analog Synthesizer man i was still struggling getting some different brands keyboards to talk to each other, My MK.I ARP 'Odyssey' for instance didnt even have CV/Gate The most modern thing i had was my trusty Roland 'Jupiter 8' with 'MSQ700' which of cource was DCB...I don't think i could cope with it all this new fangled stuff these days tbh

[Toby]

Yes I remember all those you have mentioned, real classics, the only piece of equipment I still have is my Roland D50, those were the days!

My little M-Audio MIDI keyboard still uses MIDI but it now connects by USB to the computer rather than the usual MIDI connections, IN OUT, THRU etc so its a little easier to get set up.

[Rare Bird]

Hi Toby
Don't know if you overlooked a few questions early on but here goes again

Re: Headphone unit...Can i ask why the facia has no text applied (I prefer no text is this an option?) also is their plenty bass from the unit?

I prefer to run HRT 'Streamer II' using a seperate heaphone unit instead of the DAC/Headphone unit i'm presently using..

[Marco]

Re: Headphone unit...Can i ask why the facia has no text applied (I prefer no text is this an option?)


Yes, I'd also like to know this - cheers! :)

Marco.

[Toby]

Sorry yes I missed that one :scratch:, at first I wondered what you meant by text so I just googled the NJC website & I see the amps now have some text on the fronts, everything else looks identical to mine, I actually quite like the text, when I ordered mine it took just over a week before it was ready because I remember he said he was finishing off making some more panels, so since he makes these I dont see why he couldnt leave the text off of one for you, although dont go by me as I think it would have to be something you would need to ask him.

About the bass, if you mean does this amplifier have an actual bass boost (more bass than normal) then no I think you would be dissapointed, as this amp is all about a completely neutral sound so basically a nice flat & even frequency response, but yes it definately has bass & it goes as deep as my headphones will produce so its really only limited by the headphones, like I said in my mini review its superb for comparing & evaluating different headphones though as it doesnt add anything itself, so if there isnt enough bass then thats how those headphones are, like for example if you were to plug in a pair of Sennheiser HD650's it would be more bassy than my AKG's, so really down to the choice of headphones I think.

[Tim]

Thanks for the review, pictures and replies Toby.

I have just emailed NJC Audio re the faceplate, as I am going to order one if it can be supplied as yours is. For any other members who may be interested, I will post the companies reply here, regarding supply without text.

Thanks again Toby :)

[Rare Bird]

Great stuff Tim i was gonna do that, i was wanting a Black annodised finish.

[Tim]

Great stuff Tim i was gonna do that, i was wanting a Black annodised finish.
When I get the reply I will fire one back with that request for you Andr'e.

[Beechwoods]

Your photographs are fantastic. Nice one Toby.

[Tim]

Your photographs are fantastic. Nice one Toby.
They are bloody good aren't they - he should be on commission :lol:

[Rare Bird]

About the bass, if you mean does this amplifier have an actual bass boost (more bass than normal) then no I think you would be dissapointed, as this amp is all about a completely neutral sound so basically a nice flat & even frequency response, but yes it definately has bass & it goes as deep as my headphones will produce so its really only limited by the headphones, like I said in my mini review its superb for comparing & evaluating different headphones though as it doesnt add anything itself, so if there isnt enough bass then thats how those headphones are, like for example if you were to plug in a pair of Sennheiser HD650's it would be more bassy than my AKG's, so really down to the choice of headphones I think.

Um intresting Toby, i have a pair of AKG '701' but never use them they are too light bass for my tastes, i do however like the Senn 'HD650' but can't live with the aesthetics! however my secret 70's vintage cans are bassy, maybe this unit would be a good thing for em. However I'm frightened of loosing the sound i get from my present DAC/Headphone unit. but must move away from it within the main system, resigning it to PC listerning only while i'm busy posting pointless crap on AOS :lolsign:

btw: what is that PC you have in the pic?

[Toby]

Your photographs are fantastic. Nice one Toby.

Thanks, you know what they say, people that are into HiFi are usually into cameras too ;)

[Toby]

They are bloody good aren't they - he should be on commission :lol:

Yes that would be nice wouldnt it :), im sure the sale of AKG headphones goes up with every review people do, same for amps I guess.

[Marco]

Hi Toby,

Here's something to cheer you up, if you're fed up with the Royal Wedding....

Since the 10,000th thread posted on AoS didn't, erm, quite work out as planned, we've decided to award you with the prize of a £30 HMV Gift Voucher, in accordance with the new rules, see details here: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10483, for your excellent review of the NJC Audio Monitor II Headphone Amp in Strokes of Genius:

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?p=209731#post209731

We thought that this was a superb effort from a new member, and the standard others should aspire to when reviewing a piece of equipment :)

So well done! And please continue to contribute here and become (as you already are) a valued part of our community.

If you PM me your full name and address, I'll send the voucher off to you. Enjoy - and tell us what you buy with it! :cool:

Marco.

P.S I'll also post this on your thread in S.O.G, so that everyone sees it.

[Beechwoods]

Well done Toby!

[bigmarty]

Well done Toby,

Great write up, but really loved your pics.

Marty. :)

[Rare Bird]

Do i have to keep repeating myself?

[Toby]

Sorry, I was going to reply late last night but something came up so thought I would do it this morning instead.

The PC is one of those little mini ITX boards, this one is a Gigabyte GA-D525TUD, quite a nice little board too, very small, it has a dual core CPU so its not too slow either, it cant keep up with faster PC's but they are usually much bigger & for what im using it for I dont need a hot running CPU which takes up loads of space, the soundcard is an X-Fi which I use the 24bit soundfonts on, although im keeping my eye out for an external DAC to go with this whole setup.

So do tell me more about those secret vintage headphones you mentioned ;)

[Techno Commander]

Welcome Toby. Lovely little system. Your music PC, is it a DIY build? What case does it use?

[Toby]

It is a DIY built PC & uses a little mini ITX board, the case is called an Aplus CUPID-2, I like the whole set up because it doesnt take up too much space & it is also silent when running.