Patswalker
Head-Fier
I am going to preface all this by saying this is only my expeirnce. I'm not a professional anything in this world. I'm just one guy with one expeirnce so there is a high likelyhood other people will hear different tnings that me.
I honestly find it really well balanced. To my ears its neither nigh mid or bass forward. I don't have any actually neutral headphones to listen on unfortunately. But when I listen on my very flat neutral speakers there it is not mid forward or bass forward or high forward. It just plays beautifully. Others might have a different experience but to me it sort of highlights the characteristics of whatever headphone I put on it. I do think it has a thick full detailed sound and some might see that as mid forward but to me its just as detailed and high as it is great in the mids and lows. When I have components that are as full tilt class A hige amounts of power like the Audio GD gear I find that it has an amazing ability to just get out of the way and show all parts of the sonic landscape each headphone has in ways that other lower powered colder sterile gear does.
I have no idea if it rumbles down to 20hz. According to the specs on the Audio GD site it reaches down to 20hz but I've got no way of actually knowing. I can say that I have a set of headphones, the JM Audio XTC2 with the biowool drivers which are known for having spectacular deep bass and mids along with very good highs. On the R28NOS they sound AMAZING. On the Schiit Yggi OG + Audio GD HE9LE they are mind bendingly incredible. Both set ups dig deep into the inherent characteristics of that headphone. Out of all my gear they are best on the both of those setups. So I'm not sure if its the Amp or the Dac or both on the R28NOS that is workinf the magic. When I connect brighter headphones or IEMs to the R28NOS it just makes them sound great. It powerfully presents all of the characteristcs of the headphones I connect. That's what I mean by neutral. Nothing is extra sharp, nothing is extra low, if the headphones can dig deep into the bass they will dig deep deep deep if they are designed to go way up into the highs they will do that. To my listen.
So how I buy headphones is I buy a pair to do one thing perfectly, I am not interested in having one pair of headphones to neutrally do everything. With speakers I do go for total neutral wide sound so I can hear the inherent differences between my tube based record chain and digital chain and not need to switch out spekers. Headphones are different. I have a few chains that work spectacularly well with specific headphones. The R20NOS is interesting to me because it seems to just get out of the way and highling what the headphones naturally do. This can be a good thing and it can also not be a good thing, that dpeneds on what you persoanlly are looking for. I also do not look for balance with my headphones. I listen to Jazz on one set of headphones, rap on another, folk on another, etc. For example, I have a pair of Grado headphones. They obviously have a very specific Grado sound. Some hate them and I LOVE them. I like them on my specific chain that leans warmer brighter and detailed than I like them on the R28NOS. I still love them on the R28NOS but they just sort of sound like a great version of themselves. To some this is exactly what is desired! But some people for example like to listen to V shaped sounding headphones on mid forward gear so they balance each other out. I am not one of those peopole. I like my hyper detailed IEMs on my hyper detailed Chord Mojo 2 and Hugo TT2 because they lean even deeper into the characteristic of each other than a neutral set up like the R28NOS does. Again, they all soind good on the R28NOS but I often times like to see what more I can get I like my mid and bass forward headphones on on the Shitt Yggi OG + Audio GD HE9LE because that dac and headphone amp to me is particularly focused on mids and bass. The R28NOS to me just plays the headphones beautifully without adding any flavor. The R28NOS is where I go when I don't want any sound highlighted and just want to hear the headphones. When I do want focus on the highs mids or bass, when I want extra warmth or sparkle, if I go to the R28NOS I get sort of dissappointed.
