Not your Father's NAD: Masters M66 review

[@uglybob7505]

Great video, thanks for sharing 🙂 and I REALLY hope its N.A.D 🙂

[@DarkoAudio]

New. Acoustic. Dimension.

[@FelixtheMetalcat]

All these years I thought it was North Atlantic Designs.​.... oops

[@peturstefansson]

@@DarkoAudio There are no dots after every word in New Acoustic Dimension. But. Maybe. We. Will. Begin. Doing. That. After. Today. 😀

[@PaulLembo]

KEF isn’t a synonym for balls the same way nads is. 😊 Be not surprised that we call it N.A.D. Then again people say Schitt all the time. We have no standards!

[@irtnyc]

It's definitely "N.A.D." and not Nad.

[@Tsxtasy1]

The M10 was my first hifi purchase. I really liked it at first. Then it broke. Reached out to NAD support, and they did nothing to help. I’m not allowed to repair it myself, and replacement parts are insanely expensive. I had to ship it to a shop 1200 miles away. Then waited 9 months for the repair because of parts shortages. In that time I got to demo a lot of other equipment and realized the M10 doesn’t really sound that good. Ended up replacing it with a separates system and will never buy another NAD product again. Their support department did literally nothing and wouldn’t give me any insight as to what could have happened on a unit so new.

[@bbfoto7248]

That's great first-hand experience to know and share and a definite consideration when spending this amount of money on any audio component. After-sales support and service is a big deal to any consumer that is shopping/comparing any potentially significant purchase, and some manufacturers just don't "get it." Cheers

[@rolandlickert2904]

I had a different experience in Bali?service was fast only 2 weeks and no charge?

[@cornwallfromtheair1503]

Too many people in this thread with reliability issues. That’s me out.

[@grommie]

Thanks for the upload! I will try the pre amp this year in a shop. My last amp was an NAD Silverline 200. ❤ last 12 years its active speakers for me.

[@anthonyfrancis2374]

Nad generally refers to a goose egg in the UK.

[@95lovi]

Ah new glasses, intresting

[@McMurdo]

Nad/bluesound have brutal wifi issues. My m10 and powernodes are so disappointing. The fact you had this same issue on a brand new device is disappointing but sadly not surprising. Their customer service doesn’t care. They just blame your wifi router hang up. Meanwhile my wiim devices work flawlessly in the same locations. I now use a wiim to my m10. But the m10 auto sense doesn’t work most of the time. “Master series”?

[@cbayardelle]

Love you’re channel, I’m 73 & I mostly listen to jazz, rock from my youth. You mentioned electronic music & a band called Monolake, I’ve been listening to silence. I’m using elac ub5, I think they came out in 2016. The image & soundstage from the speakers are amazing One of the tracks on silence called avalanche was a total 3D experience, many tracks on the Monolake are mind blowing thanks for turning me on to electronic music, also alva noto hybr:I’d ll ectopia environment is also a 3D experience.

[@vagomaniac]

I was waiting for a review of this m66 good job. For the price I expected more from the dac section. Most audiophiles have a favourite dac and wouldn't give it up for something like this. I mean it does have a plethora of features but audiophiles usually don't seek all in one devices. What would shake the market would be a dedicated streamer from NAD WITH DIRAQ up to 500hz running blue os. It can be priced competitively and if the streamer section is decent enough it will be a best seller. I say that because after using diraq for bass, mine and my friend's system, concluded that it is a must have for untreated spaces. There was such a device from NAD that also had preamp, dac, phono stage that were essentially unusable and only raised the price.

[@larsv6144]

For 6000 euros, one would expect the M66 DAC to outperform a 1200 euro dac. So this doesn’t make the M66 an all in one box streamer, dac, preamp, if you still need an external dac.

[@cornwallfromtheair1503]

Only it won’t work with an external DAC.

[@joecorona2456]

I've been selling NAD since it was NEW ACOUSTCIS DIMENSIONS so I'm going with it as an acronym. Each letter individually.

[@johnv5929]

If we say KEF instead of K.E.F,we should also say NAD.They are both acronyms of three word names.

[@zimbab]

It’s N.A.D. and KEF. Nobody said things had to be logical or consistent. 😋

[@richardsinger01]

How would you say EMI or IBM ?

[@richardsinger01]

Having said that I have always said Nad not N.A.D. there's no logic to these things.

[@thieveslikeus1985]

KEF was always known as “KEF”. NAD on the other hand stands for something. Like BMW or BBC. (Sure KEF was derived from the site it was founded on but no one understands KEF to mean Kent Engineering & Foundry).

[@goodforwatch]

i second the motion 😂

[@meneer_kooi4466]

I’m curious what you think about the Lyngdorf TDAI 3400 and N.A.D. M23 in comparison to using the M66 as a preamp and why it was not in the side by side comparisons, because I know how much you like the Lyngdorf/N.A.D. combo :)

[@frenzy382]

i'm keen to know also. I have 3400/M23 combo and love it, but would like to know comparison. I expect that you have 3400/M23 in Berlin whilst M66/M23 is in Lisbon? difficult to do side by side.

[@calebkeen8967]

I believe "in-band phase alignment" means that in the relevant frequency band (40-100 hz. or so for music) the subwoofers and mains will be both time-aligned and phase-aligned. You can have a speaker/sub system that is time-aligned, but not phase-aligned, because the phase of the relevant waveform from mains and sub(s) is X degrees out of alignment with each other even though it reaches the ears at the same time. There is a great deal of debate as to whether phase alignment is audible, however, while time-alignment most definitely is due to cancellation/nulling which is most dramatically evidenced by a suck-out in the crossover region between subs and mains.

[@bbfoto7248]

"In-band phase alignment" simply refers to the phase alignment and relationship between any two drivers Within The Crossover Region. IOW, within the range of frequencies that overlap and which both drivers are playing concurrently, which is determined by the type/alignment of the Crossover being used (Bessel, Butterworth, Linkwitz-Riley, etc.), the Center Frequency, and the Slope in dB/Octave of both the HPF & LPF. Obtaining an ideal Phase Alignment between any two drivers Within The Crossover Region is THE most important factor for enabling a group of separate drive units (a multi-way loudspeaker) to act as ONE...i.e. a single point source. And the Phase Alignment has a significant impact on Dynamic Transients, Coherence/Clarity/Detail, and Imaging Cues. And, Yes, Time Alignment is very important as well. But "Phase Alignment" (or not) is definitely audible. I could demonstrate this to you in real time if you were to sit in the MLP of one of my high-end car audio systems which use a 12-channel DSP while I adjusted the phase between the Subwoofer & Midbass drivers in real time. With Smaart v8/v9, OpenSoundMeter, or JL Audio's TüN v4.x acoustic measurement and DSP software (for JL's VXi series of DSP-amplifiers), you could see a real-time visual representation of the acoustic phase alignment as it changes on the graph. JL Audio has posted a few tutorials and demonstration videos on utoob which show this in real time when using their TüN software combined with their MAX acoustic measurement system (5 microphone array and USB audio interface) with their multi-channel VXi series of DSP-amplifiers. And if I were to save 2 separate presets in the DSP using one that is set with ideal phase alignment and another where it is out of alignment by ~45° or more, you would instantly hear the difference as I switched between the two presets. The apparent "speed" of the bass and midbass, its dynamic impact & punch, and its resolution/clarity/detail, as well as its impression of being "locked" upfront with the rest of the soundstage are instantly affected and are audible. I also use the miniDSP C-DSP 8-12 processor with DIRAC Live in one of my car audio systems with excellent results. And to achieve great sound (especially an accurate deep, wide, and linear soundstage with pinpoint imaging) in a car audio environment is orders of magnitude more difficult compared to a home audio system.

[@calebkeen8967]

@@bbfoto7248 I only noted that there was debate, as there is an almost all things audio-related, but fwiw I agree with you that phase alignment is audible. I believe time-alignment is the priority in the region under discussion by Darko, however, which is the crossover region between mains and subs where there is no 'pinpoint' detail to speak of, and the perceptibility of bass transients is almost entirely conditioned by reverberation times.

[@MattLoberstein]

Would love to hear your thoughts vs. its little brother, the C658

[@Game_Impala]

How does this compare to Eversolo DMP-8. Obviously, the cost is vastly different, but how about the sound?

[@roccobruno8027]

I wonder how the Anthem STR Preamplifier would stack up against these two preamps?

[@edhouck2676]

NAD is derived originally from New Acoustic Dimension. It was a consortium of US dealers looking for an alternative to low profit and low quality Japanese brands. The plain cosmetic was a stark contrast to the typical Japanese receiver’s light show, jokingly called ‘Tokyo by Night’ and text advertising front panels of several useless features. Dealers would hold “Dealer Congress” meetings, voting on models and features they wanted produced. From the beginning it has been N A D. I was a manufacturer rep in their early days.

[@pj1333]

Great video! Thank you as I have been waiting for a review of the M66. I was considering offerings from Technics, Hagel, Anthem and Parasound but leaning NAD. This nails it. I do wonder if this is too costly for a 2 ch when you can add another $2,500 and get a Marantz AV10 or Anthem AVM 90 which reportedly, have the same level of measured performance in the 2 ch domain. (Based off the M33 measurements by some.) NOTHING beats the clean look of the M66 paired with the M23 though! That is SICK looking and a Technics SL-1200 G-S would look amazing between them! Cheers!

[@daniannaci3258]

What? Nobody mentioned the VU meter display being brazenly backwards?? That alone would drive me up a wall as I listen with my eyes, too.

[@jos5067]

In the past NAD stands for ‘not another defect’, but that was the past. For me: far too expensive!

[@hermanvisser4034]

I always thought NAD stands for New Accoustic Dimension. I had a 3020i, NADs first mainstream amplifier, when I was a student.

[@dropthehammer1360]

That is indeed what it stands for. Their new C 3050 has the name on its faceplate. I’ve always called it N-A-D.

[@Sauli1032]

In English, I say N.A.D. But in Finnish, I say Nadi. Finns sometimes add the letter i at the of some words. Don’t ask me why.

[@pm4898]

Like your content and take on kit, but way too much filler.

[@megrey6926]

Hi John, I think it's great that you focus more on DSP/ room correction and integration of subwoofers these days. I kind of miss the attention on non standard DACs from a few years back though. R2R and multbit DACs sound different and to my ears way better than price comparable standard chip DACs ( including the RME). While tastes are different, IMO the dac typology choice can have a noticable impact on how a system sounds. Based that it would be nice to include something like Denafrips, Schiit, Audio GD, etc into DAC comparisons moving forward.

[@ivanmelkner7704]

Nice video. I have NAD C658 with ELAC Navis ARF51 and I was thinking about upgrade to Master series M66 but the price and the fact that DAC is only a bit better to now older RME is a big con.

[@ekjellgren]

Yay for Camera Conspiracies! All I want is the perfect preamp!

[@jesperlvstadkristensen5893]

I say it both ways, and I have no idea why, or when I say either. I have an older NAD M32 and I mainly use it with the newest chromecast. It wakes the amp up, when I cast to the chromecast groups in my home. A great solution. Besides that, all the tv i watch on my chromecast, automatically goes through my amp.

[@wvansluisveld3011]

NAD stands for Never Again Doodoo. My C390DD has been an unreliable piece of junk. I think I spent its retail price in repairs during the first 10 years of ownership. My Bluesound starts to disintegrate into sticky goo. I tried out the M10 which had serious connectivity issues. Oh and it went into standby out of nowhere. Therefore I returned it. It’s a shame that a company has such promising products but fails on reliability. Currently rocking on with my Arcam SA30 which is very basic in the streaming department but so far solid as a tank.

[@SL1800]

I have known it as N. A.D. since I bought my first N.A.D. Amplifier back in 1982.

[@dicmccoy]

N-A-D The problem with going with analog direct is, you won't be able to stream that input to other BluOS systems throughout the house.

[@flofffff]

Obviously, it's pronounced NAD. How anyone could pronounce it as NAD is beyond me.

[@flofffff]

scnr :⁠-⁠)

[@robpurviance6391]

Lol!

[@ridirefain6606]

I gravitate to calling it N-A-D over nad since the label on the face plate is an abbreviation that stands for New Acoustic Dimension.

[@jenslindblad]

BlueOS hardware/sotware in my experience has put me off NAD/Lenbrook for life; my first Node blew up its power supply and I’ve just had the wifi board replaced on my 2 1/2 year old N130. Never Another Device.

[@DesignVisStudios]

Dirac is amazing and i wouldnt have a pre amp without it

[@trevekneebone369]

Agreed. Love my Minidsp Flex with Dirac Live.

[@nunofernandes4501]

Go NAD!

[@adsph]

Serious high praise for the NAD combo. I’m sure it sounds very good. Thanks John.

[@kenniejamieson6427]

Well back in the 90s it was NAD No idea where the N.A.D. came from or when it changed Went away from hifi for a while and came back and it was N.A.D. 😱

[@maximumsoftness7469]

With all due "respect" to PS Audio...I fear they are one of the many VERY low value audio brands.

[@ajwise121]

Watching an NAD source video, they call themselves N.A.D and actually made a point that “they don’t call themselves NAD like the Australians do”. Being Australian, yes I am guilty of this.

[@tommccarthy3385]

What does "avidity" actually mean in a sound context?

[@DarkoAudio]

Forward, propulsive.

[@bangsmash]

NAD may make some nice looking stuff and they review well when new, but the build quality and experience of ownership I’ve had with the T778, which is impossible to include in a review like this, has put me off for life. I’m currently on a second replacement unit that’s on its last legs (only 1 year old but now out of warranty) and the technician at Lenbrook told me they’ve had multiple issues.

[@bangsmash]

@@daved5071 ah the old Ghia GTI badge trick 🤣

[@nicktaylor7680]

Can it really sound 3x better than a eversolo dmp8?

[@steadilyfred]

Sound? You think features and functionality are free? 🙄

[@terryjefferylee6314]

NAD stands for"New Acoustic Dimension"

[@yuriy8057]

❤ very informative video , beautifully edited as always John! It would be fun if you also experience with some high end Japanese brands like Luxman / Accuphase!

[@DarkoAudio]

I'd love to cover a Luxman or an Accuphase 🙂

[@yuriy8057]

@@DarkoAudio I hope you will !!!!

[@jlutell]

New Acoustic Dimension there N.A.D.

[@j.hoppli4657]

N A D = New Acoustic Dimension

[@BULZAYE]

It’s ALWAYS been N A D for New Acoustic Dimension. If it were NAD then it wouldn’t be an acronym of anything it would just be NAD.

[@johnnixon2504]

I see an improvement in the visuals. New lights, lens, camera, diffusion?

[@robh9079]

Good one. Gonad. I mean err - Go Nad.

[@allenbrixey1122]

If you have a pre amp and amp, it would be don't touch my NAD's.

[@alexjwarren]

Well, this has just thrown a spanner in the works, I have an M33 and was considering switching out for Michi Pre/Power to drive a pair of B&W 804d4 and hope by the time I do it, there will be a new iteration of the Michi range with full streaming (roon ready specifically) and HDMI eArc. Looks like this might be the business. BTW, NAD is a TLA so it should be spelled out! 😄

[@sean_heisler]

Over here in the States I mostly hear people say the letters: N - A - D.

[@Baudesign]

It is prononced [nad], not [ɛnedi]. The logo does not have dots: N.A.D. Do you say KEF? or Kayieff? Do you say ARCAM or Hey! Ar See Hey! Em? Do you prononce QUAD (Kwad or Kyu Yu Édi). Do you prononce JBL (Djébielle or Djibl)? Ok, the last exemple might not be that good! :-)

[@angi733]

I have the M12 and M22V2 predecessors for about 4 years now, the performance and flexibility is great - the bang for buck was huge in terms of sound quality, I chose it over many more prestigious names costing the same or more. Using with Dynaudio Confidence 20 speakers. Tempted to try the M66 and or adding a second M22v2, and a brace of subs. P.S I think that was a clip from the new Grandaddy video, which I love! Esp that song Watercooler.

[@parleekingy]

Thank you so much for this, I've been waiting for your review before I pull the trigger on one. I can see my current black boxes shelves cables etc saying goodbye. NAD or N.A.D ..... well it was sold as NAD 3020 when I bought mine back in the 80's, but who really cares... I think it was about 100quid I couldn't afford what I wanted to drive the Linn KAN mk1 but it did a grand job for quite a few years.

[@calebkeen8967]

Target curve experimentation can change the entire sound of the configuration, and is a huge strength of DIRAC if you enjoy experimentation. I didn't like DIRAC's out of the box target curve (too lean in the low-end) and also didn't like what it was doing to the presentation of my speakers in the midrange and treble, which are KEF LS50 Meta which has an excellent crossover implementation and directivity that's close to ideal. I imported a +4DB Harman target and 'pulled the blinds' on the correction to the Schroeder frequency for my room, and saved a second filter with correction out to 600 hz. I used the third and fourth filter positions for +6DB and +8DB curves for when I really want to bump the bass. I can now live happily with any of them.

[@glen7589]

N.A.D. Like my son’s band acronym M.L.W. = Mountains Like Wax

[@95lovi]

I know your going international, but living aound the cormer from me in Berlin, it would be intresting to know your opinion about a developed amp in Germany bei Nubert, the Nu connect amp XL with 2 x 360 odd watts/Chanel Class G amp section and full streaming cap. Locally it has superior reviews . going for about 1400 Euro, Nubert makes very good products preis wise without the retail overhead.

[@carlitosgomez71]

Its always been NAD not n.a.d since its beginning as a UK based company, no longer manufactured and produced in England sadly

[@danielstanleywilkin]

New Acoustic Dimension. N-A-D 🤓

[@DucatiKozak]

Thanks for putting me on to the DJ Hell 80's tribute track; Ukraine! 19 was critical of Vietnam, this is in support of 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraini!

[@pauldiambra7199]

N-A-D New Acoustic Dimension (at least in the old days}

[@starbase218]

In Dutch, pronouncing NAD as one word would sound the same as "nat", which means wet. But I like that. Like, it's a recognisable brand, with a simple yet distinctive logo. The fact that the name is sort of strange, yet recognisable actually has an attraction to me. And it's affordable (well, some products are). This though, is not for me. I don't really believe in keeping the signal analog. And even if I did, I have no analog sources.

[@TysonVaughan]

N. A. D. A ‘nad is a different thing. We say “Keff” instead of “K.E.F.” because, unlike “nad,” the word “keff” doesn’t denote something else, much less something that is vaguely inappropriate for polite conversation.

[@alexjwarren]

So, Kent Engineering & Foundry is not a thing?

[@hakki686]

nice vid as always. m66 is c658 just on steroids. however its a similar device and to expensive in my eyes in comparison. hooking that unit up to active loudspeakers wont make any difference to the c658 i bet.

[@murraywebster1228]

I would assume „in band phase alignment „ is basically saying that the alignment is phase aligned by concentrating on the frequency „band“ that is the spectrum where the crossover between sub and tops where they are both producing the same frequencies, this is basically what we professionals do when aligning large PA systems or Studio systems, I would be very wary of having subs randomly put around the room while you can phase and time align the speakers this will then only give you a result in one spot, but this can also be detrimental while this can create nodes in other parts of the room that can then be detrimental to the sound in the listening position, I could show you this on a pro speaker simulation program, would also be interesting to see the measured results using for example AMFG SysTune (Berlin boys! Maybe you should give them a visit). What you should be trying to do with multiple subs is arrange them into some system that focuses the energy and has a beam formed cardiod pattern, in this way you maximise the sound in the listening area and minimise the amount of energy going to near boundaries and corners, this then gives you a far larger and even SPL area with minimised build-up in corners etc. the aim should be to set up the subs in such a way that they are then producing one coherent wave focused on the listing area and minimising energy build up at boundaries or in corners. If you have enough subs you can also place them in the build up areas and use them to destructively dissipate the energy there, you can buy subs that do that automatically, they have a built-in microphone and dsp and they then „remove“ the bass energy locally to where they are placed. If you are ever in Hannover send a message and I can show you a venue where I have such a system built in.sorry for being so long winded, it is basically very dry science at the end of the day, physics…..schön Tag noch!

[@nickrojitas]

my c700 would drop internet connection at 30 seconds in when I was playing from my FLAC library in the Nas, i connected via ethernet cable, and the problem was solved

[@IKETHEBIKE-jk]

It‘s called N.A.D.!

[@ptipete]

Wish the M66 had a record output....some of us still like to record music to analog equipment

[@artkulak9802]

I wish too. But I'm afraid record output is increasingly no more regardless of manufacturer, especially digital outputs - "they" don't want us to record anything

[@emailkenny]

Wonder how the 66➕23 compares to the 33, technically & sonically 🤔

[@davidmiller1534]

This seems aimed at someone who needs MM and MC phono, balanced inputs and outputs, has 2, 3, or 4 subwoofers, wants to connect a TV via HDMI, needs several additional analog and digital inputs, and is wedded to BluOS or wants to be. At $5499 US, it should have more than a 3 year warranty.

[@TheIpadfanatic]

I attended a trade show quite some time ago and the NAD representative called it N.A.D. My 2 cents worth.

[@keith6872]

My old NAD cd player had poor error correction. Bad cd's were not playable on NAD, but playable on SONY.

[@Philear4124]

All well and good, those options for adjusting your sound. But then you have to have a hi-fi shop that can set this up optimally and let's be honest, not everyone can do this. There aren't that many Terry Ellis(s). But there is no doubt that both N.A.D. and Hegel market top products. Btw, great and clear video. Grtz Phil

[@Boorock70]

eN Ay Dee... and I'm in love with that BiG MultiFunctional Screen & digital VU Meters !

[@l33jcm]

New Acoustic Dimension (NAD). say it however you like because people (in the know) use either form.

[@allandresner]

Re: Headphone, any plan to test some more “recent” popular headphones. Modhouse Tungsten, Empyrean II?

[@litenbrandbil]

I pronounce NAD as a name, like KEF. Interesting product this M66.

[@brianfernandes2382]

I'm stretching myself to afford the M33 so this Pre-Power option is out of the question. Hopefully it will excel driving a pair of Wharfdale Lintons

[@Rob81957]

The Lyngdorf tdai3400 with roomperfect or m66/m23?

[@sdbrowser]

I want to know that too. Many people overlook the 3400, but it really is a great workhorse all-in-one amp. Oh, and we can even throw in Eversolo A8/M23 combo for more fun.

[@frenzy382]

or TDAI3400 with M23, or M66/M23?

[@bla1123]

Hey John, New Glasses? Nice Rig with the N A D Products

[@briancoffey4074]

I say NAD but I’ve also heard it pronounced NAD.

[@kevinf9822]

The DAC test was interesting. As I understand it, the comparison was between the NAD natively streaming and a setup that used a Cambridge streamer into a DAC and then into the analog only side of the NAD. Superficially it would seem that the more apples to apples test would be to compare the latter setup to the Cambridge streamer going directly into a digital input of of the NAD. Curious as to why you did not do that.

[@LOUDERthanU]

Very interesting but i dont want to give up my Auralic Vega G2 dac with the possibility of Auralic bringing Dirac into their newer products (i have my eye on the Aries G2.2). Will keep saving the pennies and see what this year brings. great vid as always

[@losendos8963]

N - A - D. New Acoustic Dimension. I was hit in the nads, once....my life was changed forever.

[@christopherviers8302]

Great review...!!! I really enjoy your taste in house plants...!!! Well done...!!! Endomorphic...?

[@DrewSchinechedi]

I appreciate that your channel isn’t cheap clickbait. It’s a breath of fresh air. Thank you.

[@gteaz]

It's NAD but I sometimes say NAD too.

[@baronofgreymatter14]

See if the DAC has a PLL setting....the click is the dac locking on to the new sample rate.

[@tommy-6597]

does it auto switch sources? probably not. my experience with NAD products is that they try to do everything for everyone and usually fail

[@chrisp.916]

Yes it does autoswitch between sources

[@dbcobbster]

NAD all together one word.

[@klm404]

I also have experienced problems with the Google Mesh system (both the first generation and the second) and resolved the problem by replacing it with a competitor’s product.

[@DarkoAudio]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[@datbaguettedoe6436]

That paired with my active speakers, and I'm out of the game!

[@HBadger89]

Sooo over $5k for one of these box amps? Is there anywhere you can go to listen to this level of gear if you’ve never heard a hifi set up? This seems ridiculously expensive for one component of a larger system. Seriously, asking. I’m super curious at what price you enter the land of diminishing returns.

[@hugevibez]

Well as a self admitted newbie, you wouldn't really know what to listen for. To figure out where the land of diminishing returns lies, you'd have to do a lot of comparative listening to be able to answer that. Once you start doing that you are already an audiophile, and you keep moving the goalposts of the concept of what good sound is further and further. Obviously, this is absurdly expensive and a lot of the things this does can be recreated using individual components, but once you add up all those mid-fi products you won't be that far off the price point of this preamp. But it is just a very technically advanced volume control, essentially. Then there is the consideration of what constitutes good sound. What elements of a set-up make the sound go? The exact ratio differs a bit at different price points, but as a rule of thump you could say that 50% (or the majority) of the sound comes from the actual recording and the master, then 25% comes from the speakers or headphones, another 15% comes from the effect the room has on the sound and the last 10% maybe comes from additional things like amplifiers, digital converters and small details like the step-ladder analog volume control in this unit. But, the better the speakers or headphones, the bigger the influence that last 10% has. If you buy this unit you buy it mostly for the functionality it provides and compatibility within your set-up, rather than outright sound performance as an individual component (though the room correction and bass management this unit provides will be quite impactful on the sound)

[@martyw]

nad here (but I'm Dutch, so not a native English speaker😉)

[@jasonschubert6828]

I've got a NAD M10 and it has been the most disappointing piece of audio equipment I have ever owned, especially for the price. Seriously, why can't they just make it turn on and off with CEC rather than using some airy fairy "sound sensor" that only works a quarter of the time and requires a full reboot when it fails?

[@KeithHeinrich]

That's regrettable. I've also got one and its been brilliant. Works well, sounds great. Never had to boot it. I wonder what the problem is on your side. What is this sound sensor you speak of. I've not heard of such a thing.

[@Parakeet-pk6dl]

I think it's pronounced NAD in Canadia 🙃😛😉

[@sebastienbreton4580]

It's definitely N.A.D. in Canada, where the brand is from.

[@Pianoplayer710]

Because it is an Abbreviation it should be N.A.D. It is just by chance there is a vocal in it.

[@justasimplefox]

For this money I prefer separate devices, I simply can´t imagine many people use all functions 🤔. I think you always make some compromises in quality with an "all-in-one", 6000€ (without power amp 😅) is a very nice budget for a wonderfull streamer, dac and integrated amp 👌🏻

[@bbfoto7248]

For the dedicated enthusiast, I agree to some extent, but it will be different for every individual/household and each use case. There is the Wife Approval Factor (WAF) and the "ease-of-use" to consider for some. Most of us have probably experienced the potential frustration and complexity of having a coffee table or side table full of various remote controls for individual components, LOL. So having everything accessible via a familiar smartphone or tablet with an App that everyone "gets" is an advantage and desirable for many. And many consumers with the disposable income just want "good sound" in a simple, slick-looking package, without all of the time and fuss of having to piece together individual components. And some are averse to heaps of various wires and cables going every which way and component racks or shelf units mucking up the otherwise clean aesthetic of their interior decor. In addition, even if I choose to use separate components in my main system, I still might want this type of solution for my home office or bedroom system. We all have our unique ideas and goals that drive our decision making.

[@hassannasir90]

Great video. What do you think about Anthem STR Pre-amp or Integrated Amp.

[@VN-xy5li]

Anthem STR had all these "new" features years ago. By many experts ARC is the best room correction and bass management software. Engineered and made in Canada. It would be an interesting comparison.