Martin Logan ESL and NAD 399 / Dirac Live Review

*Correction - In the video I sated that the ESL crosses over from the electrostatic panel to the 8" woofer at 400hz, the correct crossover point on the ELS is 500hz

[@jondonnelly4831]

Problem with 400Hz crossover is that the lower registers of human voice will drop into the bass speaker that's not quite a sub. Once you are aware of that you can't unhear it. I've not had great success with room correction either, I had a NAD 390D back in the day and it seems it's no better today than it was then and I'm glad I didn't invest in a bluos module after hearing his experience but the AMP/DAC decent for it's time but things move on. Now I use a NIAM Superniat 2 (used) on Focal Aria 926 (can find these half price or even below that new). They are designed to be paired together as they are sister companies in France. An old used Macbook with a decent dac blow away the NAD i had. iFi Zen Pro, Chord Cutest, Denifrips etc. Heck even the 100 dollar audioquest dac is better. I understand the NIAM is expensive but take the lid off and look inside, you get what you pay for. Take the lid off the NAD and shudder.

[@Koolbob2]

First of all I am delighted to have discussions about HiFi and learn more, I hesitated to post this video because I expected to get a lot of angry post. Thank you! I've never heard NAD products before and the one thing I noticed after I made this video and hooked up my old Onkyo integrated amp again is how effortless and mellow the NAD sounded compared to the Onkyo. Since my main complaint with my old speakers is that they are a bit bright and can be fatiguing maybe the solution is to pair them with a mellow amp rather than try new speakers. I've ordered a Marantz Model 30 amp and 50n CD player. they are both supposed to be warm and I'm hoping they will take the edge off my favorite speakers. To my ears, comparing the 8" drivers in the ESL to the 8" drivers in my 30-year old reference speakers, the ESL bass sounds weak, slow, poorly defined and lacking in punch. Adding the REL sub helps mask some of the ESL bass shortcomings, but one you hear it it's hard to unheard it.

[@jondonnelly4831]

@@Koolbob2 I do like the look of the Marantz design, it is very nearly a dual monoblock inside just sharing the transformer this is good and the preamp stage is also separated and mirrored. The phono stage is on it's own board too and looks quality. As DAC's/streamers keep evolving it makes no sense to have it integrated but a phono state is at the end of it's evolution. The only problem I see is that the Marantz like the NAD is a Class D design and I don't think it's going be that much warmer than the NAD, but it's still a better overall amp and that is most important thing. Can't wait to hear your impressions of it! You might be able to tweak the sound further by DAC choice. It's a lovely bit of kit.

[@MrPolyestrine]

Nice video. Can you list some tracks which sound great on the Martin Logan’s? Thx

[@Koolbob2]

I didn’t keep a list, but I listen to a wide variety of music. Most classic rock sounded ‘meh’ a lot of great rock music wasn’t recorded all that well and electrostatic speakers lack the dynamics to make poor recordings jam. Music with ‘air’ and a wide soundstage sounds great, jazz, instrumental, some progressive rock, clearly recorded vocals. I did like Steely Dan, Hugh Laurie, Donald Fagen, Lyle Lovett, Enya, Leo Kottke, Jethro Tull, Kaki King, etc. After trying many different speakers I ended up preferring my old speakers paired with a Marantz Model 30 amp.

[@PhillioDoede]

NAD is one of those brands I would see in Hi-Fi magazines as a kid that I kind of aspired to one day have but as an adult now its honestly a bit sad to see the direction their parent company has taken them. The simplicity, value, and no none-sense approach seems to have been replaced with technology that is at the same time too complex to use and also not powerful enough to be a game changer to the experience. I have heard good things about Lyngdorf's amps and their implementation active room correction, might be worth a look.

[@Koolbob2]

I've never heard NAD products before and the one thing I noticed after I made this video and hooked up my old Onkyo integrated amp again is how effortless and mellow the NAD sounded compared to the Onkyo. Since my main complaint with my old speakers is that they are a bit bright and can be fatiguing maybe the solution is to pair them with a mellow amp rather than try new speakers. I've ordered a Marantz Model 30 amp and 50n CD player. they are both supposed to be warm and I'm hoping they will take the edge off my favorite speakers.