NAD D 3020 sound quality
This is a good performer, a huge step up fro my $20 Lepai 10W/ch digital amplifier. It is extremely quiet and smooth, without grain or harshness but also without warmth.
The bass boost is a huge help as my desktop speakers are pretty lean sounding. My previous experience with NAD DACs was pretty negative, but this is pretty easy to listen to. Tons of air and detail.
But zero warmth. In this sense it kind of goes towards the Emotiva/Asian processor sound qualities. Kind-of, but not nearly as bad as the worst of them. There's just no sweetness or warmth at all in the sound quality. "Stark" may be a good way to describe it, but without the thin/limited range effects I get from the worst of the Asian designs.
Reminds me a lot of the 1990's digital sound, if you took that and cleaned it up a lot.
So, killer, top of the pack? No. Quite enjoyable, space saving and feature packed is how I would put it.
Best,
Erik
This is a good performer, a huge step up fro my $20 Lepai 10W/ch digital amplifier. It is extremely quiet and smooth, without grain or harshness but also without warmth.
The bass boost is a huge help as my desktop speakers are pretty lean sounding. My previous experience with NAD DACs was pretty negative, but this is pretty easy to listen to. Tons of air and detail.
But zero warmth. In this sense it kind of goes towards the Emotiva/Asian processor sound qualities. Kind-of, but not nearly as bad as the worst of them. There's just no sweetness or warmth at all in the sound quality. "Stark" may be a good way to describe it, but without the thin/limited range effects I get from the worst of the Asian designs.
Reminds me a lot of the 1990's digital sound, if you took that and cleaned it up a lot.
So, killer, top of the pack? No. Quite enjoyable, space saving and feature packed is how I would put it.
Best,
Erik