Current NAD integrated amps, what are your impressions?

topten, that's quite interesting!  What speakers are you driving with the NAD that outshined the Parasound?  I find the 326 to be very dynamic!

Rotarius, l've done a lot of researching reviews and owner complaints of NAD.  I really don't see evidence of QC issues with the current line up.  Where have you heard this?  Early 326BEE's back in 2009, 2010 had higher incidents of running hot, and some would go into safety, but I may have missed other reports.

That's funny, I've got the Halo A21 with a P7 for pre amp, running Paradigm Sigs, S6.  I've been wondering about the C375, how close it is to the Halo stuff.  The Sigs drop down to 2.8 ohms at one point, but I don't ever blast it, never above 90 db, mostly under.

It's the C326 that has me wondering, if they can do that good with a small budget, I'm curious as to how they did with the C375.

I've been looking at new speaker cables, as the Audioquest type 4 are laid back somewhat.  Nothing wrong with that, but the Paradigm Sigs are also a little laid back.  Gee, now that I think of it, the Parasound Halo stuff may be on the warm side to.  Anyway, the end result is a too warm sound.

Fast forward to the new Nad, with the Tannoy DC4 the sound is more open and airy.  Certain go to auditioning music has the extra highs, etc.  I've definitely got to do some experimenting this weekend.  I do have some Type 4 I could try with the Nad.  I'd also like to put the Nad in the main 2 channel system just to see what it can do.  Also, I should try using it as a pre since that's an option with the C326BEE. 

So I tried the Nad C326BEE driving the Paradigm sigs S6, just to see what they could do with the big floorstanders.  The sound left me the impression that there wasn't enough grunt, although I didn't try to really crank it.  The highs seemed a little strained at times as well.  

Trying the preamp section to drive the Parasound A21 brought much better results.  The soundstage was filled out with good separation and nothing really stood out as deficient.  

Putting the P7 back in as preamp revealed the weaknesses of the NAD.  More detail and refinement, like things were just in better focus.  Of course that's to be expected comparing a $550 component vs a $2300 one!  Still, the 326 acquitted itself well considering the big price jump. 

Having the Nad drive the little Tannoy Revolutions again brought back the jaw dropping moments for those speakers.  The 326 does best with speakers that aren't too much of a load, which is of course to be expected.  I'm sure that there are plenty of floorstanders that fit into this category, though I don't have any.

I thought I'd update things a little as I found the limits of the C326.  I acquired some Totem Dreamcatchers, they of the 4 ohm variety speaker.  I was experimenting with the little bookshelf because they sound so sweet and give a surprising amount of bass for a 4.5" driver.  

I ran up the volume to about 11:00(try that on your Nad amp, it's loud!), and it went into protection.  It kind of freaked me out!  I cycled the power and it started right up again, no issue.  I pinged another forum with this and the opinion was suspicion with the Nad's health.  I thought maybe it was developing a problem.

So this evening I repeated the volume experiment after changing speaker cables and at 11 it went into protect again.  I connected some 8 ohm speakers and tried to get it into protect with them, but even at 12(ear bleeding loud) there were no issues.  

I've now had the Dreamcatchers back playing for a 1/2 hour at moderate volumes and no problems.  I think I'm in the clear, but has any Nad owner put their amp into protection before?  

That reminds me, during the above experiment I had a pair of interconnects on the pre out/main in and they weren't shielded.   I was getting interference for 1 second upon start up, then quiet.  I couldn't figure it out immediately, and it made me nervous!

Finally I swapped out those IC's with some others that were shielded, and no more noise. It made me realize that everything does matter.

I think I concur on the 326BEE and speaker loads because its max power consumption is under 2 amps.  It does just fine with the Tannoy or Paradigm bookshelf speakers, but has its limits with the 4 ohm Totems.  BTW, I replaced the stock preamp jumpers with the Audioquest ones.  I noticed a somewhat brighter, more open sound, making the Nad more neutral as opposed to warm sounding.  Definitely a nice addition.

I've been eyeing the C356BEE myself.  I don't really need it and would sell the 326 to upgrade, but the extra power and module port plus A/B speaker connections has me wondering.  One way to get an upgrade on the 356 would be a refurbished C375BEE at spearitsound.com for around 1100.  Not bad for 150 wpc.

They have had their issues over the years, but I think the vast majority of owners are happy. 

While my 326 has been flawless, I was advised to get a Caig deoxit product for the volume pot.  Apparently it is actually plastic conductive based on this budget model.  Anyway, if any of you are comfortable taking the hood off once in a while(after warranty expired) to do preventative maintenance, get a can of Caig Deoxit Faderlube.  Spray some short soft bursts into the holes of the pot and turn the volume up and down repeatedly.

If you are not familiar with doing this, look it up on youtube to get an idea.  Not for everyone, but it may save yourself some issues.

So last weekend I thought I'd experiment with the C326 and some really nice small Tannoys.  I installed Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables, and Morrow MA3 interconnects to a decent older Pioneer spinner.  I already had the Audioquest jumpers installed between Pre out and amp in jacks on the back.

I listened to various jazz, and well recorded music, and I can tell you that the C326 really responds well to good cables!.  In comparison to the old IC's and lamp cord speaker cable, the imaging became 3D with greater detail.  Really enjoyable.

Interesting.  After reading this I played with the soft clip setting, but could detect no difference so far.  It may also have something to do with speaker load I suppose.

I'll give it another shot today as I'm curious to see if I can get that extra depth of stage that you're talking about.  

Okay, the latest changes to my little system is: out go the Tannoy Revolution DC4, in come the Tannoy Saturn DC6 LCRi. It’s a 6" driver instead of the 4" DC4, but in a more budget cabinet. I’m surprised at how much bass I was missing! The DC4 have a -6db point of 67, and the Saturns are at 46db, so I guess it’s no surprise. The mids are just as sweet, though, and I’m not hearing much cabinet with the MDF construction.

The other change was a new IC from cd player to the NAD C326. A company called Stager Sounds, which makes a solid silver conductor based IC. I had a Morrow MA1 in there, though I sub in a MA3 when I want some extra zing. I still have the stock jumpers replaced with the Audioquest, and Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables.

The Stager Silver Solid blows away the MA1, and even the MA3, though it’s closer. The extra detail I’m hearing, without glare or brightness/harshness is making me listen to all my favorite music again. I heard detail I’ve never heard in the Famous Blue Raincoat cd and the Mission Soundtrack, a couple of my faves and torture tracks(on The Misison). 3D imaging, black silence, air, it’s really quite something.

For the money, $100 for a 30" length is half the price of the Morrow MA3 and I’d bet this cable is on par with Morrow’s MA4 or 5.  I did try out the Stager in my main system and the upgrade in detail was apparent, though I'll need another Stager to completely replace the old cables in that system.

Recently I upgraded my NAD C326BEE.  I'm not sure why I wanted to, perhaps too much reading on sites like this, but I became curious about the C356BEE and found one here with the DAC installed for a pretty good deal. 

And of course I had to compare it to the 326 before selling it.  Long story short, I can understand those who prefer it over the C356BEE because the C326 really has nice sonics.  The soundstage is really well presented with a "live" feel for lack of a better term.

By comparison, the C356 seems more neutral, which seems a little boring until you turn it up.  At higher volumes, the C326 seems a little congested when compared with the C356, whose neutrality shines with imaging that seems more accurate at this point.  But at lower volumes I can understand the preference some have for the smaller amp.

The other thing that stood out for me was the bass control the C356 has.  You don't realize it until comparing with a superior amp, but the C326 bass can be somewhat inaccurate.  The C356 has that extra detail and control not present with the smaller amp, and turning it up does not diminish this until you reach the upper limits.

I think the 356 has a better volume pot as well, and that extra set of speaker jacks is handy for A/B'ing sets of speakers.  I tried the Pioneer SP-BS22, Ascend Sierra 2 as well as two pairs of Tannoys.  The C356 had no trouble with any of it, and in the end I had no regrets with the upgrade.

Now I'm getting curious about the new class D integrated amps from NAD, like the C368.  I better stop reading up on it, my audio budget is getting tapped out!

From what I've read, for more recent Nad integrated amps that develop issues, that's one of the main ones.  I'm not sure what percentage of these amps develop problems, but of the 5 recent Nad products I've owned, the remote died on a C372, and that's it.  

Interesting.  So I'm getting a C375BEE now( I just had to collect the whole set!) and it's got 2 pairs of outputs, one with a gain knob.  I know it's not quite the same thing as what you've done, Mesch, but using those gained outputs would give much the same effect.  I'll have to experiment for sure.  

The first thing that struck me about the 356 was the superior bass control.  At higher volumes the sound remains clear when the 326 starts to get congested.  I haven't had the 326 for about 2 months now so I can't add too much to what I said, but the bass accuracy was better.  

That said, 50 watts to 80 watts isn't a huge amount of change.  There are integrated amps by Arcam, Nait or Rega where a 70 or 80 watt amp may have more control at higher volumes.  My Parasound A21 P7 combo is clearly superior to the Nad 356, so I guess I'm saying, don't expect jaw dropping improvements.  If you can get the 356 at less than retail, or used, it would be a better option.

I recently took ownership of a C375BEE to feed this weird Nad addiction I’ve developed. I can’t compare it to the 326, but in comparison to the 356 there is more refinement, air and another improvement in bass. It’s effortless. I don’t have any speakers with a tougher load, so I’m not pushing the amp by any means.

That said, it sounds nicer than I expected, with more air while not getting harsh or strained. A quibble would be remote volume control. All of these Nad integrated amps have motorized volume pots that increase a fair amount each time you press the volume button on the remote. A finer adjustment ability would be better, but budget decisions had to be made to bring each model to market at the price point. I’d say Nad has put the most money into sound quality and that’s the right decision for me anyway.

I'm currently waiting on a power cord for the amp, a PS Audio AC5.  I've started upgrading the pre-amp jumpers on these Nad amps along with having better quality interconnects, and I've found that they do respond to better cables.  I'm curious as to what improvements I might get with the C375BEE.

Ah nuts.  I had to return the 375(bought it used from a retailer selling on Audiogon) because it turned out to be several years old.  I'm back on the prowl for a mint used one.  Anyone try Spearit sound?

This confirms my impressions with them as well.  I was thinking of buying another refurb from them, but a NIB was being offered by another seller, and I guess I offered too much, they accepted.  

I've only just received the PS Audio AC 5, and tried it out on the 375 before taking it out of the system(to return it).  Right out of the box, everything was significantly louder.  The sound had more of a 3D presence too, but I understand that these cables need to break in somewhat.  So I guess I'm off to the cable section to get advice on that.

I ended up buying from another retailer that has a BNIB 375, and I'm sure it'll sound at least as good as the used one I returned.  One more thing on the comparison between the 356 and 375 as I compared them one more time before shipping this morning.  The 375 has a smoother top end.  The bass of both changed somewhat with the PS Audio AC5, accuracy became better for both, but the AC5 takes a while to break in, over 200 hours or so.  

So now I'm back to the 356 for another week until the new 375 arrives.

The new 375 finally came in and I've been burning it in.  Over the previous 375 that was several years old, the new one has finer volume adjustments with remote control operation.  I also find I don't have to use the adjustable gain outputs on the pre section because the output steps off 0db and ramps up more gradually, if that makes any sense.  

Quite a nice improvement.  I'm not doing any careful listening just yet until I've got at least 50 hours on it, but I do notice refinement and it runs a little warm though I'm not pushing it yet by any means.

Okay, I'm about 25 hours into the break in.  After about 6 hours, things started going south on the sonics.  A further 10 hours or so and it stared coming back.  This is leaving the unit running for a max of 4 hours at a time, and then shutting off for an hour or more, to run again the next evening, or longer on the weekend.  I didn't want to leave it on 24/7.

The other thing is that I'm breaking in the PS Audio AC5 power cable at the same time, so I'm not sure what exactly may be causing the changes in sound.  But at 25 hours it's getting pretty nice.  I read where another 375 owner was told by Nad dealer that he should break it in 100 hours, but we'll see what it's like at 50.

I'm with you on the volume control.  The 375 is somewhat better in this regard, but most of the volume seems to be reached by 11 o'clock.  I understand their new class d integrated amps have a digital volume which allows much finer increases, but I prefer the grunt of a class a/b amp.

Wow Chris, I don't blame you for your reaction, you really got a lemon.  I'd be curious to know what percentage of these Nad integrated amps develop issues.  Of the current series, I've now owned 4 of them with no issues, though I've only had one more than a year.  Also the C372 I had for close to a year(previous series), and it broke on the trip across the country to the new owner(we worked something out).

The C375BEE continues to improve now.  The speakers have completely disappeared, and it's just a pleasure to listen to at about 35 hours in with the Tannoy Precision 6.1 bookshelf speakers.  Again, I'm not sure how much benefit the PS Audio AC5 power cord is giving, perhaps this weekend I should replace it with the stock cord and compare.

e12389, I'll update on the weekend when I compare power cables.  

I was surprised when I inspected the stock cable to find that it's comprised of 18 gauge wire.  Is that what you have too?  That just seems awfully small for 300 watts at 8 ohms, but what do I know?

Mesch, are you able to see if your stock Nad power cable is 18 gauge?  It's imprinted on the cable itself, along with various voltage and temperature ratings.

As for the PS Audio AC-5, here's round one, at about 87 hours in.  In direct comparison with the 18 gauge stock power cord, I could only detect minor differences.  This was at moderate volume levels with a mid grade Pioneer cd player as source.  

Music was Dianna Krall's All For You cd, using a couple of the quieter tracks.  I could hear the absence of a ringing type sound on the piano notes with the AC5.  And it's not like with the stock cord I was hearing  ringing noise, but just noticed none by comparison with the AC5.  Also, the background was quieter.  Inky black is the phrase people like to use I think, and it wasn't a huge difference by any means.  Just notable.

I didn't have a lot of time, perhaps I'll dig deeper tomorrow.  But frankly I'm not super impressed to be honest.  My bias was to hear the angels singing, and they weren't even humming.  I should note that I've read that the PS cables need 300 hours, though I have no idea if that's true.  Just reporting the facts.

Mesch I guess my cable results mirror yours. The Nad is now throwing up a soundstage with depth, and it’s as if there are no speakers. Good source material is the best, with the Nad C565BEE spinner. Seriously, it’s better than anything I could achieve with the old Parasound gear, although the new smaller room surely has something to do with it.  But last week when I turned it on after a few days off, it had harsh sounding highs that really threw me.  I guess the power cable is still settling in?

Astewart, I’m with you on the 375! I really think you have to spend serious amounts to get notable improvements. It responds to better cables, and stays composed when pushed. It’s a keeper.

Astewart, on the PS audio power cables I read more recently that 125 hours may see most of the burn in.  I've been meaning to do another comparison with the original cable.  Hopefully by the weekend.

 OK, round two on the power cable comparison about 130 hours in. I should mention that on the CD player I have a Pangea 14 SE  Power cable.  My results haven't changed much.  The PS Audio AC5 has a quieter  background with a little more detail. The ringing I get with the 18 gauge cable with mid range frequencies is completely gone with the AC5.  

 My only other cable is a Morrow audio MA3 on the CD player.  I wonder if moving up the morrow audio line would give me more 3-D effects but that's a topic for another time.

I suspect that each of the better quality cables used for the pre-amp jumpers, speakers, IC's and power all add a little to the end result, depending on the electronics of course.  I've read that speakers  with more difficult ohm loads and phase angles benefit from better speaker cables, which makes sense.

Anyway, I hope this helps.  And  i've got to say again how impressed I am with the Nad C375BEE.  If it's in your budget, it's a worthy addition to your shortlist.

So here’s a surprise. I recently delved into the world of DAC, and ordered a Bifrost Multibit. Feeding crappy MP3 files from my phone to it, all I can say is WOW! The music has more detail which gives a better soundstage. Also, the bass is tighter, probably a result of more detail across the board.  I had thought I had reached the end of what the C375BEE could do and am impressed there was more.

The DAC was not cheap, but the space it creates is easily noticeable. I’ve got to feed it some high rez music and see what it can do with that.  

I'm still enjoying the C375BEE and Schiit Bifrost Multibit.  I've acquired a few different pairs of speakers and the latest is a pair of Totem Rainmakers, which is a 4 ohm speaker.  

I'm not sure why, but when I A/B a pair of Tannoys against the Rainmakers, the 8 ohm Tannoys are significantly louder than the Totems at the same volume(just employing the speaker selector)

Nad says the 375 does 150 watts into 8 OR 4 ohms, and I suspect it might take a 4 ohm load to the lower voltage rail, or something like that.  I don't have the limit switch engaged, so it's kind of a head scratcher.  I've been watching the volume, keeping it under the 10 o'clock position for the most part because I'm still breaking in the Totems, which require 100 hours of easy play, says they.

The Tannoy Precision 6.1 is 8 ohms.  

Whoops, I mean to say that the Tannoys are 88 sens to the Totem's 87.5.

I don't have too much experience with 4 ohm speakers, but I would have thought that at a given volume level, a 4 ohm speaker would be louder than an 8 ohm speaker since the amp would be delivering more watts at 4 ohms.  And in this case, the sensitivity of the two speaker pairs is pretty much the same.

Okay, a month later, and having changed speaker cables, the two pairs of speakers are pretty close in decibel level at a given volume point.  And I'd have to say that the 375 is an all around great performer for the price point.  As it turns out, I do miss my Ascend Sierra 2 with its ribbon tweeter, and none of my current speakers can compare to it.

So I'm not 100% sure if it was the speakers or the Parasound Halo gear I had, but voice placement with that combo was more precise.  Also, piano sounded a little more natural or accurate, I'm not sure which.  I suspect the speakers had the greatest part to play in voice placement.  My one critique with the Halo stuff was that the top end warmness reduced that air around the instruments.  

But at its price point, the 375 really delivers, and has that little bit of extra air.  As mentioned above, I have replaced the pre amp jumpers with Morrow cables.  The power cord with a PS Audio AC5, and Morrow  RCA cables  are MA3 with Eichmann bullets.  Also the speaker cables are Wireworld Oasis 7.  Over $1000 for all cables, and that probably helps get the most out of the 375.