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Hegel H390 or NAD M33 for Bowers and Wilkins 802D2 speakers?

I am looking for a one box amplifier, streamer, and Dac for my B&W 802 D2 speakers. My listening room is about 400 square feet with 18 foot ceilings.

I previously had a 200 watt Cambridge Audio 840W amplifier and 840 E pre-amplifier with a bluesound node 2 streamer DAC that I was pretty happy with but was looking for a step up in sound and a one box solution. I bought a NAD M10 six months ago but sold it after a few months because it didn’t seem to be as musical, rich, lively and dynamic as my previous Cambridge system. With the Dirac activated (standard version up to 500 HZ) on the NAD M10 the bass tightened up but the sound stage seemed to be pushed too far back in the room and the speakers seemed to have a veiled sound with the mids and highs toned down too much.

I think I have narrowed my replacement down to the Hegel H390 or the NAD M33. Both the Hegel H390 and NAD M33 are about $7,000 MSRP in Canada and both seem to be getting great reviews. I was leaning towards the Hegel H390 but the brand new NAD M33 seems to be getting some great reviews and as a bonus looks much better than the Hegel H390. My hesitation with the NAD M33 is my prior experience with the NAD M10 but perhaps the big brother newer M33 with Eigentakt technology has solved some of the issues I have had with the M10?

I will probably be only streaming Tidal and Spotify from my music system with no plans for vinyl. I am looking for a a warm, lively, dynamic sound and listen to everything from pop music, classical, jazz, vocals, and classic rock.Any suggestions on which of these 2 to buy? Unfortunately I probably won’t be able to take either of these home to try in my room with my speakers before I buy.

Thanks for any help offered!

spacemanrick

Showing 1 response by hankpajak

hankpajak's avatar
hankpajak
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Actually, I had an M33 and now have an H390. Here are my experiences.

My thoughts about purchasing an amp were much like yours: The M33 has "great reviews" "bonus looks" and Dirac (which I really wanted). The M33 sound was really nice -- but -- in my experience, not the software that ran it. I needed a very open system to feed it. Bluesound, to my great surprise is rather closed. You must have NAD equipment to use it (at least for WiFi connectivity). Marketing literature clearly caught my eye and I convinced myself that would give me what I wanted in system architecture and sound. The NAD is built carefully and certainly looks really impressive too. While literature said: "Just connect speakers", I fought hard to get their software to work -- for weeks. <ugh> Their software support people were great I must admit.

I have, for good or bad, a pc with JRiver Media center. After sharing my plight with my dealer, and telling him that I would supply the network hardware and software to feed it, he recommended the Hegel H390. He also had Martin Logan 13s at home (mine are 11a’s). Unsure, I ultimately decided to not be bound by that eco-system and turned the M33 in and bought the H390.

So many people have commented what they prefer that I continued to be worried about making the right choice and wasting even more time and money instead of enjoying my purchase. After turning on the H390 for the first time, and playing the same music as with the M33, my head kind-of snapped: Where did the speakers go? What kind of sound is this? OH MY -- I LIKE IT!

And there you go. Everything works as advertised and I am happy (and relieved!) in another world of wonderful sound that I never imagined.

- Hank
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