Opinions on NAD please

@umrkretread Amen.  I had a 1155/2200 from day one.  If I ever got rid of all my gear, this set stays with me.  It has given me so much musical enjoyment which is insane for its value.  my brother helped me recap it 5 years ago and its as good as it was new in 1987.  shes been with me everywhere and its not going anytime soon. 

NAD is excellent, well known and manufactures great products.  I prefer their vintage stuff as I like when it turns on it makes the lights twitch in the house as it draws so much current.  As for the looks, you're getting that black box which I would agree with anyone that its ugly.

Word to the wise: audition , audition, and RE-AUDITION AGAIN first to validate that you like the very distinctive and bespoke NAD signature sound .

I had a full NAD stack in a prior system: its sonic signature was on the dark side with a roll-off on the top end. Careful Speaker selection in the first part, and careful cable pairing in the second part, were both requirements..

choose wisely

Great thread - I was curious about NAD as well.  

NAD has gone thru periods where quality suffered. I believe it was related to a change in manufacturing location or vendor. I know folks who have had great luck on vintage and  new gear and  a few who have had issues in newly launched products. As long as you don't mind the low risk I would try them. They are established and seem to be responsive to issues. That's what you want for your investment. They sell lots of different lines and that is an indication of supporting their  business and  trying to grow it. Reasonable risk to me.

Just got mine. I have a nad c658 which I love. The m66 is a complete mystery. It has almost no documentation. I easily set up phono and room. But for some reason the out put from my average will not work no matter what the settings. The avr out works fine going into my m23 or my c658. Tried switching cables and m66 inputs, nothing. Total mystery, and again no documentation of note.

@sandrodg73 If you want an excellent sounding preamp, try the LTA microZOTL preamp.  After auditioning one for a few days, I ordered one to replace my PS Audio BHK preamp, which I've been otherwise happy with for quite a few years. 

IMO, the microZOTL is more transparent, sounds a bit more "musical" and warmer, with more detail.  Sound stage is about the same.  In my setup, the microZOTL/BHK250 combination sounds excellent.

My NAD 3130 integrated from the late 1980's is still going strong. Very nice sounding too. 👍

Not too long ago, there were a good amount of NAD naysayers here.
 

They did not get a memo from you yet 😄

I may just do the Anthem str pre. 

Thanks 

Not too long ago, there were a good amount of NAD naysayers here.

What happened?

I`ll stand by what I stated, previously.

Seems like the consensus is that NAD is solid. Good to know

I owned a NAD C352 integrated amplifier when I re-started my hobby in 2005. It worked flawlessly and I was very happy with it. I have upgraded since.

I am very much interested in the M23 or if they come out with a new amp based off the new Purifi 1ET7040 module.

What speakers were they

Way back when NAD 1st came on the scene, small package, low price for power rating, beautiful designs, punched above it's weight.

My audible impression was they were doing some un-acknowledged limiting to be otherwise impressive. McIntosh has power guard, but that only kicks in at the top of their truly powerful amps, NAD seemed different.

I have no idea how their equipment has evolved since that time.

I was in a hi-end showroom, listening to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, via McIntosh and evidently in-efficient speakers. I specifically wanted to hear Richard Burton's voice out of those speakers. I noticed, the salesman was actively messing with the volume to keep the amp's power guard lights from flashing. Forget those speakers.

I own a 3155 integrated amp, bought as a demo in 1984, in use constantly since. I had it checked out in 2018; the tech said it "looks like new inside". Best-value piece of gear I have ever bought, new or used.

Thanks guys

Kevtekav, if i end up buying it i would use it with my Anthem mca325 gen 2 3 channel amp which powers my Paradigm 120h 's. 

I’ve had an M33, which was outstanding, and currently have a NAD C700 which is in my bedroom system, and is also outstanding.  Had the M33 for about a year then downsized and sold it for near what I paid for it. Zero problems with either, great very neutral sound, you will hear all of what’s on the recording, but not harsh or edgy as some Class D amps have been in the past.

Here are some highlights! It's much more than just the pre-amp section of the current M33. Are you planning to match it up with the M23 Power amp?

• WAY more than just an M33's pre-amp section
• Ultra-precise resistor-ladder control circuit
• Flagship ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DAC and
  ES9822PRO ADC
• Dynamic Digital Headroom (DDH) circuit eliminates digital inter-sample peak clipping distortion
• Full Dirac Live + Bass Control + License included for 4x Sub Outputs
• Four balanced (XLR) and four unbalanced (RCA)
  subwoofer outputs - for a 2.4 system!
• Low output impedance + very high output voltage wired front headphone amp ¼" (6.3mm)

NAD makes really good entry level gear (to high end audio). Not a bunch of extra functions you don’t need, but solidly built, and constructed for good sound quality. I gave a friend of mine one I had over 35 years and it sounded much better than what he had.

My only comment is that putting all those functions in one box introduces many compromises. Today a good quality system will be made of separate Streamer, DAC, Preamp, and amp. However many folks are now using integrated amps, which are a preamp integrated with an amp, so only three components. If you think you may be interested in pursuing a good system I would consider at least separate Streamer, DAC and integrated amp. NAD and Rotel have a number of good ones. The more you spend the better they will sound. This will greatly facilitate upgrading as well… you can do one piece at a time.

In general i like the nad sound period. I have the home theater amplifier - the nad t778 - it has had issues with shutting down randomly and going into protection mode - i have had it worked on about 3 times - shipping it to a service center to get fixed - etc. 

i keep wanting to freak out - but i keep giving it the benefit of the doubt, because the sound quality is so very good - its amazing the things we are willing to do - in the name of good sound quality

I own the NAD M33; I am quite pleased with it.   It is well built of quality components, nice feature set, loads of flexibility, and it sounds really good.   In terms of sound quality, I prefer my Krell K300i which is a bit more musical, warm, with a remarkable grip/control on the deep bass.   But the Krell was 3x the price…

I don’t know how that translates to the M66, but I’d guess it would be similar.

Funny; I posted a thread just two weeks ago, asking for opinions about the vintage NAD Monitor Series gear, and got only two responses, both pretty dismissive.

I’ve owned a late 1990s NAD 7600 Monitor Series receiver for almost 30 years. Well, to be precise, my first 7600 I used almost every day for exactly 24 years; when it finally began to fail in 2021, I found another on eBay that had been stored for most of its life in the original packaging that has delighted me ever since. And I have some very well-heeled (and generous) audiophile friends, so I’ve been able to compare its sound quality to a variety of far more expensive and "elite" integrated amps. The NAD 7600 sounded more "musical" than anything I compared it to in my listening space and with my other components. Instrumental timbre is very realistic (I play guitar and cello, my wife plays piano, my daughter violin; I can compare recordings to the real instruments in the same space); sound stage is wide and deep; instrumental locations are precise and stable; for rock music, bass is tight and tuneful and very impactful. And this unit is amazingly flexible, with very useful semi-parametric tone controls, a powered balance control one can adjust with the well-designed remote; an outstanding phono circuit—oh yeah, and an outstanding tuner section. The preamp and power amp are the same as what was then NAD’s top separates, just assembled on one chassis. IMHO, this is an outstanding bit of kit.

Thanks. Something about those Canadians.  Seem to make solid gear.  

I have similar experience to @overthemoon   I still have a T763 and I've had NAD receivers (no Class D amps) and they sounded great and worked great. I had an initial problem with a T762 and they replaced it at no cost with the T763 about 20 or so years ago and the thing still works and sounds great. 

In the early 90's, I used three NAD 7120 receivers for about 10 years.  They sounded great with my vintage speakers and worked perfectly. 

In 2018, I purchased a NAD Master Series M12 preamp/DAC and M22v2 power amp.  The build quality was excellent, they worked great, and the sound was crystal clear with a nice tight bass. 

IMHO, NAD makes excellent hardware.

I would not recommend NAD. 

Spotty history on reliability.

Try Parasound, or better yet, Anthem.

Thanks for your feed back guys. If Im looking for something to be the base for my 2 channel listening which also leaves room to try different things. I like that the m66 has an analog direct mode that bypasses all internal processing so that I can experiment with different sources in the future.  The sub outs, av bypass, and phono inputs also a plus. The blu os app is good too.  Im currently using the blue sound node and really like the blu os app. 

The other option Im considering  which is not apples to apples, is the anthem str preamp.  This i would have to add a streamer to but it also has many features.  This is atractive to me because the rest of my system is anthem/paradigm and everything would use the same ARC room correction.  

Im just a newbie getting excited about my next purchase. 

Thanks again

I was excited, waited 6 months to get one. I had bought the new M23 amp last year and was (am) very impressed with it, so I ordered an M66. I liked the M23 better than a new series Bryston amp in my system. The M66 does a lot of cool things. The DIRAC software really makes a difference integrating subwoofers and main speakers and taming the room. Its internal DAC sounds good too. Early models have some bugs in them but NAD is working on those.  I’m still evaluating overall sound quality though.

I have owned NAD Home Theatre Receive (T-765) and an integrated amp (C 375 BEE).

• I upgraded from a Yamaha home theatre receiver and thought they were outstanding.
• The NAD home theatre receiver was specifically requested (with incremental cost) from the buyer of my house.  I owned it from '08 to '18 and it performed as expected.
• The integrated amp I bought in '15 and upgraded in '20.  I don't know if it was ever off in those 5 years.

My experience is they are made like tanks.  I haven't heard their master series stuff.  I have owned a Bluesound and thinks it's a great value.

In general my advice is to listen to as much as you can and if you like it - go for it.