Current NAD integrated amps, what are your impressions?

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!

The pot on my 352 began to act up and sound like tell tail dust was getting in it causing static upon adjusting. Great amp though, sound wise. Its dynamics made it even more fun to listen to. I think the 352 is one of the more standout models. Not that many of the others dont deserve credit, only less. That seemed evident while owning it, there seemed to be no shortage of praise to back my impressions. Same goes for the 326BEE. Its another stand out NAD I plan on keeping this time. Sometimes I wish I had the 352 come to think of it. 

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.  

I recently bought a used Wyred4Sound DAC2. It allows selection of output gain with fixed output. I reduced the output such that I could remove a greater portion of the attenuation on my 326BEE such that I now can turn volume to 3 o'clock to get desired loudness. Amp sounds less congested, more refined.  It also seems to me that the degree of attenuation/volume sweep distance is less between 12 and 3 o'clock than between 9 and 12 o'clock. I intend to continue exploring this.