I thought the nova300 was going to be the perfect match for me - well reviewed, high powered, geared up towards digital listening, decent price…
Maybe it’s just really bad luck but I’ve had to return two nova300’s because both were plagued with major quality/sound issues.
The first nova had a very loud, unusual, continuous, high-pitched squeal from inside the chassis itself (not the speakers). I contacted customer service and they said that it was likely damaged during shipping. OK, makes sense…
About 10 days later I received the replacement. I turned it on and there was no squealing, so that was a good sign. Then I started to run it through it’s paces…another defective unit. This time physical issues with the buttons, volume knob, etc.
Now here’s the most surprising part…
The sound was so lifeless. Very clear, lots of headroom but so incredibly dull.
The bass was flat, treble harsh, zero bottom at low volumes - all the very positively reviewed attributes/selling points were missing. There was absolutely nothing exciting about it. I tried adjusting the speaker placement, tried different sources but nothing helped. Honestly, my AVR with all the processing bypassed sounds way more engaging.
I really wanted to love the nova300, but between all the quality control issues and the very anemic sound it is not the right integrated for me.
