thoughts on NAD M3

Great amp for the money. Use it to drive some passive ATC speakers in a pro studio environment. Really wonderful soundstage, low noise, neutral mids, and solid bass.

I have been sooo tempted to try one of these, pricing is very compelling for a well cared for unit. I've never really heard anything terribly negative about the M3.

I had the M3 and it like all others performs better when it synergizes with your other gear. It was as stated reticent in the treble, a bit closed in and a bit slow in my setup. This took away from the excitement of the music it produced. I have to assume it would perform better in other setups. I sold mine. Even the bass in my setup was not what I feel it should have been. The less than sparkling highs seem to be a common thread with this piece. Beautiful integrated however.

My personal experience with NAD is, stay away from products made in China, unless you want to visit your dealer often

Vinylmeister, I assume you had troubles with a piece ? My take, and I think it is somewhat factual is that there is nothing wrong with China built, it just depends on who is building. I have a Mac amp and pre, made obviously in the US, yet the 201 CD/SACD player they have is / was a wonderful sounding unit but prone to failure for some. Some of the highest rated audio equipment out right now is made in China. Now I personally do not like the China built products that are also designed in China, just a personal thought no real experience. But NAD and I'm assuming many other well known North American and European brands have factories they own or manage in China building their products, which I assume means better QC. I talked with and read quite a bit about my M5 CD/SACD player before I bought it, and while there were a few early troublesome units, overall most work just fine. My M5 is just working fine, it is to bad you had a bad experience with your M55. I chose the M5 for the CD/SACD/HDCD capabilities, but thought the DVD side of things are better in a separate box. So I also bought the NAD T515 for the few videos I watch, but also for the 2 channel DVD-A capability. I only have about 10 DVD-A, and this T515 does a nice job with DVD-A.