NAD M2: A digital amplifier an audiophile could love

The M2, a digital amplifier that sounds as good as analog!

(Credit: NAD)

NAD is a lesser well-known brand than Denon, Marantz, Onkyo, Pioneer, or Sony, but in my opinion NAD makes better-sounding electronics.

Introduced in the late 1970s, NAD's 3020 quickly became one of the best-selling integrated stereo amplifiers of all time. Not just because it sounded better than anything going for two or three times its humble MSRP, the 3020 had that special something that made it, well, lovable. Over the years NAD maintained its leadership position by consistently designing great-sounding, unpretentious products.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an advance preview of NAD's upcoming Master Series M2 Direct Digital Amplifier ($5,999). Yikes, the price was a lot higher than I expected, but don't worry, NAD still makes affordable electronics. Its 40 watt per channel C 315BEE stereo integrated amp goes for $349. It's impossible to beat for the price.

But the M2 is something else again. NAD claims it's not just another digital amplifier, and that's a good thing. I've heard some really nice digital amps over the years, but most don't cut it for serious audiophiles. It's not so much that they sound bad, just kind of bland. They gloss over detail and make everything sound the same.

So the first thing I noticed about the M2 was its resolution and clarity. In other words if I didn't know it was digital, I wouldn't have guessed. It's right up there with the better high-end amplifiers. The M2 is a 250 watt per channel stereo integrated amp.

The M2 has digital and analog inputs, but when its Toslink (optical), coaxial, or AES/EBU digital inputs are used, the M2 functions as a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that directly drives speakers. That is, the M2 has far fewer internal amplifying stages, and fewer analog/digital conversions, which is maybe why it sounds so good.

The M2 will be available Summer, 2009.

[coprock]

"don't worry, NAD still makes affordable electronics. Its 40 watt per channel C 315BEE stereo integrated amp goes for $349. It's impossible to beat for the price."

Thumbs up this entry level amp. It's hard to find high quality, low cost amps from the likes of Denon, Yamaha or Onkyo these days as it is all about bells and whistles and home theater. This amp was hard to track down in Los Angeles and involved a trip across town to purchase. It seems to be not expensive enough for audio salons to want to sell. The two NAD dealers I went to tried to get me to upgrade to the next level and couldn't understand that this was a bedroom system and therefore I didn't need the extra power especially when the C 315BEE would be providing 120 wpc (dynamic) into my 4 ohm M&K satellite speakers. One dealer wanted to order it for me but charge me a shipping fee. The other wanted to charge $60 for an ipod cable. Is this level of poor service the norm for audio salons?

[V3audiodesign]

I'm betting it was a dealer that carried many brands and the salesperson you talked to didn't know anything about the NAD product or the person who typically buys it. NAD has a very unique following and usually has a very educated consumer base. A $60 ipod cable for a $350 amp is nuts. Actually, a $60 ipod cable is nuts anyway since you are only using the 2 cent DAC from an ipod (which may have cost $60) to a stereo RCA input. As the owner of a a/v shop I can tell you that this is a big problem in saturated markets like yours (and mine- South Florida) and really gives the custom integrator a bad name.

[thiswillkillthat]

The NAD C315 is a very good integrated amp, but I'm less than certain it's the best in that range. I recently bought some new equipment for my workspace, and I found that the Cambridge Audio Azur 340 delivers somewhat better sound, not to mention much higher build quality.

[pubmat]

This new amp from NAD begs the question: If I can buy a lively and dynamic sounding class A/B amp for easily HALF the price, why should buy this digital amp? I don't see a good argument in its favor. I'm sure it sounds great, but so does NAD's own analog amps, for much less. Not to mention budget amps from Outlaw or Emotiva, for less than half the cost.

[coprock]

Good points. What is the point of dropping $4,500 on a digital amp?

[soundman45]

I have a friend in the consumer electronics industry who markets these types of products. He says you're better off buying a high quality analog amplifier built with high end components.

[pubmat]

I agree. Class D amps have some virtues, especially great dynamics, but they usually lack that last bit of air and detail that good analog amps have. I've demoed some of them, and I think they would be great in a dedicated home theater, but for two channel, I'm still skeptical.

[pubmat]

Then again, is this a class D amp, or a true digital? It seems to be a digital amp. Either way, I would stick to analog.

[wdlee123]

So What! "A $4,500 digital amplifier a audiophile could love".

[one_flat_monkey]

so let me get this straight: i would be spending $5K ($500 California sales tax -- yippee ) on an amp that is dependent on a DAC chip. it says that if functions as a DAC, but what do that mean, in lei man terms ( psssst: i know it's "layman", but i thought a bit of Hawaii would look good off up in here )?

if there's a DAC chip, how much is the chip? and is it a butterscotch chip or one of those dumb white chocolate chips?

[make_or_break]

Only four months late to the game...

So upon reading about this amp here in September '09, I gather that this is a TRUE digital amplifier, and not some Class D misnomer.