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Submitted by
Stereofool
a AudioPhileDate Reviewed: May 25, 2012
Bottom Line: I owned this amp with an S500 CD player for about 8 years. It is an amazing combination. I only sold it as I replaced it with home built electronics. I feel the reviews that were not happy with the performance of this amp did not have it in a system that supported it's strengths. When I fed this amp a single ended signal it was ok. Fairly flat sound stage, limited dynamics etc. When it was fed a balanced signal it really came to life. I had many nights of listening where this piece transported me to a place where there was nothing but what was playing. I used this with very high efficiency and high resolution line arrays for most of it's time with me. (12 woofers and a ribbon tweeter) I tried other speakers and found that some worked well with the amp and others did not gel. I found that with the right combination of source and speakers this amp out performes other equipment that cost 2X the price. Built like a tank and able to drive almost any speaker load. I picked up the aluminum remote off audiogon. It was almost as disappointing as the stock one. I would suggest getting a nice learning remote and living happily ever after. Highly recommended.
Used product for: More than 1 year
Duration Product Used: AudioPhile
Product model year: 2002
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
vijay v. patel
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: March 4, 2007
Bottom Line: built like a sherman tank, this amp. from NAD is a departure from its dull lack lustre looks of yester years. It is very well made with all industry premium parts from WBT , sanken, nichicon etc. And a lot of people say it is built by GRYPHON in Denmark , and is based on the TABU integrated. I dont want to believe that as I don't want Gryphon to take the credit for the hard work NAD designers have done here.
This is a very powerful, warm sounding amp. The bass is superb,the treble a bit bright, may improve after some more hours of use. The sound stage is wide and deep. The imaging is superb and the vocals are the best virtue of this amp.
This amp. generates a lot of heat after 4 -5 hours of use, almost impossible to touch the heatsink after that. very very hot.......... not warm mid you.
Used product for: Less than 1 month
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2006
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
Bill Monaco
a AudioPhileDate Reviewed: February 20, 2003
Bottom Line: Recently purchased along with S500 CD player. These are a matched set.
If you balanced outputs on S500 to the S300, you will not be disappointed.
Used with Dynaudio Contour 1.1's and Partington Dreadnought stands.
Combo may be better than S100/S200/S500. I have these in my main system
with Dynaudio Contour 1.3MK2's and Ultima stands. Waiting on a Dimarzio balanced
to do real comparison
Used product for: Less than 1 month
Duration Product Used: AudioPhile
Product model year: 2001
Purchased At: Audiogon
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
adolf72160
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: February 12, 2003
Bottom Line: After 4 month of extensively use, I think I’m in condition to express an opinion.
My system:
Integrated Amplifier: NAD S300
CD player: NAD C541I
Loudspeakers: Paradigm studio 60
Interconnects: Audioquest phyton.
Speakers: Nordost Superflatline.
This is may first experience with NAD products, I bought my CD and amp based on reviews and store listening. Then I compared my S300 against Bryston 4B, Sonic Frontiers SFL80, Denon 1082 (receiver) and Marantz PM68, all from different levels performance. My NAD have been tested with the following CD players: NAD C541I, Sonic Frontiers DAC and transport, NAD S500, Panasonic RP82 DVD audio player and Carver CD. Speakers tested with it: Dalquist DQ30, Polk audio Lsi7, Jamo Concert 8, Bose 301, Paradigm monitor 9 and Studio 60.
In my opinion the S300:
Treble: Great sounding treble with a great presence, but in the bright side, little acid trebles, at least under my configuration.
Mids: Wow, the mids are incredible, the voices are focus, perfectly positioned in the center of the stereo image.
Bass: Perfectly controlled, natural and with a great presence.
Soundstage: The great focus on mids can fool you about soundstage, but the 3D image is great and deep behind the vocals and perfectly pin point localization.
Warm: This amplifier is very warm compared to other solid state integrates. Not as sweet as tubes.
Detailing: great, with a huge definition, but not as Mark Levinson.
Construction and Built: Made in heaven, according to my research is a Ghrypon Tabu under NAD skin, all the components and specifications are the same, except for the trafos, C Core for the Tabu, Hölmgren for the NAD, also the Dumping factor is different, 150 for the Tabu, 100 for the NAD. The rest is identical, same sanken amplifiers, same capacitors, same potentiometer and same layout.
Complains:
-If the CD player is not smooth and sweet enough, the sound can be consider hard, definitely the better match is the NAD S500 or a tube based DAC or CD player.
-Forget about poor recordings, this amplifier is very sensible to poor recordings, you probably change your music taste to jazz and classical.
Conclusions:
And Overall great integrated amplifier, one of the best in its class, Have to be matched with same class components. The best features are: soundstage, mids, bass and focalization of vocals. The worse: treble.
For the price, nothing even close.
Used product for: 3 Months to 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2002
Price Paid:
$1500.00
Purchased At: local store
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
pangl
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: December 18, 2002
Bottom Line: This is not to be an offensive review, but I think the Rotel RM1065 (an home theater A/V receiver) sounds better than the S300!
The unit looks very impressive and imposing. And unfortunately, this is the only positive thing I gonna say.
The remote is a complete joke. If you are crazy enough to spend $250 to buy the optional metal-made remote, then you are a complete joke too.
It has many RCA (phono) type inputs plus an XLR (balanced) input. The speaker binding posts are of very good quality. But who care when the sound is not great.
No clarify, no soundstage. Imaging is good but not precise. Runs like a furnance.
My advice is to get an Musical Fidelity A300 or an Krell 300i instead. The NAD S300's price is completely not jusified.
WARNING: The original packing material is a total joke too! UPS and FedEx require at least 2 inches of cushion around the unit, and the original factory packing do not have that much! So, as I shipped the item out, the unit got damaged and UPS refused to pay a penny.
So, if you are crazy enough to buy one, make sure you ask for double-box and extra cushions, or you will be on your own EVEN if you buy the shipping insurance!
Used product for: 1 to 3 months
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2001
Price Paid:
$1200.00
Purchased At: eBay
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