hastalavistababy

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $85.00 from e-bay

Summary:
Bought this CD player from e-bay after reading reviews from various internet sites including this one. Quality, quality, quality is the best way to describe the sound and lets face it why else buy a CD player except for listening. If you can get one for the price I paid do so you will not, repest not be disappointed.

Strengths:
Musicality, long listening pleasure.

Weaknesses:
I can't think of any and they would pale into insignificance alongside the listening strenght.

Similar Products Used:
Marantz.

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Stereo store 1995 br

Summary:
Purchased this sweet little amp new while in my last year of university in engineering. Decision to buy was based on previously seeing the insides and being impressed by the quality of the components and ultra simplicity of design. An awesome performer considering the price. This amp has never been turned off since '95 (It stays powered up 24hrs) and has driven many different loads. At present its my primary computer amp, driving a pair of Energy Pro 22. Excellent for ambience and low to medium level volumes. Huge headroom for such a tiny amp. A real bargain today at used prices.

Strengths:
Hands down, this thing will (at medium volume levels) blow away any amp in its price range (especially those over hyped Yamahas, Denons, etc.). Keeping it powered up all the time has had no detrimental affects. I've never had the automatic circuit protection trip, even when trying to abuse it (left it cranked at full with 3 ohm speakers and left to buy groceries). Handles bass well at low to medium volumes, but loses it near the upper end. Clear and smooth sounding in my judgement. Internal components are top notch, right down to unique torodial transformer and high quality caps. Thumbs up for NAD putting the money where it was needed. Its a shame most people don't appreciate that kind of quality.

Weaknesses:
I like simplistic and robust products, but NAD was far too cheap on the outside controls. Those knobs and buttons are just plain crap, no heft and they feel hollow. Even the texture of the plastic looks and feels cheap. Please, at least give us an aluminum front plate and knobs. One more thing, I know this would've added to cost, but how about making it bridgeable? Although some folks complain about the performance, I give it a 9/10 based on price. For the casual listener that wants purity, it's the best bet.

Similar Products Used:
Before the NAD, had gone through the regular adolescent type receivers (Sony then Yamaha). Currently using a Rotel integrated and loving it (purchased used). I attend many auctions and am constant

Price Paid:  $70.00 from 2nd hand

Summary:
My first foray into Hi-fi. Have been messing around with dolby home cinema in the past, and always been curious about 2 channel stereo. Out of the box, it has the typical minimalist NAD look, but with tone controls, and an assortment of buttons. The amp is a real lightweight, but looks good enough. Equipment used, are Marantz CD67SE, Mordaunt Short MS10i's with wireworld tetra III speaker cables, and QED Qunex 2 interconnects. Sound-wise, this little amp surprises pleasantly. Soft to moderate volume levels are where it belongs, as the amp is not bassy at all. Smooth, clean and with enough detail to satisfy my jazz, and classical needs. But when the music gets busy, soundstaging starts to fall apart and what little bass there was fades away. I've since upgraded to something with more power, a Cyrus 2.. but i still keep my NAD, for listening to digital radio thru my satellite receiver.

Strengths:
Clean, smooth sound. Good for vocals and soft music. Cheap on the 2nd hand market. Great for the price.

Weaknesses:
lacking in bass. Can't go too loud.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $50.00 from Second hand

Summary:
I buy this amp for my first system, and it costs $50 (cheap). At the first time I can’t believe that this Amp will satisfy me. Then I test this the result : I cannot say that this Amp has little power, altough it is only 20 wpc but the strength to kick the speaker is amazing. I use the tone defeat feature to bypass the tone control. The Design It has combination Mosfet and BJT (Single Ended configuration) in the final stage that also combines the strength of two transistor type. The circuit of this amp is designed very good. The Power Supply unit uses toroid with CT where the upper one is for one channel and the bellow one is for another channel. The advantage of this design is to give the maximal channel separation, but the disadvantage is producing "Thump" when the capacitors are charged. I played CDs (Keb Mo, Anne Murray -> Secret Love) and the result is woww. Altough this amp is cheap but it has defeated my friend''s Amp which has price higher than this. I use it with CD player Technics SLPG 490 ($100), Tannoy Mercury M2.5 ($200) and I can''t find any weakness w/ this amp. But when I use my friend''s system : speaker Martin Logan ($3000) and CD player Rotel RCD 991AE ($1000) finally I found that the staging of this Amp is not too good and the bass is not controlled well (bummy). But whatever it is this Amp is very great for my starting system. My System consist of CD Player Technics SLPG 490 (w/ optical Output) Integrated Amp NAD 310 Speaker Tannoy Mercury M2.5

Strengths:
The vocal is very warm, and the bass is tight, the trable is crisp. Use toroid transformer.

Weaknesses:
The staging is not to perfect but for this price range it is still the best one. One thing that annoys me is "thump" when the power is ON. And for your info that this amp produces 20 V DC then decreases bellow 100 mV (Without Load test). So I recommend to built external Speaker Protector

Similar Products Used:
Musical Fidelity A1, Cyrus 1, NAD C300

Price Paid:  $130.00 from eBay

Summary:
Hmmm, it seems my previous review got removed. Did i do something wrong? Anyway, I came here to do a favor for this product today. As I experiece more with other overpriced gear, it turned out that I was too critical about this product. I rated 4/4, or even 3/3, I guess. Now, I changed my mind. I rate 5/4. As for price, NAD 310 is a killer. As for sound quality, it is more than average. The only product I can say really matched its price/performance was Alesis RA 100. But RA 100 isn't as versatile as 310, so 310 can be still more valuable.

Hey guys at www.audioreview.com, are you gonna remove my review again?

Strengths:
price, quality

Weaknesses:
none for its price

Similar Products Used:
Audio Innovations Alto, Harman/Kardon PM625, Rega Elex, Classe CAP 80, Alesis RA 100, Nikko Alpha II