Everything

Will make everything else from now on sound like crap.

Picked this fella up second hand and I think I'm going to buy me another one on Monday. I'm currently playing my entire CD collection one-by-one to hear what I've been missing for the last 15 years. Unbelievable. You'll be in tears.

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NAD 3225, Sony DB840QS

Price, clean sound

I auditioned the NAD 214 and 216THX, and finally decided on the 214. It sounds far smoother. The price is extremely reasonable. I then purchased a second one, and that's where the fun started. I use them to drive a pair of NHT 2.5i's. I first tried using them bridged, adn then used them bi-amped. The bi-amped sound is absolutely great. I think that they are stunning value for the money. I wouldn't replace them with anything less than a Bryston 4B - and that's about twice the price of the TWO amps! Clean, beautiful - and I have cash left to actually buy music!

Ample power , huge power in bridged mono mode! Very clean and neutral sound. Great build and excellent quality components within.

Production has ceased .

I am using a pair of these bridged mono and feeding B&W 603S2. These amps play wonderfully and very loud if you so dare . Sound at all volumes is very detailed . They are a great fit with the 603s2 speakers , the cabling between them is Tara RSC prime bi-wire. The amps do not run out of steam and do sound best when warmed up - in my situation they have been powered on for nearly 3 years - excellent sound is always ready to be had ! A great amp for a very reasonable cost . Ive been very happy with them .

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Nil.

Amazingly good sound when bridged

None yet.

I just bought the NAD 214.... apparently one of the few remaining new ones as the production has ceased.

I have beem using the NAD 317 integrated amp for 3 years now with my Genesis IM8300 speakers. I was always aware that my NAD 317 could not drive the speakers adequately, but was not prepared to pay the full price for the 214 or to buy somehting else for considerably more money.

I bridged the 317 and the 214 so that the amps are driving a speaker each and I can say that the sound is absolutely amazing. It is so much more 3 dimensional and defined that I am having trouble accpeting it! How can it be that by just adding another amp I get such an improvement in sound quality...

...the sound reminds me a of a $40 000 Gryphon Tabu I have been listening to at my local HiFI shop...

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NAD 317 integrated amplifier

The 214 may not be the finest power amp, but at a list price of $499, it is certainly a terrific bargain and appears to beat anything else available at that price. The bass is the amp's strong suit since it is full but quick at the same time. After a short break in period the high end smoothes out nicely. At 26 pounds and with a Holmgren toroidal power transformer, the unit seems well built for its price point. Before purchasing, I auditioned Rotel, Denon, Yamaha, and other NAD amps. All things considered, I chose the NAD, even though its 3-year warranty didn't match Rotel's 5-year coverage. I can say that the difference in NAD integrated amps and NAD separates is substantial. Anyone who rules out NAD based on the sound of their popularly priced integrated amps should reconsider the separates, which produce far more detail. NAD on the whole seems to have a British sound, which is to say that it's a bit laid back. (The 214 is designed in London and manufactured in China to keep the cost down.) This laid back sound seems to be an advantage to anyone buying in this price range, because accompanying components are probably not going to be high end units. The overall sound of a system using the NAD 214 is probably going to be more musical than with brighter sounding amps that may sacrifice a liquid treble in favor of greater detail. I use my 214 in combination with an NAD preamp, a Rotel RCD 970BX CD player, and Vampire CCC interconnects. My purchasing decision was made using bi-wired Meadowlark Kertral Hot Rod speakers. The 5-star rating is earned based on a comparison to similarly priced units.

Powerfull with good bass

very good at all sorts of music

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cerwin-vega E-312

price, dynamics

soundstage, bass tightness

This was my original venture into good 2 channel replay. I had an old Fischer (aghh!) receiver when I was younger and was happy. Then, I went to a local stereo store and heard a real soundstage for the first time. I was hooked, but still young and broke. So I went with the NAD gear. My current system consists of

Bryston 7B ST Monoblocks
Bryston BP-25 Pre-amp
Sony SCD-777ES SACD Player
Joseph Audio RM25si Signature speakers
Pure Silver Sound interconnects
Kimber 8TC speaker cable

This amp had a much better soundstage than my receiver. But compared to mono-blocks it is nothing (I think the true separation of the amps is the big factor). The dynamics of the NAD are good and it sounds very clean in the highs. The bass is good, but can tend to be sloppy and not tight (for example on Dave Brubecks Time Out cd, the ass is often indistinct). I eventually bought another ona and used it in my home theater for awhile. Costs constraints (wife) forced me to sell the “high-end” home theater and go to a receiver. All in all a good amp if you can get one cheap. Rating 4

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Bryston 7B ST

NAD 214 stereo power amplifier
A new affordable amplifier from New Acoustic Dimension can hardly be
considered big news, as NAD is THE specialist of value-for-money hifi with
audiophile pretentions, and as NAD majors in amplifiers.
And yet, the
recently introduced 214 and 216 power amplifiers mark an interesting
departure from past policies for NAD. With these amplifiers, that occupy
the slot of affordable high power amplifiers below the gigantic 208, NAD
stopped using its well-known peak output power promoting technologies like
Power Envelope and Extended Dynamic Power. Instead, the new siblings are
utterly simple and conventional bipolar class B power amps. To me this is a
relief, as some people feel PE and EDP can influence the ultimate sound
quality of an amplifier in the negative way.


For this short test we took a closer look at the 214. Conservatively rated
at 80 Watts in 8 Ohms, this amp delivers peak powers of 110/180/250 Watts
in 8/4/2 Ohms, indicating a rather healthy power supply. As this is a plain
stereo power amplifier, there are not many features here: only optional
Soft Clipping (to protect the speakers against amplifier overload during
prolonged loud listening) and provisions for bridging. The internals of the
214 are dominated by adequate heatsinks and by a large Swedish toroidal
transformer. The small PCBs are neatly laid out and all components are of
above- average commercial quality. Overall, this China-built component
inspires confidence with its no-nonsense and cost-effective approach. It
can further be noted that the 216 is virtually identical to the 214, with a
larger power supply and more output transistors leading to a nominal ouput
power of 125 W. And for those of you who insist on pretentious labels:
the 216 is THX certified.


The NAD 214 was used in a system of compatible pricing, comprising a Linn
Axis/Akito LP-player with AT-OC9 cartridge, Marantz CD-52SE CD-player, Quad
34 preamplifier and Magnepan SMGb planar magnetic speakers.
Normally these latter loudspeakers are driven in my system with a
modest Cyrus One amplifier, resulting in a sound that is very listenable,
but also compressed, shut-in and lacking detail in the lower registers.
With the 214, on the other hand, the Maggies' bass was suddenly
transformed: it sounded tight, deep (well, deeper than usual) and
beautifully controlled. This control of the lowest frequencies opened up
the total sound stage, producing better image depth and width than I had
ever heard from my loudspeakers.

Trying music ranging from Monteverdi's Maria Vespers (recorded in San
Marco in Venice, no less), to the warm sounding latest by Morphine and
grungy and boomy things from U2 told me that the 214 is essentially
neutral, with a fine and smooth quality pervading midrange and treble. The
only flaw I found was a slight residual dryness in the highs: just the
notion, the idea that treble indeed still can be a bit more liquid. But I
can easily forgive this, as the 214, given its low price, is one of the
most desirable hifi components I have ever encountered. And that for a
plain grey box...

(well, I've met more grey and coloured boxes since then,
and while the NAD definitely is not the best, it still is
a very attractive proposition for who wants a big amplifier
that can drive a lot of speakers.)

Good price and powerful

Cheap power cord

Very good amp for the price. It compare well with amps twice its price. I am very pleased with the power I feel from it. I used this amp to push a ProAc Studio I MKII (which is similar to the ProAc Studio 100) and supposedly these speaker like to consume power from the amp. My amp has no problem giving power to the speakers. Very clear sound where I can hear all the instruments/sounds in different kind of music. Highly recommended if you get a hand on one of these second-hand as I did. Also ... get good speaker cables cause it will fully utilize your amp and CD player. Have fun people!

mid-high range

rolled-off bass

the NAD 214 is a nice poweramp, especially for the money! it's mid-high range is excellent and I can even say that it's high range is superb. i use it together with a NAD-114 pre-amp and a Marantz 38 CD. the sound is bright and clear, with little distortion, although with bad-recorded CD's humm is a little to easilly heard in the mid-range. the only bad thigh about this amp is the bass, which is a little rolled off (which can be partly due to my speakers)
however, the rolled-off bass is not too present. I see the NAD-214 as a great power-amp for this price. the only thing which will partly replace this amp is a bryston power-amp to be used in bi-amp mode for the low tones.

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none