Purchased a used C270 to bridge to mono to match my existing C270. What a masterpiece and a bargain. I can't believe the difference bridging this amp makes to the overall sound. The NAD goal of bringing the best sound to the masses without the unnecessary bells and whistles stands out with this unit. I am looking into recapping these masterpieces and having them for another 15 to 20 years. Vintage Hi-fi lives and thrives! Can't wait to try them with an upgraded DAC and FLAC digital files. After the recap I would like to compare them with Bryston amps to see if the price and 20 warranty is worth the thousands of dollars extra. Would love to compare these to the NAD Master series amps as well.

The only weakness I can note is some of the build quality. Power cord could be a better quality. Power, bridging, soft clipping, and input switches could be better.

I must to say that I feel extremely satisfied with the NAD C270, what a masterpiece!

I bought this unit on ebay 150£ and my first impressions weren't very positive. As I had several nad previous amplifiers in the past I replaced all electrolytic capacitors by using ELNA SILMIC II ( The best capacitor the money can buy)) and 4 x 10000 uf 80v Mundorf
( widely used in HI END amps) for the Power supply.

In the PCB there is room for a third capacitor for the PSU as the PCB is ready for that ,so finally I added a couple of inexpensives but very good cornell dubilier SLPX 4700 uf 80v ( in fact all capacitors in the pcb were cornell dubilier as well and probably as a generic brand nad capacitors for the PSU probably were CD as well.

Only I can describe the sound of the c270 as a true hi end device, powerful, clean, fast and extremely musical and of course non fatiguing I got what I was looking for with an inexpensive investment 150 for the nad + 150 £ for recapping the amp and I can't be more happy...

I do think that the c270 is better than the 272 because the 272 is 150 w RMS rated and the c270 is 120 w but they are sharing the same psu capacitor values...the transformer looks better in the c270 as well sometimes in nad products the old ones are better than the new ones,,,,,, nad 3020,,,,,,,

Extremely happy with this amp, the new capacitors restores the dynamics offering a very detailed and pleasant sound . the soundstage is really huge, impressive, you feel into the soundstage the musicians are playing in front you ... the bass is powerfurful as expected in a nad design with a very coherent timing , the mids simply geourgeous, and very clean highs as well , extremely musical and warm sounding amplifier and very fast response to the trasients. drives my sonus faber venere in an impecable way. I love this amp!

What a masterpiece !

I have loved sound and the likes of Adcom, Counterpoint, Carver, Audio Research, Acurus, Sim Audio, Emotiva and Cary for close to 30 yrs now. Recently I had to part with my Cary due to financial difficulties so I purchased one of these after reading lots of reviews and I must say "WOW" this amp is a stone cold killer of a bargain! Now comparing It to the likes of the Cary or Sim Audio, Audio Research it unfair simply because they are much better but at 5 X 10 times the price or more. With that said this amp would and does hold it's own in every way! The reserve power and depth of the soundstage is simply amazing at this price point and honestly you will have to spend 5 X the price to get better. Love it and have purchased the 2100 for my center channel and bridged it. My Cary was 200 X 5 compared to 120 x 2 of the c270 and I have had to adjust the decibel level down by 2 with the NAD's compared to the Cary.. Highly recommended!!

I use 4 of these for my bluray 7.1 system. It sounds amazing this is clearly one of the best amps ever made for the price tag. Nad really got it right even with the new c7320 and the c272 the c270 and c370 still sound better. There is so much power and clarity in these amps. Is there anybody else out there who has used it in a 4 amp 7.1 surround system. I would love to hear your views

Has 2 pairs of speaker post and adjustable gain to match any preamp on the planet.Provides a nice warm sound.Has no problem driving two pairs of speakers that are listed at 8 ohms.I would not advise doing this with 4 or 6 ohms though.

I wont fault NAD for this but once the smaller caps start aging the amp has to work harder and forces it to get warmer temp wise.This applies to any piece of older equipment due to age.

I honestly cant find any faults at all for an amp in the $500-$600 price range.

Update: Now owning this amp 5 years later from my last review and still going strong.It was running a little warm so I changed out 95% of the tired smaller capacitors from 1uf to 2200uf.This restored the dynamics and lowered the overall temp of the amp.It sounds better than new and is driving two pairs of modified Polk bookshelfs.

Very warm sound.It retains the capacity to drive two pairs of speakers dropping the impedance down below 4 ohms.I'm impressed by this being this amp is pure mid fi.Not to mention it's built in China ! It still provides clean highs,warm midrange,and surprising bass with four 10,000uf 80volt caps for the main power supply.

Personally,I feel anyone would be happy buying this amp used for a modest system.I can say it sounded better than an equivalent Adcom I use to own

I'm still a happy owner and it does not leave me wanting more.
***IF ANYONE COULD PROVIDE A SERVICE MANUAL I SURE WOULD BE GRATEFUL TO ADJUST DC OFFSET***

MUSICALITY, DIMENSIONALITY, NON-FATIGUING, ENJOYABLE AND AFFORDABLE

Not the most detail or most dynamics in comparison to the ultra highend (above $4000)amps out there.

I have 3 of these for home theater running a Martin Logan Ascent, Martin Logan Theater i, and Martin Logan Scenarios. Also, I matched the NADs with the Rotel 1066 surround sound processor. My sources include Samsung HD931, Pioneer A563A universal player, and Musical fidelity A324 upsampling DAC. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Martin Logan speakers, they are one of the most demanding speakers to drive for any amplifier. I must admit I had my concerns when I first hook up the NADs 270 with the Martin Logans, but after listening to them and allowing them to break in about 100 hours, I was immediatedly floored when I heard the sweetness of vocals that comes out of my speakers. The instruments had space and dimensionality that can only be associated with great amplifiers such as Krell KAV500, Pass X3, ATI 2007, and Simaudio Titan. I have owned all these high end amplifiers but I must admit the NAD is very very good in comparison to high end amplifiers. Of course my favorite is the Simaudio Titan, but then again it is $6300 retails versus the inexpensive NADs. Going back to the NAD, it is very easy to listen to. If I had describe it I will simply call it NAD's non-fatiguing, natural sounding character. In comparison to the $6300 Simaudio, the NAD has less dynamics and less air. But for the money, it is a wonderful bargain. The Simaudio and NAD comparison is not really fair, its like comparing a Ferrari and a Nissan. There is simply no contest in sound quality. Of course, the NAD losses in this comparo, but what is surprising is for the money this little amplifier gives out sound that can be more associated with high end equipment. I really enjoy this amplifier especially when matched with the Martin Logan Scenarios. It makes the Martin Logan Scenarios sing with imaging and realism. The partnership between the Scenarios and the NAD C270 had me smiling from ears to ears. Now, switching to home theater, I heard same sound in music. The sound is clear, crisp and non fatiguing. The bullets were flying all around the room with Matrix Reloaded and it seems like the amplifier provided enough low end when needed. The dialogue were easily understood and the music background were heard without being overly done. In short, this amplifier works double duty as home theater amplifier and stereo amplifier. Get 3 of these for 5.1 setup and you will smiling without a doubt for theater application. It may not be the most detail amplifier in the world, but for the overall musicality and listenability I will gladly give this amplifiers a 5 star without reservation. I bought this amplifier for my second home theater from BRETT INTERIORS 520-733-9896 and they were very helpful in helping me match my system for very affordable price. Thanks NAD and Thanks Brett Interiors for such musical equipment!!!

Similar Products Used:

KRELL KAV 500, ATI 2007, PASS X3, SIMAUDIO TITAN

Powerful, smooth, airy, clear sound with excellent transients.

None for the price- or twice the list price, for that matter.

I purchased my C 270 used in an effort to find a budget amp to run on the front L and R pre-outs on my Denon AVR 2801 to power my new Magnepan MG1.6/QR speakers. The Maggies are revealing and power-hungry and I had a tight budget. I ended up with a match made in heaven. The C 270 feeds the Maggies well and never breaks a sweat! And talk about crystal clear highs and a "breathy" midrange! And solid, defined bass! It's all here- as much as I could ever ask for. This is the only system I have ever owned that sounds better at home than in the store. By the way, this amp is quiet, delicate AND powerful. I know there are better amps out there, but this one is good enough to keep me distracted from everything but listening to music.

Similar Products Used:

harman/kardon, Denon receivers

All mentioned above.

I am still listening and searching for weaknesses but I haven't found any!

Rarely do you see a power amp at this price range come along and offer all the sound qualities this one has! I think many audiophiles will overlook this amp because of it's cheaper price tag but they will also miss out on it's great attributes! Transparency, power, build quality, and soundstaging is the name of the game here. I was astonished how good this amp really is. NAD has really out-done themselves on this one. Strongly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

McCormack, Bryston, Conrad Johnson, Sonogy, B&K, Arcam.

just by them

binding posts to close

this is to updade on my previous reveiw. i now have 3 NADC270's running bridged at 300 watts to my centre and each rear. i didn't buy the fourth because i found a 4B that i couldn't pass up ($50.00 CDN !) mother of god what a system. anyone out there that says you can find better for less has a crack addiction. when i bridged just the two 270's i was amazed at the improvement over stereo (monitor audio silver 5's) my system now DENON AVR2802 (PRE) BRYSTON 4B (FRONTS) 3 NAD C270'S (CENTRE & REARS BRIDGED) DENON DVD2800MKII TEAC CD-5 MONITIOR AUDIO SILVER 5'S SILVER 3'S SILVER 10 CENTRE SUB to come

spectacular, clean, revealing sound, tight well controled bass, fantastic mid-range, loads of power and can be bridged if more power is needed, will drive just about any speaker load, at its price its a steal.

non-removeable power cord, but for the price nothing else.

Fantastic sound for the money. I have heard amps at twice the price that do not have the effortless power and sound of this amp. It is rated at 120W MINIMUM with both channels driven into 8 ohms, tests show it to actually be in the 170W range. I was actually considering a Bryston 3BSST when I came across a review of this amp. Did some more research and decided to give it a listen. It easily matches the Bryston power wise but is definitely not in the same league when it comes to neutrality and build quality, however IMHO it is about 95-98% there. But you would need an extremely revealing set of speakers to notice the difference. The Bryston is in a league of its own at its price point. Having said that there was nothing else beween the price range of the NAD and the Bryston that was significantly better than the NAD. I liked the Rotel RB1080 which to me had slightly better bass control (probably due to the higher damping factor)but was almost twice the price of the NAD and did not quite match the midrange. The fact that the NAD has variable gain control was also a very big plus for me. Try connecting a CD player directly to the variable connections on the amp and you will be surprised at the results. I really don't know how NAD can sell this unit at this price, there is absolutely nothing up to twice the price that is a better buy. The Toroidal transformer in this unit is massive.