NAD M33 Streaming Amplifier Review

[jaymusic]

I believe I said classic not classical.

Ah ok.

In that case:
Made for classic music?

 

[Kw6]

I will try again later! I was sitting in my sofa and toggling room correection on and sound character changed to colder and louder with lot more bass!

 

[pogo]

For those who did not know:
The HDMI port on the M33 always outputs the source or cover in parallel.

Maybe someone would like to show the analog VU meter and cover/source via a small HDMI display at the same time

 

[Kaboo]

For those who did not know:
The HDMI port on the M33 always outputs the source or cover in parallel.

View attachment 141443

Maybe someone would like to show the analog VU meter and cover/source via a small HDMI display at the same time

Members are complaining how the fake meters are out of sink.OMG

 

[pogo]

The analogue VU meter does not necessarily have to be selected for the primary display, although it is almost no longer noticeable with the possible adjustable lowest delay time of 50ms. But this will certainly be remedied with a F/W update. Each real VU meter also shows a certain latency

 

[unexperienced]

I was thinking of selling my c390dd with Bluos to upgrade to M33 but not worth it for $5k. The c390dd is digital right to the speaker outputs. I'm sure performance without dirac is similar. In some areas Purifi boasts lower distortion but is it audible when competitor amps aren't clipping?

If you think that the C390DD and M32 are completely digital, then you are mistaken. These two models have DACs with analog outputs that are connected to Class D amplifiers, with negative feedback and are very similar in scheme to UcD->Ncore. In these two models, the DAC and the amplifier are combined on one board, and therefore many people think that it is completely digital, but this is not quite true.

 

[Kw6]

If you think that the C390DD and M32 are completely digital, then you are mistaken. These two models have DACs with analog outputs that are connected to Class D amplifiers, with negative feedback and are very similar in scheme to UcD->Ncore. In these two models, the DAC and the amplifier are combined on one board, and therefore many people think that it is completely digital, but this is not quite true.

Ok thanks for pointing that out! I'm not a techie! Years ago when I talked to Nad they said it's all digital until it hits the speaker terminals.

 

[pogo]

Any digital transmission link is subject to the 'analog' signal laws (transmission via voltage differences, noise, etc.).

 

[VintageFlanker]

If you think that the C390DD and M32 are completely digital, then you are mistaken.

That applies to any so-called "digital" amp whatsoever...

 

[unexperienced]

Ok thanks for pointing that out! I'm not a techie! Years ago when I talked to Nad they said it's all digital until it hits the speaker terminals.

Nine years ago, when I bought my C390, I heard the same thing from the dealer. But in fact it turned out that everything is different. Figuratively, it can be compared as if you have an M12+M22, but all this is combined on one chassis. After five years of successful operation, I changed the C390 to the M32. The C390 still works in the second system in a country house. These are excellent all - in-one solutions with Bluos. When the M33 release came out, I wanted to buy it to replace the M32, but I stopped one step away from buying it when I learned that biamping is impossible with the M33, as it can be done with the C390 and M32. The fact is that the C390, M12 and M32 have the same chip installed - a four-channel DAC from Zetex. And the M33 has a completely different DAC on Sabre, which has only two channels.

 

[unexperienced]

That applies to any so-called "digital" amp whatsoever...

Yes.

 

[pdxaudio]

I posted this here before but thought I’d check again if anyone has noticed this or can test on their unit. I have an issue with my M33 where it cuts off the first second or so of the song when playing random songs from different albums. If the same song is started again, it plays fine and when playing songs within the same album, it’s also fine, but when switching to a song from a different album, then the issue can be heard. The two songs I’ve been testing with where I can definitely hear it are “Amalia” by Melody Gardot and “Perfect (Acoustic)” by Ed Sheeran.

This issue happens with various sources, BluOS playing from Qobuz or Amazon or local library but also from a Node 2i connected through coax or optical. On the other hand Node 2i connected through line in and using its own DAC is fine. Playing from Roon is also having a slight issue but not as noticeable. Playing through AirPlay seems fine.

Replying to my own post because I had another thought on this issue today. I believe it’s an issue when the device is switching between different sampling frequencies, if you notice the first song in my example is 96 kHz and the other second one is 44.1 kHz, that’s why playing songs from the same album has no issues. In Roon this can be corrected by setting a Resync Delay but there’s no way to handle that in BluOS playback.

That‘s my best guess on this if anyone wants to try it with the songs from my example through BluOS player on M33.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Just about any subjective reviews I've red about the M33 insist about the presence of Purifi modules inside. Why?

Alright, I stand corrected. It doesn't seem possible for reviewers out there to like the M33 (or Purifi) for what it is. After all, it has to "sound" like Class D. I has to.

 

[Odradek]

Hello!

Maybe some more experienced user can help me with this, there is a ship coming my way in a couple of weeks and I am very tempted to get the M33 on it even though I was really hoping for Bass Control which some say may never come.

Anyway my current source is my pc, connected via usb to an external DAC. I know that in order to do this I would have to get the USB MDC module, but the question is: is it possible to do this using the HDMI MDC module?

That way I could set the audio output device from the computer as the HDMI, connect it to the M33 and connect the TV to the HDMI out, so that I could use the TV as a second screen for the pc and get all the audio through the M33? I really don't know if this is possible or even makes sense so any help is appreciated!

Thanks!!

 

[pogo]

Yes, that's possible.
See also specs here:
Link

 

[Odradek]

Great thanks!! I had read the specs but wanted to make sure as I have never used this kind of connection.

Another question maybe someone in current posession of an M33 can answer: do the speaker terminals accept blue jeans cables 25° spades? I just measured them, the outer width is almost 14 mm, and the interior opening is almost 9 mm with the smaller one about 6 mm. Here is a picture:

Any help appreciated!!

 

[pogo]

I would better contact NAD support if no one has done it yet. At first look, it might work, but there are still the plastic covers on the terminals.

 

[SIY]

AudioXpress has put my review from the June issue online here, for anyone interested.

 

[fcracer]

AudioXpress has put my review from the June issue online here, for anyone interested.

Great review! The tone controls bug is a good catch.

 

[Odradek]

AudioXpress has put my review from the June issue online here, for anyone interested.

That was a good read, thank you!

One question though, you wrote that Dirac Bass Control works even on the included basic version but other posters said doesn't work on the full version and that it might never be supported! Can you please clarify on this point?

Thanks!