NAD C 3050 Integrated Amplifier Review

[amirm]

Lab tests by Soundstage and Stereophile, suggested to the authors that line input sample rate was the much more common 48KHz.

It may be. It is hard to figure out the exact sampling rate from cut off frequency.

 

[Merifon]

I saw that too. Freq response plots though looked like 44.1, but said aliasing products suggested 48. The adc filter could be for 44, but sample rate 48 perhaps??

Since the "not so fast reacting" by support service, the annoying random (luckily not so frequent) clipping noises with the 88.2KHz and Dirac inserted, the instability of Bluos, all problems finally apparently solved by last update but at the price of a totally new "incompatible signal" messsage on Toslink only with Dirac inserted and 44.1KHz, 88.2KHz and 176.4KHz signals, still waiting for a fix, everything could be...

 

[Yersinia Bestmate]

C320BEE OLD?????

Gawd, I'm effin' ancient!!! I go back to the NAD 60 amp generation, which 'sounded' good but I seem to recall, had acceptable rather than excellent measurements. This kind-of morphed into the 3030 with smaller meters and the charcoal stylee. In the UK at least, this then split into two product, if not design, wise, the classic 3020 we all knew and loved and the 3140 which wasn't as 'clean toned' we felt back then, but which offered tons of power. Theie bottom-range units went right off th eboil I remember, but came back strong in the 320 era, with good tuners for those that wanted them and a couple of really nice CD players if th eplastic feel was tolerated.

Of course, it's twenty plus years now, since I last played with the brand's products. This one does seem $500 overpriced, but the concept kind-of fits on with NADs of (very) old. Retro neat looks, an acceptable performance and not so cheap...

Model 60 amp from 1975 or so nicked from the web -

View attachment 442996


P.S. Anyone got a Quad Vena II they could send to Amir?

That`s a beautiful piece of audio equipment!

But yeah - I consider C320BEE to be an old design but of course that is a relative statement.

 

[jeffmackwood]

I tried to figure out if there is a high pass filter available when using the SW out. couldent find anything in the marketing material. Why is this such a rare thing in 2.1 receivers, seems almost mandatory to run subs?

Assume there's no HPF capability on the SW OUT.

Outlaw Audio seems to lead the way when it comes to incorporating proper bass management in a receiver (like the current RR2160 MkII).

However, with the NAD, the PRE/MAIN connections allow you to connect an external bass management device (like the discontinued Outlaw ICBM-1) - or use a sub with line-level pass-through circuits with HPF.

Jeff

 

[dougi]

Assume there's no HPF capability on the SW OUT.

Outlaw Audio seems to lead the way when it comes to incorporating proper bass management in a receiver (like the current RR2160 MkII).

However, with the NAD, the PRE/MAIN connections allow you to connect an external bass management device (like the discontinued Outlaw ICBM-1) - or use a sub with line-level pass-through circuits with HPF.

Jeff

Do you really mean low pass on the SW OUT?

It has an adjustable LPF for the SW OUT, and then matching HPF for the amp/pre-out if you enable the SW out using the web GUI or BLUOS GUI/app. I think the range is 40 Hz-200 Hz.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Regarding NAD C375BEE. Then it would also have been retro on the inside since that was a class AB amplifier.

Nothing wrong with class D, quite the opposite, but why Hypex UCD? As others in the thread have pointed out, for example @daniboun in#25 We're not going to lie, for $1600, the Hypex UCDs are outdated.

Yes, it would have been -and it would've been a little beast. A true wolf in sheep’s clothing. Honestly, I think it might've been an even bigger success than the direction they ended up taking with the 3050.

 

[Merifon]

Yes, it would have been -and it would've been a little beast. A true wolf in sheep’s clothing. Honestly, I think it might've been an even bigger success than the direction they ended up taking with the 3050.

I liked the complete reinterpretation of the interior, from the switching power supply to the class D, through the complete digital signal management. If I had not heard it in action, the most convincing demo I have ever seen, I would never have taken it into consideration due to hard-to-discard preconceptions. If I had wanted to maintain the vintage imprint, I would have kept my perfectly working old pair of 1984 nads. For the rest, even for vinyl, I only listen to my vintage originals but I do not buy new ones. Every era has its own medium.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

I liked the complete reinterpretation of the interior, from the switching power supply to the class D, through the complete digital signal management. If I had not heard it in action, the most convincing demo I have ever seen, I would never have taken it into consideration due to hard-to-discard preconceptions. If I had wanted to maintain the vintage imprint, I would have kept my perfectly working old pair of 1984 nads. For the rest, even for vinyl, I only listen to my vintage originals but I do not buy new ones. Every era has its own medium.

I'm not arguing against Class D or its inaudible sonic qualities. I'm just pointing out what feels like a missed opportunity -something I think would've been really cool for NAD to do. It seems like they lost touch a bit with their roots here. Back in the day, they really stood out by offering great value for money and delivering lots of dynamic power.

That said, as I’ve mentioned before, the 3050 is still a solid all-rounder with a nice retro vibe.

 

[mhardy6647]

Thanks for the review Amir. Love seeing products from mainstream manufacturers like NAD featured here. I bought the NAD 3050LE (with the real wood) when it came out. I love the way it looks and it sounds fine to my ears (and now verified with your objective measurements).

At the time, I wrote a review of the amplifier based on real-life usage, which can be found at https://fcracer.com/nad-c3050-le-review/

I too feel the volume knob is subpar and should have been made of metal to go along with the vintage vibes. I also found the VU meter on my unit to be incorrectly calibrated. I provided NAD with information from my testing, but they haven’t made any improvements in the firmware over the past two years, so I’m not hopeful it will ever get fixed.

Results of my testing on the VU meters with my retail purchased 3050 LE:

Input Signal	VU Meter Actual Reading
0 db	+3 db
-3 db	+1.5 db
-6 db	0 db
-9 db	-1.5 db

Regarding the lights, I also felt the same. I would suggest setting the LED brightness to “Off” so that you’re not blinded by the rather intense Volume setting LEDs. I should note another potential bug here. For the LED setting, I found some behaviour that didn’t seem intentional when adjusted via the BluOS app:

Normal: All LED are bright = Correct function
Dim: Only the power LED dims, all other LED remains bright = Incorrect function
Off: All LED are off = Correct function

Another strange bug is the balance control. When moved to either side, there’s still significant volume that comes from the lowered speaker. The balance control is more like an adjustment to centre the speakers than a real traditional balance control.

Overall, I’ve been very happy with the 3050 LE over the two years I’ve owned it. Since it’s a bedroom setup, I don’t get close to maxing out the 100w/ch and the Dirac Live room correction works extremely well to sort out the room modes. I would buy the LE version again.

Since I bought it primarily for how it looks in my bedroom, I’ll share some images I took of the setup. I think it looks rather cool with the Wharfedale Denton speakers and IKEA MALM dresser.

View attachment 443072

View attachment 443073

View attachment 443070

It is gorgeous in its own way.

 

[ModLang]

Looks great, but pound for pound I would skip it for the 316.

 

[Merifon]

Looks great, but pound for pound I would skip it for the 316.

Pound by pound, with practically same features, the C389 (same power modules, more inputs) or even better the C399 (same but purify power) are better but (to me) look ugly. The latter was my choice but didn't fit on dedicated place (too depth) so I followed my boomeristic feel...

 

[BeeKay]

Strange product, just oriented to retro design.

It fits. 80s pop music is back too.

 

[Count Arthur]

It fits. 80s pop music is back too.

For some of us, it never went away.

 

[mhardy6647]

It fits. 80s pop music is back too.

For some of us, it never went away.

 

[Beershaun]

It's great to see a modernized integrated amp that is 2.1 ch audio focused. Has the modern features that are table stakes in home theater avrs like room correction, streaming audio support and subwoofer out. Like the vu meters. Just don't understand why they didn't go with more power and lower noise/distortion to differentiate themselves as a truly hifi integrated amp. The class D modules don't have dynamic headroom so the peak power of these modules is less than the similar class a/b we see in Denon x3800 of the same price point. So I only rated it fine as it doesn't do enough to differentiate itself in the power and sinad department. Really happy to see everything else in this package though. In a head to head fight with the x3800 I can't see this coming out as a clear winner so I'd expect most people to go with the Denon for the extra channels and additional sw capabilities.

 

[French Meloman]

NAD has offered here a kind of all-in-one that is able to meet the needs of a large number of users. However, I think NAD is content with conservative performance. I find it a shame to have a sinad < 95 dB with hypex modules. A brand like NAD should aim to produce completely transparent devices for 16-bit audio as soon as the selling price exceeds the symbolic $1000 / € mark.
An effort must be made in terms of engineering to achieve this objective. This motivated my "not great" vote. In fact my ideal voting position here is "good enough, but could be better"

 

[mamadu]

With the pre-amp outs, would it be possible to also use the C3050 as a streamer / DAC / preamp, and then upgrade the power and performance by using Hypex or Purifi Class D amplifiers (or mono blocks)? If the true short-coming of this integrated amp is its SINAD and peak power / wattage, maybe that could be an upgrade path for someone further down the line of ownership? Even the NAD C298 could fit the bill as a better performing Class D amplifier with better measurements.

 

[Beershaun]

With the pre-amp outs, would it be possible to also use the C3050 as a streamer / DAC / preamp, and then upgrade the power and performance by using Hypex or Purifi Class D amplifiers (or mono blocks)? If the true short-coming of this integrated amp is its SINAD and peak power / wattage, maybe that could be an upgrade path for someone further down the line of ownership? Even the NAD C298 could fit the bill as a better performing Class D amplifier with better measurements.

Sure. But then why not get a wiim pro or wiim ultra for 1/3 the price?

 

[Merifon]

With the pre-amp outs, would it be possible to also use the C3050 as a streamer / DAC / preamp, and then upgrade the power and performance by using Hypex or Purifi Class D amplifiers (or mono blocks)? If the true short-coming of this integrated amp is its SINAD and peak power / wattage, maybe that could be an upgrade path for someone further down the line of ownership? Even the NAD C298 could fit the bill as a better performing Class D amplifier with better measurements.

Buying a C399 instead, it's more or less the same upgrade, since it sports purify modules and more inputs.
If the latter had a less ugly looking and less bulk in depth (40cm vs 35cm) I would have taken it...
For the rest, they share the same frequently buggy mdc2 Bluos streaming card and the Dirac correction that alone could worth it...

 

[JMW64]

Buying a C399 instead, it's more or less the same upgrade, since it sports purify modules and more inputs.
If the latter had a less ugly looking and less bulk in depth (40cm vs 35cm) I would have taken it...
For the rest, they share the same frequently buggy mdc2 Bluos streaming card and the Dirac correction that alone could worth it...

I use the excellent BluOS application on a daily basis and it is anything but buggy in my extensive experience. Can you provide a specific issue/s you have experienced in the past?