This is a review and detailed measurements of the NAD C 316BEE V2 integrated amplifier with phono stage and headphone jack. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $399.
The unit feels just heavy enough to not feel cheap. Controls have a nice feel and can be managed with a remote control. The rounded front is a bonus touch in this budget oriented category. Bakc panel shows nice speaker binding posts and a hard power switch:
It is basically the modernized version of amplifiers we used to buy 20 to 30 years ago with that captive power cord and such. No, I don't miss those units with the cardboard back panels and cheap RCAs.
NAD C 316BEE V2 Amplifier Measurements
I adjusted the volume control to get nominal 25 dB of gain and ran our standard dashboard:
SINAD is a mix of power supply spikes and distortion, bringing it slightly above average among all amplifiers tested:
Zooming in:
Noise performance very good, sitting where I would expect it to:
Would have been nicer if both channels produced 96 dB at 5 watts.
Multitone test shows lack of rise in distortion with frequency which is nice:
That is reflected in better than expected performance with 19 and 20 kHz tones:
Frequency response is flat and extended:
Crosstalk is again, what I would expect to see in this class:
Let's see how much power we have into 4 ohm load:
I was shocked by how much power it produced in our peak measurement so ran it again and it was the same. Very nice although the amp did go into protection after above test. Testing the same with 50 Hz still give us what the spec says:
We match spec with 8 ohm as well:
Sweeping frequencies shows very predictable response. Something we expect in class AB amplifiers but don't always get it:
Notice how it managed to go into clipping many times without shutting down. Many amplifiers, especially Class D ones, will go into protection at higher frequencies. Not here.
Warm up was uneventful and unit was ready on power up:
Power off may create a pop as is typical in many amplifiers:
NAD C 316BEE V2 Phono Stage Measurements
There is no pre out so I had to measure this input using amplifier output. This combines the amplifier noise and distortion with the phono stage, making it hard to compare to dedicated phono preamps. But here we go anyway:
Fortunately that doesn't impact the frequency response measurement given the flat response of the amplifier by itself:
This is an excellent implementation!
NAD C 316BEE V2 Headphone Output Measurements
Here is our usual dashboard:
Lots of power supply noise indicates the classic implementation of tapping power amplifier output to feed the headphone jack.
To reduce the total power a series 68 ohm resistor is in the path which will mess with the frequency response of any headphone that doesn't have a flat impedance. On the positive front, power output is decent:[NOTE: company webpage spec is wrong. Output impedance is 68 ohm, not 8]
Conclusions
Many times when I am testing an audio product, I am surprised by the data I get. Not here and I say that as a positive. This is a budget stereo amplifier from a major brand. I expect to see precisely the performance I showed above. All measurements point to competent implementation despite the low cost and typical margins these companies require to stay in business. The headphone output is a miss but that is very typical for a traditionalist design. If you want to a modestly powerful integrated amplifier using Class AB topology, you have found it in C 316BEE V2.
I am going to recommend the NAD C 316BEE V2 integrated amplifier.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The unit feels just heavy enough to not feel cheap. Controls have a nice feel and can be managed with a remote control. The rounded front is a bonus touch in this budget oriented category. Bakc panel shows nice speaker binding posts and a hard power switch:
It is basically the modernized version of amplifiers we used to buy 20 to 30 years ago with that captive power cord and such. No, I don't miss those units with the cardboard back panels and cheap RCAs.
NAD C 316BEE V2 Amplifier Measurements
I adjusted the volume control to get nominal 25 dB of gain and ran our standard dashboard:
SINAD is a mix of power supply spikes and distortion, bringing it slightly above average among all amplifiers tested:
Zooming in:
Noise performance very good, sitting where I would expect it to:
Would have been nicer if both channels produced 96 dB at 5 watts.
Multitone test shows lack of rise in distortion with frequency which is nice:
That is reflected in better than expected performance with 19 and 20 kHz tones:
Frequency response is flat and extended:
Crosstalk is again, what I would expect to see in this class:
Let's see how much power we have into 4 ohm load:
I was shocked by how much power it produced in our peak measurement so ran it again and it was the same. Very nice although the amp did go into protection after above test. Testing the same with 50 Hz still give us what the spec says:
We match spec with 8 ohm as well:
Sweeping frequencies shows very predictable response. Something we expect in class AB amplifiers but don't always get it:
Notice how it managed to go into clipping many times without shutting down. Many amplifiers, especially Class D ones, will go into protection at higher frequencies. Not here.
Warm up was uneventful and unit was ready on power up:
Power off may create a pop as is typical in many amplifiers:
NAD C 316BEE V2 Phono Stage Measurements
There is no pre out so I had to measure this input using amplifier output. This combines the amplifier noise and distortion with the phono stage, making it hard to compare to dedicated phono preamps. But here we go anyway:
Fortunately that doesn't impact the frequency response measurement given the flat response of the amplifier by itself:
This is an excellent implementation!
NAD C 316BEE V2 Headphone Output Measurements
Here is our usual dashboard:
Lots of power supply noise indicates the classic implementation of tapping power amplifier output to feed the headphone jack.
To reduce the total power a series 68 ohm resistor is in the path which will mess with the frequency response of any headphone that doesn't have a flat impedance. On the positive front, power output is decent:[NOTE: company webpage spec is wrong. Output impedance is 68 ohm, not 8]Conclusions
Many times when I am testing an audio product, I am surprised by the data I get. Not here and I say that as a positive. This is a budget stereo amplifier from a major brand. I expect to see precisely the performance I showed above. All measurements point to competent implementation despite the low cost and typical margins these companies require to stay in business. The headphone output is a miss but that is very typical for a traditionalist design. If you want to a modestly powerful integrated amplifier using Class AB topology, you have found it in C 316BEE V2.
I am going to recommend the NAD C 316BEE V2 integrated amplifier.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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