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NAD C658 Streaming DAC Review

Alexanderc

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I have just bought this unit NAD C658. I am absolutely clueless to your reviews. I have just finished setting the unit up. Got it acting as a Pre-amp to my Rogue Audio Magnum Atlas Power Amp. Turntable - Technics SL-1500 with the Ortofon Blue stylus, Yamaha CD-S2000 and speakers are KEF LS50.
The set-up process was a breeze with DIRAC LIVE and BluOS on my iPad Air.
The sound from the turntable, CD player and in-house server to my ears are clear sharp with good bass. I don't have any fancy words like most of these audio magazine reviewers.
My point here is, you can use all kinds of spectro testing equipments to test all these audio equipments. The bottom-line that matters is our individual ears on how we perceive the sound.
I LOVE the unit and I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a pre-amp with streaming capability and a built-in DAC. I am also very pleased with the price point.
Glad you like it; lots of people here do. There are only a couple of products on the market that do what this does for the price. For myself, I’ve just read too many accounts of this particular product not working correctly, requiring frequent factory resets, etc. to consider it. I have no doubt that if it’s working properly it sounds just fine.

Unlike most of the audio media, the testing that goes on here is really about showing objective data and demonstrating the level of engineering in a product. This forum is not trying to tell anyone which electronics sound the best.
 

T.J. Turner

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I have just bought this unit NAD C658. I am absolutely clueless to your reviews. I have just finished setting the unit up. Got it acting as a Pre-amp to my Rogue Audio Magnum Atlas Power Amp. Turntable - Technics SL-1500 with the Ortofon Blue stylus, Yamaha CD-S2000 and speakers are KEF LS50.
The set-up process was a breeze with DIRAC LIVE and BluOS on my iPad Air.
The sound from the turntable, CD player and in-house server to my ears are clear sharp with good bass. I don't have any fancy words like most of these audio magazine reviewers.
My point here is, you can use all kinds of spectro testing equipments to test all these audio equipments. The bottom-line that matters is our individual ears on how we perceive the sound.
I LOVE the unit and I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a pre-amp with streaming capability and a built-in DAC. I am also very pleased with the price point.

There have been many firmware updates to the C656 since those early reviews that have adressed most of the major issues. So you arent technically listening to the same product as the early reviewers.
 
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has anyone seen any measurements of this elsewhere? I am curious if this is just a case of a defective unit. I am hearing many bugs have been fixed via firmware.
 

JDRCapeCod

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has anyone seen any measurements of this elsewhere? I am curious if this is just a case of a defective unit. I am hearing many bugs have been fixed via firmware.
I am not sure of other sites with measurements, but I can tell you that mine has been running bug free and I love the sound of it.
 

LuvTheMusic

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@WoodyTobiasJr : In post #163 in this thread, Dave54321 gave the following link to another review that provided some measurements:

https://topnewreview.com/nad-c-658-streaming-dac-review/

As Dave noted, the measurements are not as thorough as Amir's (and the thumbnail graphics shown are so small as to be unreadable). But they give no indication of any issues, which does indeed suggest a defective unit. As I noted in an earlier post, the provenance of a "factory refurbished unit", the one originally measured here, may be dubious. It's also possible that there was an earlier problem with signal locking as Amir reported, but that a firmware upgrade fixed it.

As to other reported bugs, my experience mirrors JDRCapeCod's: bug free, sounds great. Room correction, included with the 658, really is a game changer.
 

lappy

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Got my C658 today and it sounds incredible together with my C298 power amp, and that is without Dirac which really is needed in my room. The biggest flaw I have found so far is a really serious one: it is not possible to set max volume. One slip of a fat finger in the app and your speakers are toast (in my case not so cheap Harbeth Super HL5 Plus). Unbelievable that they have missed that.
 

SIY

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Got my C658 today and it sounds incredible together with my C298 power amp, and that is without Dirac which really is needed in my room. The biggest flaw I have found so far is a really serious one: it is not possible to set max volume. One slip of a fat finger in the app and your speakers are toast (in my case not so cheap Harbeth Super HL5 Plus). Unbelievable that they have missed that.

If you're using BluOs, there is indeed a way to do that.
 

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LuvTheMusic

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I fat-fingered the remote once on my Pixel 3a. Fortunately, my speakers withstood the few seconds of full blast with a 300 w per side amp (yikes!) until the I got to the off switch. In fact, the power amp fuse blew, which must have happened about the time I hit the switch. I subsequently switched over to using an old Moto G4 that was lying around -- a several year old phone with a more accurate touch screen than the Pixel. (Thanks Google....) No problems since.

This episode did *not* involve the volume control that appears near the bottom of the screen when something is playing; I've never had an issue with that, and you would really have to slide your finger a long way off base to max that one. But the volume control is replicated in a much smaller area, and consequently a much shorter distance to slide, if you open the "Player" icon at the top right of the screen; that's the one that I bumped while trying to close that little window.

Of course, if you're truly nervous about the possibility, you could use the NAD remote's volume control -- but I certainly admit that this would be a kludge.

The sort of good news is that the functionalty presumably can be added via software. Sounds like a good thing to suggest to NAD. They have been updating the BluOS app at a good pace.
 

caesar

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I got in contact with NAD because of the missing volume limit feature for the C 658. The response was, that the feature was initially implemented but led sometimes to problems with input sources. Therefore the feature was removed. But it is still planned to add the feature again in the future if all problems can be solved.

I think chances are good, they provide the feature with future updates. But what if the problems can not be solved.? I don't know. Seems like with the C 658 a product was released which is still under development.
 
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freedomgli

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I fat-fingered the remote once on my Pixel 3a. Fortunately, my speakers withstood the few seconds of full blast with a 300 w per side amp (yikes!) until the I got to the off switch.

if you open the "Player" icon at the top right of the screen; that's the one that I bumped while trying to close that little window.
The same exact thing happened to me the other day but on iPhone. I jumped out of my listening chair faster than Usain Bolt to simultaneously spin my hardware volume knob and turn my system off. Thankfully no lasting damage. But scary enough that I will never ever use Bluetooth to cast music from my iPhone to my stereo system and I will never use the software volume slider, either. Remote control for me always. I always turn down the volume in between albums and sources. And I use the mute button also. But only after I’ve turned the volume down to -60dB or less.
 

JCG

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I have enjoyed reading these posts. They helped me decide to buy the C658, even though the measurements might not be great. I have some pretty nice powered Dynaudio monitors, but placement is not optimum, and I listen off-axis mostly. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to discern the shortcomings that the measurements indicated, as long as there is no stuttering, distortion, or dropouts. The C658 replaces a Node2 which was making weird noises when used as a Roon player, although it was working fine with Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and other services. I haven't tried Dirac yet, but I think the C658 sounds better than the Node2, and no strange behavior so far. Haven't tried the phono section, but that is one of the reasons I chose the C658.
 

lappy

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I have had the C658 for three weeks now....and I must say it is getting on my nerves. I run it with the C298 power amplifier and Harbeth HL5+. I now find it harsh, bland and it is not "fun" to listen to it. It is going back.
 

caesar

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What do you think about placing a CD-Player on top of the C658? I know it would be better to place the C658 on the CD-Player, but unfortunately this is not possible because the CD-Player is smaller in depth. The C658 does have the ventilation slots on top. So obviously it would be better to keep them completely free. Between the C658 and the CD-Player is still about 2cm or a finger thick of space.
In the manual NAD writes minimum distance of 10cm to right/left, backside and top. But on marketing photos of NAD i saw equipment stacked like this amp / C658 / CD-Player.


Is this really critical for a preamp? I guess it wont get as hot as a amp does. What are your thoughts? Could this harm the C658?

Thank you in advance.
 

TonyB

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I have enjoyed reading these posts. They helped me decide to buy the C658, even though the measurements might not be great. I have some pretty nice powered Dynaudio monitors, but placement is not optimum, and I listen off-axis mostly. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to discern the shortcomings that the measurements indicated, as long as there is no stuttering, distortion, or dropouts. The C658 replaces a Node2 which was making weird noises when used as a Roon player, although it was working fine with Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and other services. I haven't tried Dirac yet, but I think the C658 sounds better than the Node2, and no strange behavior so far. Haven't tried the phono section, but that is one of the reasons I chose the C658.

Hi, how did you get on with your C658 and the Dynaudios? Did the Dirac setup improve the sound?

I have Dynaudio Xeo 6 actives, and am looking for a good preamp/streamer/DAC/headphone amp to use with them. I've read this entire thread. At first I thought "no way I'm getting this" but by the time I hit page 12 I was more relaxed. It's always the way with modern tech gear, and they seem to need up to a year of firmware updates to settle down.
 

steadilyfred

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I found another measurement and a look inside. Unfortunately same results as here. And the used parts are not that good. But I am unable to have an opinion on that due to lack of knowledge. Maybe get someone involved in this thread who does. https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/325667-nad-c658-measurements-and-teardown-q/

Interesting thread. After reading the OP's first 16 posts, I was convinced he was preparing to toss the unit out with the trash. Then he said something I didn't expect.

"at the end of the day no matter how I look at it there's no streamer/dac/preamp/dsp all in one box on the market in this or anywhere near price category so if anyone is looking for one which does all of this in one box I think C658 is no brainer"
 
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Yeah that's kinda unexpected. Only minidsp has the SHD, which also has DIrac and can stream. That unit measures very well if I'm not mistaken. But that's it in the stereo universe for now.
 

KarVi71

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Interesting thread. After reading the OP's first 16 posts, I was convinced he was preparing to toss the unit out with the trash. Then he said something I didn't expect.

"at the end of the day no matter how I look at it there's no streamer/dac/preamp/dsp all in one box on the market in this or anywhere near price category so if anyone is looking for one which does all of this in one box I think C658 is no brainer"

I understand what you think.

But at the end of it all, the unit is somewhat unique.
And even though you can criticise its measured performance, and though some of the technical decisions regarding the construction could be better, the audible performance is very good, and good enough to satisfy listeners. The performance is good enough that the deficits are probably at about or below the human capacity to hear them.

I'm very happy with mine, and though I would have preferred that it measurred better, it doesn't ruin my music experience. Its a delight listening to music through it.
With Dirac dialed in, it has transformed the reproduction of music of my setup.

I'm definately keeping mine. If something comes along with similar features, but much better measurements, I will consider exchanging it. Otherwise its not going anywhere. It does everything I need, and does so very good.
 
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