NAD M10 Streaming Amplifier Review

[iLoveCats]

Room Correction is worth at least $1000-2000.

I'm going to disagree. I listened on that M10 in that room for years. It's every bit as good with 0 room correction on the highs and just the on board parametric on the sub amp.

I have no way to test it but I really do believe Dirac on the M10 was simply correcting the M10's short comings in it's DAC and sub output. Both of which are well documented problems. The sub out, I've helped many people overcome that in Dirac and a lot of people sent the M10 back because of the low output.

 

[curiouspeter]

I'm going to disagree. I listened on that M10 in that room for years. It's every bit as good with 0 room correction on the highs and just the on board parametric on the sub amp.

I have no way to test it but I really do believe Dirac on the M10 was simply correcting the M10's short comings in it's DAC and sub output. Both of which are well documented problems. The sub out, I've helped many people overcome that in Dirac and a lot of people sent the M10 back because of the low output.

I occasionally turn off RoomPerfect just to compare. My room is not listenable without room correction.

Room correction will not correct subtleties in the DAC. It has a lot to do with the bass though.

 

[Sal1950]

I've also had dealings with NAD on a defective C298 that wouldn't power on via 12v trigger out of the box. Crutchfield replaced it, no questions

I've had a couple dealings with Crutchfield, must say they are great people to do business with, fully stand-up people.
Just sayin

 

[vagon76]

I found that M10 don't see my mediaplayer by coaxial input, but it's OK via optical in. Is anybody knows?

 

[pogo]

Is the coaxial input set to hide in the menu?

 

[vagon76]

Is the coaxial input set to hide in the menu?

no, it isn't

 

[vagon76]

no, it isn't

---

i see it

 

[pogo]

There is no excuse for poor analog input performance in a nearly $3000 device. Or rather high and variable noise floor.

Perhaps a Bluesound Hub in combination with the M10 will improve this.

 

[iLoveCats]

Just an FYI on a competitor. I also now have a broken Topping PA5. A $349 amplifier After a couple of emails with support at Apos Audio, I was provided a return authorization and a shipping label and its going back.

NAD $3000
Me: I have a problem
Nad/Bluesound support (I gave them 2 chances): Sir we are just going to clear your ticket as Solved and advise you to ship it to a service center at your cost to get a repair estimate.

Topping/Apos Audio $349
Me: I have a problem
Apos Support: Here is an authorization number and shipping label.

 

[vagon76]

Я на самом деле купил M10 и в итоге вернул его. У меня был удален весь пластик, и я обнаружил, что сенсорный экран тоже тормозит. Кроме того, у цифровых входов были проблемы. Что касается потоковой передачи, я предпочел roon программному обеспечению NAD (похоже, он тоже немного отстает). Положительным моментом является то, что интеграция с Dirac была отличной, как и большой дисплей, приятный корпус и включение входа HDMI. В итоге вместо этого купил блок minidsp SHD....

what problems did you have? I found that my coaxial didn't connect to the mediaplayer

 

[5wavesup]

@iLoveCats

Damn, your story is very upsetting. I am still loving the M10 and believe the DIRAC functionality is well worth the extra cash, but this thing better not blowup on me. You have me wondering if I should add an amp to take the pressure off the M10? I have always wondered if my slightly inefficient Phil BMR's are making the NAD work too hard and or if more power would get more out of the BMR's. Hmmmm

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

I bought it from an authorized online dealer. The closest service centers are Wisconsin and Illinois. Support wants me to pay to ship and pay to diagnose it. I'm not doing it. It should be warranty. I've already moved on and purchased $1500 worth of recommended products from here and some software that handily beats NAD at half the cost and maintains functionality.

Hi everyone, I am also considering NAD M10 v2 for the following reasons but its support history and some other issues concern me. So here are my questions:

1. I have a nice stack of SMSL AO200 Amp + DO200 (still within return period) that are capable MQA and DSD512 but to get Dirac I would have to add the miniDSP SHD which totals to $1900 already. And then to add some kind of pre-amp to take the HDMI input from my AppleTV to watch shows would add another ~$300. In the end, for another ~$500 more I could have the NAD M10 v2 without all the clutter, and get channel mapping to 4.1, nice touchscreen and the superfluous Smart Assistant integration (Siri, Alexa). $500 additional to get all this seems to be good value, do you agree?

2. But since I use Roon, what concerns is the lack of native DSD support that even my "cheap" SMSL DO200 DAC even has. Do you think it's wise to lose native DSD support but gain Dirac Live?

3. If yes to 2. above, why does the product page say "BluOS is required to play DSD"? Does this mean I cannot initiate playback of DSD from within Roon?

4. Assuming that I can solve the clutter issue, what are good alternative for adding the missing HDMI IN and touchscreen capabilities into my "budget setup" ie. miniDSP SHD + SMSL A0200 Amp?

5. Why does one part of M2 V2 product page say "ESS Sabre DAC can accept streams up to 24-bit/192kHz" but in Features & Details it says "32-bit/384kHz ESS Sabre DAC"?

6. Can I connect my Mac Studio directly to M10 V2 and play Roon nicely on it? It seems M10 V2 USB port is for Mass Storage only, is it really due to cost issue that they don't add a proper USB audio port?

7. Can M10 V2 really support and map multi-channel (eg. Atmos) music from streaming services? Does anyone feel that M10 V2's Dolby Digitial support without DTS/Atmos etc support is limiting? Perhaps these are coming in V3?

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

The following is perhaps basic but potentially critical, why does the M10 V2 manual say: "Only audio output signal from TV is supported by HDMI eARC port."

Does this mean I cannot connect a streaming box with Netflix and feed the sound to M10 V2 because the feed HAS to come from ARC/eARC TV?

 

[pogo]

Does this mean I cannot connect a streaming box with Netflix and feed the sound to M10 V2 because the feed HAS to come from ARC/eARC TV?

Yes, you need something like that: Link

 

[pogo]

Do you think it's wise to lose native DSD support but gain Dirac Live?

Yes.

ESS Sabre DAC can accept streams up to 24-bit/192kHz

BluOS Restriction.

they don't add a proper USB audio port?

Use HDMI instead.

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Hi everyone, just got the M10 V2 and did my first Dirac Live calibration using UMIK-1 mic.

Unfortunately, after calibration, the bass is really low on my SVS 3000 Micro sub.

Here are the things I checked:

1. 12V Output on M10 V2 connected to 12V Input on SVS 3000 Micro sub
2. Latest firmware
3. Sub is working fine pre-calibration
4. Crossover at 80, 100, 120, 150 -- no difference

At first I thought the trick of trimming Left and Right channels, and increasing sub level in Dirac Live's "volume calibration menu" would help. But the final Dirac corrected target curve just seems to lower the sub output again.

Anything else I could try?

 

[SIY]

At first I thought the trick of trimming Left and Right channels, and increasing sub level in Dirac Live's "volume calibration menu" would help. But the final Dirac corrected target curve just seems to lower the sub output again.

Do you have the response curves after calibration?

 

[pogo]

What target curve did you use?
Try using one of the Harman!

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Do you have the response curves after calibration?

Yes, it looks like Dirac reduces and smoothes out the "Measured" by about 10dB.

The resulting target curve looks quite smooth but it's just lacking of bass when playing at master volume between -45db to -55dB. Surprisingly, after more testing, when I increased master volume to above -40dB, then the bass sounds really nice and well integrated with the main speakers.

To solve lack of bass playing at low volume, I click on every "dots" on the target curve and push it up by 3dB. This completely solves my lack of bass when playing master volume between -45dB and -55dB. Here is the new curve after adjustment. I don't know if this affects the integration or not. Is this a good idea?

Looking at the main speakers Target Curve, I have 2 different concerns:

1. Why is the dip happening so close to 100Hz? I set my crossover to 140Hz, but it seems the "cut-off" for Main Channels is happening around 110Hz.

a) Is this a good sign or something else going on?
b) I thought Dirac Live will tell M10 V2 / BluOS what the best crossover point is, but it didn't change the one I set. Should I set crossover to something like 100-120Hz to reduce localization of the bass?

2. Above 10 kHz, I don't know whether it's the NAD M10 V2 amp or what is causing in this big dive. My Polk Audio TL3 speakers are capable from 90 Hz to 28 kHz @ -3 dB, so it shouldn't have this kind of big dive between 10-20 kHz, which is causing some missing clarity on the high end. Would Dirac Live full version correct this?

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

What target curve did you use?
Try using one of the Harman!

I heard of this "Harman curves" but not sure who or where to get them. How do they help?

I will do some googling, thanks!