You are selling a DIY product at full retail price, that is always going to be a tough sell. Certainly not comparable to trying to sell a commercial offering at a reasonably reduced price a few years down the line.
Michael
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NAD M23 Stereo Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
You are selling a DIY product at full retail price, that is always going to be a tough sell. Certainly not comparable to trying to sell a commercial offering at a reasonably reduced price a few years down the line.
Michael
Exactly. VTV had the kits at $1379. He is listing at $1300, unclear if shipping is included, and located in Canada which reduces the likelihood of US buyers.
Sokel
Master Contributor
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Lack of support is a major issue too,it applies on commercial products,imagine how much more on a DIY device where no one knows the skills of the assembler,possible abuse,zero warranty,etc.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #65
Yes, as indicated in the dashboard. The lower settings likely have less noise, nullifying my small issue with that in the review.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #66
Once again, the stated price is retail. I don't know what margins NAD offers its dealers but could be from 30 to 40%. You may be able to knock 10% of that with negotiation.
New units are currently available on eBay for $3400 with free shipping in the US. FWIW.
Svend P
Active Member
Would it be possible to measure the idle power consumption?
Admittedly, I might be the only one interested in this, since my thread on the subject did not get much traction. But usually it is not information that can be found in the specifications, and since many of these power amplifiers perform similarly, it could be a deciding factor.
Admittedly, I might be the only one interested in this, since my thread on the subject did not get much traction. But usually it is not information that can be found in the specifications, and since many of these power amplifiers perform similarly, it could be a deciding factor.
NAD C298 get listed for ~$1800 on ebay ($2400 msrp), a new one is there currently, seller appears to be 'some guy on Ebay' (USA). I did get an 'open box' model from an official NAD dealer for that in November, packaged as new, who provided full warranty. Just so you have a further idea of NAD value pricing possibilities. 
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Many power amps are a bit to sensitive eg to much gain and many preamps have to much gain too on this just adds to the problem .
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
I think as time goes on, with the huge emphasis on energy efficiency and 'sustainability', we will see more useful manufacturer specs in relation to actual idle consumption, partial, half and full power consumption.
Idle consumption is of limited use IMO, unless you are in the habit of leaving an amplifier turned on and not using it. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it? When I stop listening, I turn off my gear.
Svend P
Active Member
It is close to how much power it will use when not playing loud. So it tells a lot about how much it will consume under low load.
It's a problem if you can't bring the amp to it's full power, the other way around is not, just turn down the volume if you're into clipping. You can only know how loud your content can possibly be it's 0 dBFS, or whatever the spec for your analog gear is, but you cannot know how low is the lowest you'll ever need.
It can be a problem as @Mnyb was trying to express.
If your Pre has a high gain and your amp has a high gain, depending on what potentiometer you are using. It can be almost impossible to listen at low volume levels. That's one good reason why matching your pre and amp are important. Now, thankfully it's becoming more common to have amp gain options.
Agreed. I want to know standby power (for 12v triggers or signal detect based power on).
Some amplifiers have super high standby power like Krell’s pre-Evolution line
I can see what you mean, just saying that not enough gain is a worst problem than too much. I don't know any volume control that can't go all the way down to silence, now yes, some have poorer channel balance at low levels.
MacCali
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I actually own two of these amps, I bought one after the Audioholics review, which seems to have better results than what Amir has published or used different settings. I do not know what it is.
I would have say the phenomenal objective performance isn’t the winning design, it’s that as a class D amp it sounds a touch on the warm side of neutral. This is my subjective opinion, and the only thing I would say is negative here is the bass is not as meaty as an A/B design but much closer to acceptable and not only that but much better control and speed. So even that seems to be a trade off with something positive
This is my first quality class D amp, but this amp to me is similar to the Bel Canto Black at half the price. Prior to hearing the BC I would still have to say personally that most other class D amps posses some of the typical things that make certain people anti class D.
And lastly I would like to add the subjective performance of the M33 was what got me interested. Where I had a solid hour to try it with multiple speakers and it sounded excellent on everything. By excellent I mean very close to A/B design
I would have say the phenomenal objective performance isn’t the winning design, it’s that as a class D amp it sounds a touch on the warm side of neutral. This is my subjective opinion, and the only thing I would say is negative here is the bass is not as meaty as an A/B design but much closer to acceptable and not only that but much better control and speed. So even that seems to be a trade off with something positive
This is my first quality class D amp, but this amp to me is similar to the Bel Canto Black at half the price. Prior to hearing the BC I would still have to say personally that most other class D amps posses some of the typical things that make certain people anti class D.
And lastly I would like to add the subjective performance of the M33 was what got me interested. Where I had a solid hour to try it with multiple speakers and it sounded excellent on everything. By excellent I mean very close to A/B design
ocinn
Senior Member
The majority of us are not the target market for this amplifier.
I’d wager a huge portion of the sales of this amp are going to be from folks who have never heard of SINAD walking into a brick and mortar audio store looking to upgrade their old Apt-Holman, Halfer DH-220 and Vandersteen Model 1/2/3 -esque setup to something more modern.
So on that note, kudos to NAD sneaking in some objectively high performing products into a slot in the market absolutely littered with subpar/borderline broken gear, when they could have easily gotten away with not, as we see far too often.
And for those of us in here, that want a setup a bit more polished than a mix-n-match assortment of “best value” gear and have the cash to justify it, it seems like a fantastic piece.
I’d wager a huge portion of the sales of this amp are going to be from folks who have never heard of SINAD walking into a brick and mortar audio store looking to upgrade their old Apt-Holman, Halfer DH-220 and Vandersteen Model 1/2/3 -esque setup to something more modern.
So on that note, kudos to NAD sneaking in some objectively high performing products into a slot in the market absolutely littered with subpar/borderline broken gear, when they could have easily gotten away with not, as we see far too often.
And for those of us in here, that want a setup a bit more polished than a mix-n-match assortment of “best value” gear and have the cash to justify it, it seems like a fantastic piece.
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