Philipp Paul Klose
Member
These are some measurements I have taken with the NAD PP2 Phono Preamplifier.
I have bought it 11-12 years back. It is still being sold online for 70€-150€. I cannot remember how much I have paid. I was never really happy with the sound of it, so I felt the urge to see how it measures. The power supply is a 24V 100mA SMPS. Plenty of voltage which promises good headroom. I have used my RME Babyface Pro FS with a SINAD in loopback of -103 dBV. Enough headroom and precision for this measurement.
First look goes to the frequency response and distortion:
THD+N over frequency:
Phase:
Group delay:
In order to see how the whole system performs, I have used the RMS Audio "Klangerlebnis pur" LP, which contains correlated and uncorrelated pink noise. Player was my Technics SL1200mkII with Ortofon 2m blue. Noise was recorded and the analyzed in REW's RTA. The high linearity surprised me!
The test LP also contains (beside other interesting tests I am not looking at here today) pink noise output only on L or R. I have used this to look at the real world crosstalk:
Looking at the results I must say, that the box looks quite competent and OK for the time it was designed. Noise is slightly higher than with modern designs from other manufacturers, which is expected. To be honest, in listening tests I have never really liked the sound of the NAD PP2. It always sounded flat and lifeless to me. Where that is coming from, hard to say, it probably was not the phono preamplifier!
I have bought it 11-12 years back. It is still being sold online for 70€-150€. I cannot remember how much I have paid. I was never really happy with the sound of it, so I felt the urge to see how it measures. The power supply is a 24V 100mA SMPS. Plenty of voltage which promises good headroom. I have used my RME Babyface Pro FS with a SINAD in loopback of -103 dBV. Enough headroom and precision for this measurement.
First look goes to the frequency response and distortion:
THD+N over frequency:
Phase:
Group delay:
The test LP also contains (beside other interesting tests I am not looking at here today) pink noise output only on L or R. I have used this to look at the real world crosstalk:
Looking at the results I must say, that the box looks quite competent and OK for the time it was designed. Noise is slightly higher than with modern designs from other manufacturers, which is expected. To be honest, in listening tests I have never really liked the sound of the NAD PP2. It always sounded flat and lifeless to me. Where that is coming from, hard to say, it probably was not the phono preamplifier!
