Review and Measurements of NAD 7050 Streaming Amp

[daftcombo]

Now on sale for 499€ (was 999€ before) in France if anybody interested:
https://www.son-video.com/article/amplis-dac/nad/d7050

 

[LuckyLuke575]

Seeing this review, it makes me even more weary of big brand label marketing talk. When I went into a few local specialist audio shops, I saw a lot of this kind of language and big sticker pricing. Its really easy to fall into the "high price = high quality" trap, which seems to be whats on offer.

 

[digitalfrost]

It's so sad. NAD used to be a respectable brand. Their dark grey amps were always a thing of 'doesn't look like much, got it where it counts'. Why would they sell something like this. Glad I didn't buy a M22.

 

[trl]

Now on sale for 499€ (was 999€ before) in France if anybody interested:
https://www.son-video.com/article/amplis-dac/nad/d7050

At this price it seems acceptable, given it has network connectivity and DAC inside.

 

[milosz]

I bought one for $299. I use it from the optical input and as a DLNA endpoint over WiFi. There is software for Windows 10 that lets you stream directly from your PC to the NAD D7050 over WiFi.

Sounds decent to me.

Curious that you decided to test it as a DAC. I cannot imagine that anyone would use it that way, since it is an amplifier. I mean, what would be the point of buying an amplifier and using it as a DAC? I "get" that you wanted to measure the "different sections" of the product, but I don't think it's designed to be used as a stand-alone DAC.

 

[JJB70]

At the sort of discount prices these can be found for it is probably a pretty good choice as it is well featured and its audible performance is probably perfectly fine for the vast majority of people. My only concern would be reliability as the cheaper 3020d had a bit of a mixed reputation.

 

[Frank Dernie]

My only concern would be reliability as the cheaper 3020d had a bit of a mixed reputation.

Hadn't seen that, what has been the problem?
I have one in my study driving old Proac EBS speakers but it has had very little use since if I am working I find music distracting and if not I tend to sit in a more comfy chair downstairs and listen to the main system.

 

[BillG]

Curious that you decided to test it as a DAC.

Probably becaused NAD decided to place a line level output on the unit, and as such, it needs to be tested. Why place it there if it was never intended to be utilized?

 

[Wombat]

Hadn't seen that, what has been the problem?
I have one in my study driving old Proac EBS speakers but it has had very little use since if I am working I find music distracting and if not I tend to sit in a more comfy chair downstairs and listen to the main system.

My impression is that NAD and Behringer were among(st) the first to go to off-shore manufacture. This coincided with getting the 'old world' work-force up to speed, lead-free solder introduction and counterfeit capacitors. They bore the brunt of the flack. The problems were widespread in the audio and computer industry. QA/QC could have been better all-round.

These companies have moved on from past times. They have design and production assurance that the smaller companies can only dream of.

I own products from both and am happy with them. No audiophile creds, though.

 

[JJB70]

Hadn't seen that, what has been the problem?
I have one in my study driving old Proac EBS speakers but it has had very little use since if I am working I find music distracting and if not I tend to sit in a more comfy chair downstairs and listen to the main system.

There seems to be few reports of poor reliability and poor after sales support. The problem with these things is that there is a selection bias in that people who are unhappy tend to be much more vocal than those who are happy but I do know a couple of people who had issues with them and found that the dealer was unable to get any meaningful service from Nad. The problems seemed to be software related. In the end the dealer exchanged them for alternative products and looked after them but I don't think they will be in a hurry to buy Nad again. At the time I looked around the Internet and there were a lot of similar reports. I sort of blamed myself as in both cases the people were concerned were non-enthusiasts and I had recommended the product to them as a good value way of digitising their set ups and on the basis that Nad gear tends to major on value and good performance, oh dear.......

 

[graz_lag]

No manufacturer can tell you 'we offer you 0% faulty record'.
The main concern should be whether one manufacturer backs up - and for how long, its products.
Premium manufacturers they do that or they were used to do that ... NAD among them, as Naim, Roksan, Arcam, Linn ... and many others within the British industry.
Today's scenario - with all those acquisitions and assembling facilities relocated in Red China, might be a little bit different though.

 

[JJB70]

NAD haven't been British for a long time, they are part of a Canadian group and manufacturing is in Asia (not that there is anything wrong with that).

 

[confucius_zero]

any chances the D3020 v2 would perform same?

 

[milosz]

any chances the D3020 v2 would perform same?

The D3020 and D3020 v2 are somewhat different animals from the D7050.

I own both the D3020 v2 and the D7050. I have used neither one as a stand-alone DAC, as using them in that way seems ridiculous. They are AMPLIFIERS WITH DIGITAL INPUTS, not stand-alone DACs.

But anyway, used as intended - AS INTEGRATED AMPLIFIERS - I have done some listening comparisons between the D3020 v2 and the D7050 and as far as I can tell in my limited unscientific non-blind listening comparisons, the D3020 v2 and D7050 sound the same when driving speakers using a digital input, except the D7050 is able to provide a little more power.

They sound better to me - again, in an unscientific listening comparison - than some garden-variety Yamaha integrated amps and an older NAD 7240pe that I compared them to. Smoother treble is what I believe I heard from the NAD D3020 v2 and NAD D7050 as compared to those class A/B affordable amplifiers.

To me both the D2030 V2 and the D7050 sound really pretty good with digital inputs, especially given their convenience and the fact that you can get them at pretty low prices.

Take my comments with a grain of salt (or salt substitute if you have high blood pressure.)

 

[confucius_zero]

They sound better to me - again, in an unscientific listening comparison - than some garden-variety Yamaha integrated amps and an older NAD 7240pe that I compared them to. Smoother treble is what I believe I heard from the NAD D3020 v2 and NAD D7050 as compared to those class A/B affordable amplifiers.

My marantz 1070 just died (yeah 40 years of service lol what a trooper) so looking to find something smaller on my desk for long unfatiguing musical listening sessions. My DAC is from REGA and my speakers are Wharfedale Diamond 225

These NADs seem to fit the need.

 

[milosz]

>>These NADs seem to fit the need. <<

The D7050 does not have analog inputs, so can't be used with an outboard DAC. The D7050 ONLY has digital inputs, so you'd have to use it without the REGA DAC.

The D3020 V2 DOES have analog line inputs, and so you could use it with the Rega. it also has a digital input so you could compare it as a DAC/AMP vs just an amp when using the Rega as the DAC. (AND it has a decent phono stage, too.)

The D3020 V2 probably has about 4 dB less amplifier power than the D7050.

The Wharfedale 225's have a measured sensitivity of 85 db @ 1 watt (https://www.stereophile.com/content/wharfedale-diamond-225-loudspeaker-measurements ) the extra power of the D7050 might prove useful, but since this is a desktop system I'm not sure a few dB of amplifier power would be important, especially if the 35 watts-per-channel Marantz 1070 was adequate for your needs.

FYI I am interested in selling my D3020 v2, I'd be willing to let you return it if the sound didn't suit you. Drop me a line billmilosz (at) gmail.com if you are interested. I bought both the D7050 and the D3020 v2 and I have ended up using the D7050 in my office because of it's streaming ability. I figured that I would find a use for the D3020 v2 at some point, but have not needed it so far and I returned it to it's packaging after comparing it's sound to the D7050- and was planning to sell it on.

 

[robbiekhan]

Hello,

Came across this thread via Google as was doing a little bit of looking up the 7050. I've owned it since not long after launch and before it owned the D 3020 which I really liked for its sonics but disliked the front panel display as the LEDs faded over time to the point you could not tell what volume you were at in daylight as it was so dim.

I bought the 7050 chiefly for two reasons, the VFD display and the fact that it turns off after a few minutes saving the display from dimming over time (more on this later) and the extra power over the 3020.

I should add that previous to both these class D integrads from NAD I had the C320 Bee and C325 Bee and a Rotel RA02 in between them for a short spell. My ears are tuned to that signature "NAD sound" and I picked my headphones and speakers over the years that fell in-line with that sound, too.

Naturally I demoed both The Ds in Sevenoaks and Richer Sounds before purchase and went home a happy dude. I am using the 7050 with my PC, which is used for music listening whilst I work, for gaming and for movies/shows. I have absolutely no issues with 2 speakers for these uses and actually prefer 2 high quality speakers this way.

I had Mordaunt-Short MS914i floorstanders at the time but always planned to free up floor space and get bookshelf speakers on stands. So a few years later did just that and decided on the KEF Q300, again for the smooth clean sound that I liked.

Today I still have this combination and have zero desire to change because to my ears the combination is just great. The 7050 is connected by USB to the PC. I do not have a soundcard in the PC, and Windows 10 detects the NAD no problem, the volume is fixed at 100% and cannot be changed from Windows, this is fine.

For headphones I have the Sennheiser HD650 and find the 7050 is more than capable of driving them, again super clean sound with no background noise.

Back to the front panel VFD, well even though it blanks after some minutes, the display has dimmed over the years but not by much. It's clearly visible even in sunlight but you can tell some pixels have dimmed more than others when changing output source for example and some bits of text are brighter than others due to the pixels ageing. I did get tempted a bunch of times to send it to Sevenoaks for an RMA as it's under 5 years warranty but now that time has elapsed as I couldn't be without an amp for 4 weeks or so it would take to be sent to NAD and have the VFD replaced or a new unit sent to me instead. I'll just keep it as is and once the VFD fully dies, it will have served me well for at least a decade at this rate.

I don't use the streaming feature since NAD removed the Spotify Connect not long ago. I don't have any Apple Devices so can't use native AirPlay.

So in short, I really like the sound from this thing.. It gets my speakers and headphones extremely loud when commanded, but the sound is always clear and distortion/clipping free. I was surprised to read about the clipping etc in fact. Maybe I just don't understand the technical setup during those tests though as I gauge using my ears only and have no expertise in graph based audio analysts.

Just my 2 pence!

 

[Jukka]

I too am an owner and I have to say I was shocked by these measurements. I have been using my unit many years and almost sold it at one point in favor of a different product with balanced out, but didn't in the end. I've been using it most of the time with ~86 dB sensitive bookshelf speakers. At one point I used this as dac for NC400 monoblocks, imagine that...

I demoed this product with a dealer with very demanding floorstanding speakers (and also with Revel F206) in nicely treated room to very loud spl and could not detect anything bad in the sound (different unit than mine). This little amp delivers better power than many AVRs rated higher.

Since i added a subwoofer I have never dialed the volume higher than -10 dB in my room. Maybe I should try the line out and see, if the distortion is as bad as the reviewed sample. If so, it should show up with a modest computer sounds card input.

If only it had a digital output.. The digital features of this product are the number one reason to buy it. Usb, Bluetooth, AirPlay, DLNA, iPod dock, 4 spdif inputs! Digital crossover between line out and speaker out! If I could use this as a pure digital preamp, it would be nearly perfect!

My next upgrade would consist of a DSP and possibly going (diy) active. Even then this would fulfill my needs for preamp, since alternatives with digital output start at $2500. I'm investigating possibility to use l-pad to get signal from speaker outs. And maybe try diy-mod to extract IIS, depends if i can find anything to replace with reasonable price.

 

[Puddingbuks]

Assuming that this product is designed to be an amplifier and not a DAC, how is the performance of the amplifier part?

I always thought this full digital (pcm to pwm) DDFA technique was the future, but it seems that only a few products still exist.

Is this NAD 7050 the same as the bluesound powernode 1 (n150)?

 

[Jukka]

Assuming that this product is designed to be an amplifier and not a DAC, how is the performance of the amplifier part?

I always thought this full digital (pcm to pwm) DDFA technique was the future, but it seems that only a few products still exist.

Is this NAD 7050 the same as the bluesound powernode 1 (n150)?

Both line out and speaker out measurements are there in the first post. Strangely, the power amp part is much better than the line out and is still in top 1/3 of all tested amps (even 1/4?). The line out must be on a some third rate dac chip.

I don't think the Powernode is the same. I once asked Nad support about the D7050 features and they replied that D7050 is older than and should look for Powernode for similar newer product.