Review and Measurements of NAD C 320BEE PWR Amplifier

[drchen]

Interesting to dig this review out! I bought a C320BEE back in 2016. Ever since, I paired C320BEE with a SONY CD/SACD player and B&W DM601 S2 speakers. I haven't tested though with other speakers or input, it sounds alright since I can't really turn the volume too big in my terraced house, which is not really soundproofing Maybe I have never pushed it to 67 watts, but hopefully B&W DM601 S2 are good for it, both ancient!

 

[Jungstar]

Interesting to dig this review out! I bought a C320BEE back in 2016. Ever since, I paired C320BEE with a SONY CD/SACD player and B&W DM601 S2 speakers. I haven't tested though with other speakers or input, it sounds alright since I can't really turn the volume too big in my terraced house, which is not really soundproofing Maybe I have never pushed it to 67 watts, but hopefully B&W DM601 S2 are good for it, both ancient!

Did you use the Power Amp alone and list for differences....

 

[musicforcities]

I have one of these. Never really liked it. I kept reading, and just did again that it was a pretty a good unit. but whatever speakers I used it with, it just sounded sort of anemic and thin in the lower midrange, no matter if I bypassed the preamp section or not. I have other similarly powered and priced amps that all sound better to my ears though I do not know how they measure. my anima 7 is miles better.....

plus, and the input sensitivity is also super high for most modern sources, which means I only ever used the first quarter of the volume knob range...which doesn't help I know. the caps started bulging in a matter of a few years as some are next to hot components or heat sinks and the thermal management design leavers a bit to be desired. now I am sure its well out of spec.

 

[musicforcities]

The C275BEE power amp has signal sensing.

hope they improved the signal sensing from the c272...where is was pretty much useless. and they improved the quality of the board layout and components and pcb; the c272 would blow capacitors because many caps were super cheap and because so many were so close heatsinks and other heat sources. the pcb would brown from the heat. and good luck repairing it because the traces are so thin and badly made they lift if you look at a desoldering tool.

 

[fergrorke]

I picked up a little-used C320BEE a few years ago but didn't do any serious listening through it until this year. Streaming from the audio jack of my laptop into the integrated amp was decidedly murky so I decided to up the game with a Chrord Mojo2 DAC plugged into the power amp section. This made a spectacular difference. Until recently I was listening through a pair of Mourdaunt-Short MS25i (nominal 8 Ohms, 89dB sensitivity) which originated in the late '90s and sounded pretty good, especially as they cost me nothing. A few weeks ago these were replaced with new the Prodigy 5 from PMC (nominal 6 Ohms, 87.3dB sensitivity) which of course provide another big step in sound quality. So the NAD can be now be clearly identified as weakest link in my system but I'm in no hurry to replace it. I get that having extra power overhead is a good thing but the NAD is plenty loud enough for my 11x10 foot listening room without getting anywhere near maxing the Mojo2's output. A barman in Prague once observed to me that there's not much that his establishment can do to make beer taste better but a lot things that can make it taste worse and I reckon it is much the same with amplifiers. In power amp mode the NAD C320BEE does the job without changing the music so what's not to like?

 

[peng]

So the NAD can be now be clearly identified as weakest link in my system but I'm in no hurry to replace it.

Why is it now clearly the weakest link in your system, is it in terms of power output? Thanks.

 

[Booker]

In my case, I would not say the weakest, but the cheapest

 

[My adventures in stereo]

I still have one of these, not the most powerful out there

 

[musicforcities]

Enjoy it until the caps go bad. Then don’t bother recapping. Or only recap just the ones you really have to. The pcbs are too cheaply made to make repair feasible.

 

[fergrorke]

Why is it now clearly the weakest link in your system, is it in terms of power output? Thanks.

Weakest as in I reckon both the the Chord Mojo2 and PMC Prodigy 5 can deliver more with a higher-quality power amp sitting between them (least way that's what their respective reviewers suggest). Power's not an issue for me as my listening room is not large. If I moved the system down to our much larger open plan living room/dinning room then it might be found wanting.

 

[fergrorke]

In my case, I would not say the weakest, but the cheapest

That too. I paid the equivalent $128 for it and as I'm only using half of it that equates to $64 which is quite a bargain.

 

[fergrorke]

Enjoy it until the caps go bad. Then don’t bother recapping. Or only recap just the ones you really have to. The pcbs are too cheaply made to make repair feasible.

Sounds like a plan!