It was good to ask.) Yes, I'm just very suspicious person... always doubt
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Hello,
Thank you for contacting the NAD Electronics Support Crew!
The question you are asking is primarily based on personal preference. No one can tell you where to put your volume to get the best sound. Only you will know what sounds best to you. I hope this makes sense.
Further to your question, there is compression happening when using a lower volume. When set to 0dB, there are no changes or adjustments made to the music. When set to -10dB, your music is getting "compressed" to bring the volume down. This will not effect the quality of your music but you will notice that is sounds a bit softer.
In summary, 0dB is best for making sure that your audio is true to sound. However, if you prefer how it sounds at -10dB, this is fine and I would encourage you to continue using the M51 this way. It's entirely up to you.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if I can help you with any other questions or concerns.
Kind regards,
Jade L.
BluOS Support Crew Analyst
Hi, sorry I have to ask you. How do you update the firmware on the NAD C510 and where do I find the latest firmware?These units sell for a fairly decent chunk of change these days.. NAD made a slightly cheaper version (cheaper build quality) of this unit called the C 510. Looking at the teardown of the two units side-by-side they are physically about 99% identical internally. I thought I read that the C 510 had slightly worse specs, but I can't find that. Apparently they sound the same on the latest firmware.
I wonder if they made any other changes to the software which would affect any measurements? I doubt it, but would be interested to see it on the bench because these are cheaper. I'm guessing the M51 was just beefier for the Masters series and this one is scaled down to sell as Pre.
Same specs from the respective manuals:
M51:
Rated distortion (THD+N with AES 17 flter) <0.0005% (ref. 1 kHz 0 dBFS)
<0.002% (ref. 1 kHz -60 dBFS)
IM distortion <0.0001%
Signal-to-noise ratio < -123 dB (ref. 0 dBFS 2V out)
Channel separation > -115 dB (ref. 0 dBFS Volume -1dB)
Sample rate 32 kHz to 192 kHz (USB and digital S/PDIF)
Frequency response ±0.5 dB (ref. 20 Hz – 96 kHz @ 192 KHz sample rate)
Output level 2V (ref. input 0dBFS)
C510:
Rated distortion (THD+N with AES 17 flter) <0.0005% (0dBFS)
<0.002% (-60dBFS)
IMD Distortion 0.0001%
Signal/Noise Ratio <-123dB (ref. 0dBFS 2V out)
Channel Separation >-115dB (ref. 0dBFS Volume -1dB)
Sample Rate 32kHz to 192kHz (USB and digital S/PDIF)
Frequency Response ±0.5dB (ref. 20Hz - 96kHz @ 192kHz sample rate)
Output Level 2V (ref. input 0dBFS)
https://nadelectronics.com/product/c-510-direct-digital-preamp-dac/
Hi, sorry I have to ask you. How do you update the firmware on the NAD C510 and where do I find the latest firmware?
Interesting. Ime the hdmi is as good as optical, no noticable difference between the two. (The measurements here seem to confirm they are identical.)Got one of these and have a couple comments
1. My source has HDMI out and optical out, so I used both into the M51 to A/B test. I was hoping HDMI would have less jitter or something, but at the moment I can say that optical is superior to the HDMI implementation here (sadly). Vocals sound compressed on HDMI, and when I flip over its like changing a significant filter, theres more space and detail. HDMI aint bad, but it's nerfed.
2. Tried checking the firmware and while it shows up as the latest, the mode that displays those options only shows up for like 2 seconds before the whole screen goes blue. Likewise, when trying to update the firmware it just hangs on the "Bootloader 1.21" message (someone on headfi had this issue too a decade ago but didnt reply with a solution in the thread)
3. I think it sounds great and I hear noticeable improvements from my Topping E50 for music, but comparing the two on a technical level the NAD M51 is much, much noisier. I dont have tools to test properly, but on my integrated amp (via RCA outs) headphone out, volume cranked, and just alternating sources with max volume, there's a constant stream of white noise coming out of the M51 while the E50 is silent by comparison. The M51 also has a little 'blip' I hear in the noise every 2 seconds or so like a metronome. Thankfully these are at volume levels no human should use, but its still disappointing that the cheaper DAC is taking a clear win here. (granted, the Topping is 10 years younger, technology improving and whatnot)
Not sure if there's a way to isolate or delve into that noise issue, or its just the way it is. (not sure if an XLR to RCA adapter would work, and avoid the RCA out?)
Interesting. Ime the hdmi is as good as optical, no noticable difference between the two. (The measurements here seem to confirm they are identical.)
The first thing that springs to my mind when I hear this that is has to do with sample rate. I never tested this double blind, but I would swear I notice when the output is 48 khz while the original recording was in 44.1 khz.having spent more time with it....its for sure different, and I find myself opting for the optical every session for the clarity. That said, been thinking about it and its possibly the fault of the source (apple tv), with it merging the audio into its A/V output then needing to be extracted again, with the optical bypassing some processing? Only explanation I can think of
The first thing that springs to my mind when I hear this that is has to do with sample rate. I never tested this double blind, but I would swear I notice when the output is 48 khz while the original recording was in 44.1 khz.
My guess would be the hdmi is outputting in 48 khz as that is the standard rate accompanying video and apple tv is a tv device primarily. Btw I would venture a guess to say the apple tv outputs 48 khz in the optical spdif too. In short: I'm not sure of the audibility of all this but my inkling is that this can affect the endresult.