Recent content by NS496

As with any 'bookshelf', you really need a good set of speaker stands to get best out of 685's. Filled and 'spiked', the spands do wonders for the midbass you refer to... if the investment in stands do not bring about the 'sound' you're looking for, you'll be set for the next speaker you buy...

I find the D 3020 a great 'lifestyle' amp. I got so used to its neat smallness, that most 'normal' amps looks unnecessarily oversized! Very high W-A-F too! I think the amp (DAC + amplification) sounds sweet with my music choice, but agree with the Bluetooth observation - very convenient but...

the new c338/c368/c388 are 'hybrid digital' amps (NAD-speak, as is the D3020), where as the d7050 is 'direct digital', as in their master series... totally different approaches... but the 'hybrid digital' amp sounds pretty good to me. Never listened to music through a D7050 though. The new c3xx...

The c368 appears to me, to be built on the same building blocks of UcD than the D3020, obviously with a bigger power supply and more than double the power (still waiting to read anything to confirm my suspicion, I may very well be wrong on this account). The D3020 sounds great with the 685 s2's...

Streaming reinvigorated my music listening habits. Listening to more and more diverse music than ever before! Discovering a lot of new artists. Lack of physical media a huge boon in 'decluttering' my home and car. Most enjoyable development in music sphere in a long time I think!

What gives you that idea? Take your mobile phone and play a song via its speakers... Not very enjoyably with a screechy sound and very little bass, next stream the same song to a generic bluetooth speaker, a bit better but still not that great. Then stream to a properly set-up hifi (say around...

Rotel amps are said to go very well with the B&W's. definately put one on your shortlist, although 685 probably not that hard to drive vs some other B&W speakers.

I use a B&W 610xp sub with my 685 s2's... It sounds good, but beware that integrating a sub with the overall sound can be challenging, and can be music-dependent. Sometimes sub settings that sounds good on one recording, can sound boomy on another and so forth, but when you get the sub settings...

the B&W's come with port plugs (round spunges). Try them! They slightly de-emphasise the deeper bass, thereby giving impression of slightly faster and 'airier' speaker. It may do the trick. Also invest in proper B&W (or other good ones) stands, the clear up the bass and improve the imaging...

The Aura is a 'warm' sounding amp, and does not really lack bass... it can infact sound a bit flabby if you use speakers with poor bass control. I it sounds absolurely brilliant with my B&W P4's - which are of a transmission line (TL) design, and gives a deep, but dry bass... PMC makes modern...

I agree, the whole setup is perhaps an overkill for mere gaming, unless you want a good setup and also happen to use it for gaming. What I can say from experience is that the D3020 is a superb desktop amp, due to its compact form factor/footprint and digital connectors. I experimented with it...

If starting from scratch I would look at a Rotel amp, famous for synergy with the B&W, look at RA12 perhaps? Also look at NAD 356. I drive the 685s2 with a NAD D 3020, which does a good job, but ideally need a bit more power for these speakers, but still, eapecially with a subwoofer, the amp...

Just a comment on the Aura. It might be old, but in my opinion it easily outperforms my modern NAD D3020 and the phonostage is very good. You need to spend a lot more on a new amp to get to same level and not many modern amps will have the same 'weight and warmth' as your vintage Aura, in my...

Just a thought, why not replace DAC and amp with a D3020? To me, the D3020 dac/amps sounds fairly natural (neither 'smooth' nor 'bright'). Just test and see if it worthwhile 'upgrade' and perhaps only a 'sidegrade', then not worth the effort...

There was I time a lost a bit of interest because I felt all the stuff I liked, I already listened to, and the newest commonly-available music rarely appealed... two things reinvigorated my love of recorded music... 1) Restoring the Rega TT and buying records again - classic rock as it is...