So have finally got my PC working for more than a couple of microseconds without dying, and had a chance to properly listen to this NAD. I'm struck by how beguiling it is, moderate volme, nothing silly, listening to tracks on a random 10 playlist, and every now and then a familiar one pops up and I'm hearing a whole layer of detail that I didn't know was there, and it's exciting, it's pulling me into the music - this what it is all about, after all right?
Well, I'm really fighting an impulse to just say k it and buy the damn thing, I mean I am really grinning at what I can hear, heart really is ruling head; so time to stop, take a breath and analyse why is it so exciting?
Partly I realise because I already wanted the NAD, I have a soft spot for them, a pride of ownership; I want it to sound great even before it's turned on; so a huge preconception before the audition even starts, just how powerful our eyes are when using our ears.
Ultimately it is "better" than my current amp/DAC, but does it really make the music any different? Is this pleasure an ephemeral transience born of an ever fleeting material upward spiral? The knowledge that there is something "better" and it's within reach is a heady drug of such coloration of the senses that it would make owners of Bose hi fi recoil.
Against my inner wishes I'm going to have to pack it away before I get too used to it, hide it until I take it back to the shop and redress the stupid balance in my credit card. Time for the head to rule, to focus on the music and not simply the sound of it, to just enjoy what is a fabulous system as it is. But I know, that one day, it will be there will be there on my rack, not today, not next week, but one day a long time from now, because somehow I just know it's "right"
Well, I'm really fighting an impulse to just say k it and buy the damn thing, I mean I am really grinning at what I can hear, heart really is ruling head; so time to stop, take a breath and analyse why is it so exciting?
Partly I realise because I already wanted the NAD, I have a soft spot for them, a pride of ownership; I want it to sound great even before it's turned on; so a huge preconception before the audition even starts, just how powerful our eyes are when using our ears.
Ultimately it is "better" than my current amp/DAC, but does it really make the music any different? Is this pleasure an ephemeral transience born of an ever fleeting material upward spiral? The knowledge that there is something "better" and it's within reach is a heady drug of such coloration of the senses that it would make owners of Bose hi fi recoil.
Against my inner wishes I'm going to have to pack it away before I get too used to it, hide it until I take it back to the shop and redress the stupid balance in my credit card. Time for the head to rule, to focus on the music and not simply the sound of it, to just enjoy what is a fabulous system as it is. But I know, that one day, it will be there will be there on my rack, not today, not next week, but one day a long time from now, because somehow I just know it's "right"