NAD D7050

[H3dron70]

hey What Wi-Fi, any chance soon of a review on the NAD D7050, the big brother or the recently reviewed D3020?

🙂

 

[jaxwired]

Could someone share the verdict on the d3020? I don't have access to the print mag. Thanks much.

 

[anis.67]

re the 3020 what hifi loved it 5 star

 

[manicm]

The 3020 is smooth sounding, so you'd want energetic speakers for them.

 

[H3dron70]

Im more interested in the D7050 as it has lot more features, such as airplay etc, and 50 (claimed) watts of power...really would like review on it, get your finger out What Hi Fi!! 😛oke:

If the D3020 got 5 stars though I would imagine the D7050 would!

 

[H3dron70]

Im more interested in the D7050 as it has lot more features, such as airplay etc, and 50 (claimed) watts of power...really would like review on it!

If the D3020 got 5 stars though Id imagine the D7050 would.

 

[H3dron70]

Sorry for double post! :wall:

 

[matthewpiano]

The D7050 looks great but is useless for anyone who still wishes to use a turntable as it has no analogue inputs whatsoever. Linking a turntable up would require using a phono stage with an A/D Converter built in. Who wants to convert vinyl to digital????

 

[Cypher]

This guy seems to like it a lot ;

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=119932.0

 

[Cypher]

The Nuforce DDA-100 uses the same technology as the D7050 I think.

I had the Nuforce for a couple of days but returned it. The sound was very laidback and the bass was lacking.

In my opinion the Pioneer A-30 sounded better so I returned it.

In the end it all comes down to your own taste 😉

 

[TimothyRias]

The D7050 looks great but is useless for anyone who still wishes to use a turntable as it has no analogue inputs whatsoever. Linking a turntable up would require using a phono stage with an A/D Converter built in. Who wants to convert vinyl to digital????

I agree, this product may not be for systems that include analogue sources. There is a reason this amp has no analogue inputs: it is a fully digital amp, in the sense that the DA conversion is happening as part of the amplification stage. (I am not even sure that you can call this an amplifier, since there might not be at any stage in the process an analogue signal that actually gets amplified.)

The Nuforce DDA-100 uses the same technology as the D7050 I think.

I had the Nuforce for a couple of days but returned it. The sound was very laidback and the bass was lacking.

In my opinion the Pioneer A-30 sounded better so I returned it.

In the end it all comes down to your own taste 😉

It is the same tech as the NAD M2 and C390DD.

The Nuforce DDA-100 is certainly based on the same principle, but as far as I know it lacks the digital feedback technology in the NAD products.(Or at least has a different implementation.)

In the end, as with all hifi products, the sound quality is determined in a large part by the quality of the implementation. So, other than the particular features of this type of technology, the particular characteristics of this product may be fairly different from the NuForce.

 

[matt49]

Who wants to convert vinyl to digital????

I don't do vinyl, so I don't really have a dog in this fight, but I know a couple of people on the 'Wam and PFM who have high-end TTs going into Devialet D-Premiers/240s/170s. They seem to think the Devialet, with its ADC phono stage, offers better SQ from vinyl than their old analogue phono stages.

So you might also ask: who wants to put their signal through an analogue class AB amp (which will always suffer from crossover distortion) when they can put it through a minimal-distortion digital amp?

:cheers:

Matt

 

[byakuya83]

The 3020 is digital and said to be ideal besides a TV yet it has no HDMI input/output. I think that is becoming an essential feature.

Is 30 watts per channel sufficient for home entertainment?

 

[KWONAD]

If i had a D7050 i would try to connect my turntable to it. Experiment and find out if it can be together.

NAD have a phono amp in the catalog with a USB out and an analog input.

ok, it is obvious to plug an analog component like a turntable on a digital amp.

I wait also for the review. :rockout:

 

[ErwinC]

The 3020 is smooth sounding, so you'd want energetic speakers for them.

I had the D7050 in my setup the last 3 days and it is also a smooth sounding amplifier. The 7050 surprised me the most with it's very transparant and open sound, inky-black background and very good soundstage.

I used the D7050 as powerdac with my old Philips DVD player used as transport and connected via coax. Speakers were B&W CM5 and Q Acoustics Concept 20.

Compared with my Cyrus 6XP, the 7050 was more transparant, more relaxed and more neutral sounding. The Cyrus was more energetic and had more slam.

All in all a very positive experience. The 7050 is imo when combined with a cheap transport and some energetic speakers easily the equal of most cd player/amplifier combinations costing up to £2000.

I was just wondering if the 7050 and 3020 use the same amplification. The 3020 is 30 Watts at 8 Ohm and the 7050 is 50 Watts at 4 Ohm. I suspect the 3020 and 7050 are identical soundwise bit only differ in features.

 

[Cypher]

I suspect the 3020 and 7050 are identical soundwise bit only differ in features.

I doubt they sound the same Erwin. The 7050 uses the direct digital technology and the 3020 doesn't. I think the 7050 will sound better.......but I don't know that for sure of course.

Has the D7050 enough power ? Enough power to drive the Concept 20 speakers well ?

 

[ErwinC]

I suspect the 3020 and 7050 are identical soundwise bit only differ in features.

I doubt they sound the same Erwin. The 7050 uses the direct digital technology and the 3020 doesn't. I think the 7050 will sound better.......but I don't know that for sure of course.

Has the D7050 enough power ? Enough power to drive the Concept 20 speakers well ?

For me it has enough power.

 

[Zax89swe]

Anyone else heard this new mini digital amplifier? How does it stand against big analog amps. Is it powerful enough? Can you connect two subwoofers to it?

 

[Cypher]

There will be a review in the next 'Audio' magazine (german). They liked the D3020 a lot but still not as much as the dutch review.

(http://www.hifi.nl/artikel/20986/Review-NAD-D-3020-Hybrid-Digital-Amplifier.html).

 

[manicm]

Yes, with 50w at 4ohms, the 7050 does not seem more powerful than the 3020, but maybe NAD seemed to sacrifice additional power with the additional streaming gubbins.

It doesn't bode well in the value for money stakes then - unless a review reveals otherwise/that it can handle speakers with ease.

 

[Bbx1]

Spent about an hour with this at ssav the other day with B&W cm1, PMC Db1 and Kef R100 speakers, comparing it to a Naim Uniqute.

Great amp that doesn't strain with a fuller, more powerful sound than the naim. It didn't have the pace of the naim though - this could have been down to speakers in part.

I didn't feel any of the above got the best out of the amp and that maybe a dynaudio or similar could have done a better job.

For a nice, smooth all round listen it is worth trying out with the CM1's if that's what your after - I wanted something a little more engaging.

AirPlay is awesome on the NAD - connects to spotify in extreme mode and sounds great - the Naim by comparison was a pain but this could be solved with an airport express. As a one box solution for an iPad user I don't see anything else on the market that can touch this right now and will most prob buy it - would love to hear of any other alternatives.

 

[Audiologica Ltd]

The D7050 uses the same Direct Digital amplification platform as it's big brother, the NAD C390DD - so output wattage is unaffected by speaker load, so it 50wpc into 4 or 8 ohms and it will even drive 2 ohm speakers without a problem. The amplification on the 7050 is all done in the digital domain and amplified at the speaker outputs whereas the NAD D3020 is more traditional in that the digital signal is processed by the DAC and then sent to "traditional" class D amplifiers.

Two very different beasts...

 

[bereke70]

hi everyone,

am currently considering bying the NAD D 7050, especially for it's versatility.

What do you consider a good set of speakers to match? Am thinking of the LS50 or B&W 685 S2. Is it imperative to use stands (brand?). Would like my system to take up as little space as possible.

Would like to buy Synology to stream my music? Any thoughts?

Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Leeps]

Couldn't help twigging this when I looked at NAD's website today, that the D7050 now has Spotify Connect.

It's a pretty well-featured product already, with UPNP server facilities, Airplay, Apt-X Bluetooth and app-based control options. The "Perfect Pitch" feature which uses DSP to match the amp to two PSB speakers (the Imagine Mini and the Imagine T) seems an interesting feature in theory at least.

But Spotify-wise, the NAD can now be added to the small but gradually growing list of stereo amps that have it built in:

Marantz MCR610

Yamaha R-N500

NAD D7050

However it works in practice, you have to congratulate NAD for its forward-thinking approach: rather than churning out more of the same old, they genuinely seem to be trying to produce something that matches how many people are listening to music these days.

From previous posts on this thread, it seems that the D7050 is known for a smooth sound that needs peppy speakers to get the best out of it. Anyone have experience with speakers that seemed to suit well?

 

[SlurmSlurper]

Having just got a NAD D 7050 (2 x 50 W @ 4 ohms), and still having my Rotel RA-05 (2 x 40 w @ 8 ohms), I can honestly say that the NAD can only drive my Focal.JMlab Chorus 714s (8 ohm impedance) at about half of the volume that the Rotel manages. I suspect bass response is negatively affected too.