to matthewpiano...

[Bradley747]

Hello,

i have always followed your input in this forum with interest as you seem to give sensible no nonsense advice, plus you always seem to be using fairly simple but good quality gear.

I notice your sig has changed to promote the simple listening of music rather than specifics about your hifi - my question is what is simplicity to you in terms of your current system?

Thanks

 

[matthewpiano]

Hi Bradley.

It's nice to know that you've found my posts interesting, in amongst all the box swapping and changes of heart. I do try to give straight forward advice, and I only comment on equipment I've actually heard and/or owned myself.

I have gone to a very simple budget system, based on the fact that the last time I was honestly and fully enjoying listening was when I had a NAD C521BEE with C325BEE amp. The Rega RP3 turntable remains, but the rest is a NAD PP2e phono stage, C316BEE amplifier, C516BEE CD player, and Q Acoustics 2020i speakers. It is extremely involving and rewarding and encourages me to sit back and enjoy the music rather than wondering how I could make this or that better. Having a system that takes me out of the hi-fi messing cycle is the only way forward for me and this set-up actually does everything I want it to.

 

[MeanandGreen]

Hi Bradley.

It's nice to know that you've found my posts interesting, in amongst all the box swapping and changes of heart. I do try to give straight forward advice, and I only comment on equipment I've actually heard and/or owned myself.

I have gone to a very simple budget system, based on the fact that the last time I was honestly and fully enjoying listening was when I had a NAD C521BEE with C325BEE amp. The Rega RP3 turntable remains, but the rest is a NAD PP2e phono stage, C316BEE amplifier, C516BEE CD player, and Q Acoustics 2020i speakers. It is extremely involving and rewarding and encourages me to sit back and enjoy the music rather than wondering how I could make this or that better. Having a system that takes me out of the hi-fi messing cycle is the only way forward for me and this set-up actually does everything I want it to.

What an enlightening post!

I'm not a regular poster on these forums, but I do tend to browse a lot and I had noticed you have been through quite a bit of kit. It's interesting that after some of the more upmarket kit you seem perfectly happy with a more 'reasonable' system.

I've never evolved beyond what some call 'Mid-Fi' even after 20 odd years of being interested in it. I'm really happy with my 2 systems. It does seem to me that the higher up the ladder some people go the less they are listening to music and more to equipment.

For me my £100 Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro headphones driven by a NAD C350 or C326BEE is all the Hi-Fi I could ever need.

Do you recommend the NAD phono pre amps? I need to add a phono stage to my C350 for my vintage Lenco which is being recomissioned this Xmas.

 

[expat_mike]

I have gone to a very simple budget system, based on the fact that the last time I was honestly and fully enjoying listening was when I had a NAD C521BEE with C325BEE amp. The Rega RP3 turntable remains, but the rest is a NAD PP2e phono stage, C316BEE amplifier, C516BEE CD player, and Q Acoustics 2020i speakers. It is extremely involving and rewarding and encourages me to sit back and enjoy the music rather than wondering how I could make this or that better.

I have always found it informative that because you work with musical instruments during the day, you have been able to comment on how (un)realistically some hifi systems, portray those same instruments. However it sounds like your inside knowledge of musical instruments, has proved a bit of a double edged sword, because you no longer feel attracted to regularly performing upgrades, to chase that extra element of sonic realism which may be unattainable.

 

[JamesMellor]

Hi Matt ,

Now I've owned NAD amps for the last 25 years so I can't disagree , but the 316 is better than the Exposure 2010 you used to have ?.

James

 

[matthewpiano]

Hi Matt ,

Now I've owned NAD amps for the last 25 years so I can't disagree , but the 316 is better than the Exposure 2010 you used to have ?.

James

It was a 1010 I had, not the 2010. I'm not saying the NAD is better than the Exposure. I'm actually moving away from wondering about such comparisons. The 1010 was excellent, and left me with less questions than the Rega Brio-R. If I'd stopped with the Exposure I might have been happy. However, the Exposure is a £440 amp and I'm really not convinced it is worth £200 more than the NAD.

 

[matthewpiano]

MeanandGreen - I'm really pleased with the way my LPs are sounding so yes, I would happily recommend the NAD PP2e phono stage.

 

[knaithrover]

Hi Matt,

Ive done a fair amount of box swapping myself in recent years but I keep coming back to NAD amplifiers. They do have something over other kit which I can't quite put my finger on - I read a review once which described the C320BEE as a very 'organic' sounding amp and that's the best explanation I've heard for why they are so great, they have soul which way more expensive kit cannot compete with. Probably best not to analyse too much, though...

Have you offloaded all your other kit?

Rgds

Steve

 

[chebby]

I am enjoying the 'simple' life still. (One amp/DAC integrated + speakers and no CD player or turntable or tuner).

I was glad that my Quad Vena came along when it did as I had no idea where to go after the Marantz M-CR603 that i'd used for four-and-a-half years. All the other potential choices had some shortfall in their spec or were simply huge.

Example ...

435 x 151 x 387 mm (Yamaha)

313 x 93 x 302 mm (Quad Vena) that's about a third of the (spatial) volume occupied by the Yamaha.

The Quad looked simple and a bit stark with just a hint of a nod towards 1950s Quad pre-amps and tuners. It had two optical connections (essential and a deal breaker) amongst all the other digitalliness on offer.

The reviews were almost unanimously excellent with 5 stars/globes/awards etc. except - of course - WHF? who didn't even get some of the basic physical details correct, let alone the sound, so it made me wonder if they'd actually even seen one in the flesh!

I didn't need much of an audition in the shop (shop auditions make me feel ill anyway) but I needn't have been concerned.

The speakers followed on naturally from a lot of research i'd been doing on classic speaker dimensions and classic speaker designers that had led to Heybrook/JPW then Snell and Audio-Note. I bought them 'on paper' (sharp intake) with the option to return and they are glorious. A total success. I really had that "what was I thinking with my old loudspeakers?" feeling! (That hasn't gone away yet especially after I gave them some thicker gauge cables recently.)

I can't see me changing anything soon. Maybe in another four or five years. We'll see. I'd like to try the Audio-Note AN-Ks but they are almost two grand a pair.

 

[pyrrhon]

Hi Matt,

Ive done a fair amount of box swapping myself in recent years but I keep coming back to NAD amplifiers. They do have something over other kit which I can't quite put my finger on - I read a review once which described the C320BEE as a very 'organic' sounding amp and that's the best explanation I've heard for why they are so great, they have soul which way more expensive kit cannot compete with. Probably best not to analyse too much, though...

Have you offloaded all your other kit?

Rgds

Steve

My first 'expensive' system was nad 275bee and 165bee preamp with paradigm studio 9. Cranking it up you could almost surf sound waves on the floor. But I truly prefered my old time technics 303 and cerwin combo. It's not like you could play technics loudly without distortion it's that it rather let ambiance and harmonics go through and touch my feelings directly. With the flat curve and 0 distortion hifi foly I believe something like harmonics have been removed and hifi often fails to move me. Sounding flat. I have demoed many amps but it was always that flat sound, detailed clean but with something missing. It's like hifi is always good to the ear rarely to the feel. That's not a transparent window to an album sorry. Grandma was right, listen to your heart not measuring tools. Oh by the way my current naim superuniti gets closer to my first love but at 100x the price I'm not going to call that a deal. It's been a passionate ride, I'm still learning a lot about myself and life in the process. Nothing is worst then snobbery.

 

[plastic penguin]

I am enjoying the 'simple' life still. (One amp/DAC integrated + speakers and no CD player or turntable or tuner).

I was glad that my Quad Vena came along when it did as I had no idea where to go after the Marantz M-CR603 that i'd used for four-and-a-half years. All the other

I would have thought the Naim Qute would hit the mark with you, Chebby. Didn't you briefly toy with the idea of the Muso?

 

[plastic penguin]

I've always quite liked the Nad amps. They do quite a lot right: Ample power, punchy, but on the downside, they do lack a little transparency compared to other price compatible makes (based on the ones I've heard: 356, 372 & 320BEE). And the real killer for me is a lack of a built-in phono stage.

 

[chebby]

I am enjoying the 'simple' life still. (One amp/DAC integrated + speakers and no CD player or turntable or tuner).

I was glad that my Quad Vena came along when it did as I had no idea where to go after the Marantz M-CR603 that i'd used for four-and-a-half years. All the other

I would have thought the Naim Qute would hit the mark with you, Chebby. Didn't you briefly toy with the idea of the Muso?

The UnitiQute 2 costs over twice as much (Quad = £599 UnitiQute 2 = £1295) and only has 30wpc on offer (my Quad is 45wpc). Even with 90dB speakers and Naim's reputation for having 'bigger' watts (!) it's not quite enough.

I was tempted by the mu-so (a couple of times) but it ended up being a step too far.

 

[Vladimir]

I definitely feel that a high price tag / big performance specs build up expectations too much and spoil all raison d'etre why we do this. Therefore, I'll build a system as affordable as possible without loosing much sound quality, and see how this changes my music listening experience.

My zen mentor in this case is DDC. *i-m_so_happy*

 

[unhalfbricking]

My system is an Arcam A-18, CA 651C, and Kef Q300 speakers. In the past I used to obsess about upgrades, but for what purpose? The whole system cost me around £1,000 (ex-demo, or end-of-line discounts), it has a big, spacious, eloquent sound, and to upgrade would just be chucking money at a 'problem' where there really isn't one. It's actually really nice to get to the point where you think, 'D'you know what....all things considered I'm happy with my system'. Once you've reached that conclusion, as Matthewpiano says, you are free to just concentrate on the music. It is actually quite liberating!

 

[Blackdawn]

The Rega RP3 turntable remains, but the rest is a NAD PP2e phono stage, C316BEE amplifier, C516BEE CD player, and Q Acoustics 2020i speakers. It is extremely involving and rewarding and encourages me to sit back and enjoy the music rather than wondering how I could make this or that better. Having a system that takes me out of the hi-fi messing cycle is the only way forward for me and this set-up actually does everything I want it to.

Nice system MP. Have you briefly tried the DM2/6's with the NAD combo?

 

[matthewpiano]

My system is an Arcam A-18, CA 651C, and Kef Q300 speakers. In the past I used to obsess about upgrades, but for what purpose? The whole system cost me around £1,000 (ex-demo, or end-of-line discounts), it has a big, spacious, eloquent sound, and to upgrade would just be chucking money at a 'problem' where there really isn't one. It's actually really nice to get to the point where you think, 'D'you know what....all things considered I'm happy with my system'. Once you've reached that conclusion, as Matthewpiano says, you are free to just concentrate on the music. It is actually quite liberating!

Totally agree, and I love your profile pic - Everyone Is Everybody Else is one of my favourite albums of all time!

 

[matthewpiano]

The Rega RP3 turntable remains, but the rest is a NAD PP2e phono stage, C316BEE amplifier, C516BEE CD player, and Q Acoustics 2020i speakers. It is extremely involving and rewarding and encourages me to sit back and enjoy the music rather than wondering how I could make this or that better. Having a system that takes me out of the hi-fi messing cycle is the only way forward for me and this set-up actually does everything I want it to.

Nice system MP. Have you briefly tried the DM2/6's with the NAD combo?

No. I still have them, but I've not felt at all inclined to try them. Maybe one day I will, but I can't say when! Quite a bit of the other stuff has gone now.

 

[matthewpiano]

Hi Matt,

Ive done a fair amount of box swapping myself in recent years but I keep coming back to NAD amplifiers. They do have something over other kit which I can't quite put my finger on - I read a review once which described the C320BEE as a very 'organic' sounding amp and that's the best explanation I've heard for why they are so great, they have soul which way more expensive kit cannot compete with. Probably best not to analyse too much, though...

Have you offloaded all your other kit?

Rgds

Steve

I remember using the word 'organic' when I had the C325BEE and C521BEE a few years ago, and it fits just as well with the C316BEE and C516BEE. There is something 'right' about the sound NAD kit produces, something that makes you want to keep rifling through your music collection instead of rifling through alternative kit.

Here's an admission - I've been tempted by the 316 and 516 combination at various points over the last 2 or 3 years, but I've always ended up dismissing it based on the fact it is entry-level. In reality it neither sounds or feels entry-level so, until recently, more fool me!

 

[knaithrover]

Hi Matt,

Ive done a fair amount of box swapping myself in recent years but I keep coming back to NAD amplifiers. They do have something over other kit which I can't quite put my finger on - I read a review once which described the C320BEE as a very 'organic' sounding amp and that's the best explanation I've heard for why they are so great, they have soul which way more expensive kit cannot compete with. Probably best not to analyse too much, though...

Have you offloaded all your other kit?

Rgds

Steve

I remember using the word 'organic' when I had the C325BEE and C521BEE a few years ago, and it fits just as well with the C316BEE and C516BEE. There is something 'right' about the sound NAD kit produces, something that makes you want to keep rifling through your music collection instead of rifling through alternative kit.

Here's an admission - I've been tempted by the 316 and 516 combination at various points over the last 2 or 3 years, but I've always ended up dismissing it based on the fact it is entry-level. In reality it neither sounds or feels entry-level so, until recently, more fool me!

Must admit I've held the same view on dismissing 'entry level' kit and I have tried higher end kit, I always end up back with NAD. I may 'rest' the C320BEE in the future to maybe flirt with a Rega or Roksan out of sheer curiosity. It's like having an affair with no intention of leaving your wife....I will always go back!!!

 

[chebby]

It's like having an affair with no intention of leaving your wife....I will always go back!!!

... to find your Nads in a skip and your wife living with a Royal Marine unarmed combat instructor. (Hopefully.)

 

[loneranger]

I've found NAD in the past better. They had really killer amps. Today i find it not special and the c356 boring and dull sounding. Also build quality still not great. The NAD CDP still a disaster.

 

[Bradley747]

Ive really enjoyed reading the replies to this thread, and some of the stalwarts of the forum have also chimed in.

MP - thanks for your openness about your recent return to simplicity - sometimes this is what we "starters" need to hear from those with more experience because we all know how expensive and frustrating this hobbie can get!

I have a used NAD cd player which is hooked up to my Dali Kubik speakers which I really love because it was cheap, is relatively old, has given others years of enjoyment and now is liberting my CD collection once again

Happy Xmas everyone, im off to listen to Smokey Robinson via Bluetooth!

 

[knaithrover]

It's like having an affair with no intention of leaving your wife....I will always go back!!!

... to find your Nads in a skip and your wife living with a Royal Marine unarmed combat instructor. (Hopefully.)

I've come home to worse situations trust me, as long as I get out with my NADS intact

 

[Jota180]

My only experience of NAD was a CD player that promptly broke a couple of weeks after it went out of warranty. That was a bit annoying after having a Rotel CD player that lasted about 18 years and I should know not to judge any manufacturer based on a sample of one but it did put me off.

I've ditched CD players for good now anyway and will just rip all CD's I buy, stick them on a NAS and stream them.