NAD M10, new Dirac enabled streaming amplifier

[Flak]

NAD will present at CES the M10, their new Dirac enabled streaming amplifier.. 100 watts/channel digital/hybrid

More info here: https://www.ecoustics.com/products/nad-m10-bluos-streaming-amplifier/

Nice Flavio

 

[Matthew J Poes]

NAD will present at CES the M10, their new Dirac enabled streaming amplifier.. 100 watts/channel digital/hybrid

More info here: https://www.ecoustics.com/products/nad-m10-bluos-streaming-amplifier/

Nice Flavio

Wow thanks for posting Flavio. That’s a pretty cool product.

I love these all in one streaming amplifiers. I love that you can take a nice high value speaker and connect it to nothing but that amplifier and maybe a subwoofer, and get outstanding sound. I love the simplicity.

 

[Flak]

Here a review of the NAD M10 (unfortunately tested with limited Dirac Live only) including a comparison with the somehow similar Naim Audio's Atom Uniti:

SoundStage! Simplifi | SoundStageSimplifi.com - NAD Masters M10 BluOS Streaming Integrated Amplifier

www.soundstagesimplifi.com

Flavio

 

[JStewart]

I've been keeping an eye on the NAD C658 streaming DAC with Dirac. @Flak are there Dirac Filters for 96khz sample rate files for the M10 or C658? Or are higher files converted to a lower sample rate before Dirac filters are applied?

 

[Flak]

I don't know for sure but one can ask NAD itself from here:

Submit a request – NAD Electronics Support

support.nadelectronics.com

 

[Flak]

Here another article about the NAD M10:

NAD’s Masters Series M10 BluOs Streaming Amplifer Does It All

The small, elegant NAD M10 BluOS Streaming 100 wpc x 2 Amplifier is a streamer and DAC all squeezed into one small and stylish package with Dirac Room Correction. Is it worth the $2,500 price tag?

www.audioholics.com

 

[Flak]

Here a review by Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksp...h-a-sound-thats-utterly-sublime/#107bfe0a27d8

Flavio

 

[Flak]

Dirac enabled NAD M10 has been awarded as best smart amplifier by EISA:
https://www.eisa.eu/awards/nad-m10/

About EISA awards:
https://www.eisa.eu/faq-rules/

Flavio

 

[Mike-48]

In looking at the graph in the SimpliFi review, my impression is that the target curve level is not well matched to the level above the max correction frequency (500 Hz in this case). I think that raising the level <500 Hz by about 3 to 5 dB would give a better match, and it probably would resolve the "edginess" reported by the reviewer on the Norah Jones vocals.

@Flak : Can the user adjust that level?

 

[Flak]

In looking at the graph in the SimpliFi review, my impression is that the target curve level is not well matched to the level above the max correction frequency (500 Hz in this case). I think that raising the level <500 Hz by about 3 to 5 dB would give a better match, and it probably would resolve the "edginess" reported by the reviewer on the Norah Jones vocals.

@Flak : Can the user adjust that level?

Yes, that's possible.. even better one they could test the Full version as well and control the tonal balance of the full bandwidth in addition to matching the FR and IR response of the pair of speakers that is important for pinpoint imaging

 

[Flak]

"Given the breathless prose in so many equipment reviews, one might think that there’s a constant stream of step-level improvements in sound quality for home audio; in reality, major change only happens every decade or two"

From here...

Fresh From the Bench: NAD M10 Masters Series Streaming Amplifier

In this article, Stuart Yaniger reviews the M10 Masters Series Streaming Amplifier from NAD Electronics, a compact but powerful Class-D home audio amplifier and network streamer that surprises positively for multiple reasons. One of those is the integration of the latest Dirac Live room...

audioxpress.com

 

[Mike-48]

Another review in Audio Science Review. The reviewer unfortunately didn't test the Dirac implementation -- surely one of the main features of the amp. "Performance of the NAD M10 is generally acceptable especially for a multifunction device where we see a lot of fails. Alas issues here and there took away my enthusiasm for it. There is no excuse for poor analog input performance in a nearly $3000 device. Or rather high and variable noise floor."

I don't know why it's so hard to find hardware with DSP that also is first-rate in performance and GUI, and has a feature set that is really well thought out. (On the last point, my TacT 2.2X from 15 yr ago was better in some ways than current products.) I hope we'll start to see them in near future. DSP has improved a lot -- but there's a shortage of perfectionist hardware to implement it.

 

[JStewart]

I don't know why it's so hard to find hardware with DSP that also is first-rate in performance and GUI, and has a feature set that is really well thought out.

If you also mean and it includes Dirac, Agreed.
Whomever gets there 1st will own the market, small though it may be.

Denon seems to check all the boxes other than Dirac.

 

[Sonnie]

Yes, that's possible.. even better one they could test the Full version as well and control the tonal balance of the full bandwidth in addition to matching the FR and IR response of the pair of speakers that is important for pinpoint imaging

I don't get the 500Hz limit on correction processing. Manufacturers should just go ahead and include the full bandwidth version, then they don't have to worry about the lost sales due to a bad review that had limitations. The main differences that are going to be heard are a result of the implementation of the correction software, otherwise, the unit should be neutral and not change the sound.

 

[Flak]

......... the unit should be neutral and not change the sound.

I fully agree with Sonnie and I expect that the unit will be neutral and not change the sound.
I remember that a long time ago power amplifiers had clipping indicators but they are not common nowadays... not by chance I imagine
Actually I'm not sure that a listener will identify a 10% distortion, if present for a few milliseconds only, as it happens when clipping.
Without going to that extreme, maybe RELATIVELY high percentages of THD distortion are not audible at all if the duration is extremely short during the reproduction of peaks of a music track... this reasoning leads to thinking that THD+N measurements at the full output are much less relevant than usually thought (as transient peaks in music last for milliseconds and even 10% distortion might be inaudible) while measurements at a low level, on the contrary, are probably more important.
Needless to say, THD usually decreases at levels that are lower than full output during the music peaks.
THD+N measurements also include noise and I think that the noise is different in nature.
There is a great advantage in measuring noise at low levels though... we all can simply check with our ears whether noise is audible or not at our listening position by not playing music.
If we can't hear it, if not eventually putting our ears a few centimeters from the tweeter, than it's not audible.

(With reference to SINAD vs. THD+N this is a thread about the subject in that same forum:

THD+N, SINAD and an amateur's struggle to understand what these things mean

I just spent approximately two hours browsing the internet in pursuit of information regarding the specifications Amir measures. As I am not an electrical engineer and most of the sources I found seemed to be aimed at people in that field or a similar one, I had some trouble interpreting my...

www.audiosciencereview.com