A taste of high end audio (NAD C370)

Member Name: davey_26

Product:	NAD C370
Date:	22/09/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge power, terrific detailed bass and midrange, can add on more amps

Disadvantages: The look of it and the size of it

This NAD has been on the market for some time but the question is does it reach the standards which NAD have become synonymous with. Well firstly it is built like a tank, it is very sturdy and although not much attention has foced on the aesthetics, clearly this amplifier has been built to last.

Secondly it's power is almost a mirror image of it's colossal size, offering 120 watts per channel. This is important for two reasons, firstly some speakers have a higher impedance which basically means they are harder to drive and thus need more current, but secondly it means that the frequencies will not strain when you turn up the volume massively.

What this means in reality is you get to hear the full dynamic scale of any genre offering with great clarity. As sound quality is the most important aspect of any amplifier though, this is where the NAD comes into it's own. This amplifier offers up a huge soundstage for the music, decay between notes is clearly heard, the bass is very powerful, but yet controlled, offering definition to the bass notes and thus forgoing the boom which can sometimes be mistaken for real bass. Guitars are crunching, but with an openness to them, vocals have depth, soul and feeling and coupled with this, or as a result of these qualities music as a richness to it, or as sometimes described a warmth.

On the front of the amplifier there is a button which will enabled will give you source direct. This is something which has no right or wrong answer but simply allows you to bypass the tone controls with the idea of shortening the signal path and thus giving you less distortion in the sound. There is also the soft clipping feature, which automatically turns down the volume once the volume has reached x but this isn't really necessarily as anyone can hear when music becomes extremely strained and distorted.

However in addition to this for those who are looking for constant improvements to the sound quality, this has also been taken into account. If you look on the back of the amplifier you will see there are pre out connections, this will allow you to connect a power amp to this to give you further power, more control and even more head room. You can also add a pre amp to this In addition to this there are the usual array of RCA inputs allowing you to connect external devices like a television, external dac, ps3 etc.

All in all this tank is an excellent amp which delivers the slams, the transients, the ranges, with aplomb slam and gusto. Definitely recommended.

Summary: NAD impress yet again

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