Review: NAD m51 DA converter


Category: Digital

*Musical tastes: Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Harry Connick
*Aspects of sound: I like clarity and space with good timber and no glare
*Worst thing system can do: shrill or bright

*How long has piece been in system: 2 days (running non stop)
*What did it replace: Rega Apollo R CD player
*How didn't the sound change: it was less brittle on the top end, the soundstage was clearer and more defined as well as deeper and wider, and the music sounded more musical.

*Stengths: the ability to make you not think of the equipment. Tranparency and openness
*Weaknesses: not anything I can put my finger on right now
*If money was no object: I would still own it, but I would spend thousands on a great vinyl set up.

The review:

I'm not a great writer so please bear with me.

I've basically have put together a new hi ended (modest by some standards) in the last 3 months. My old system was a CJ MF2100 amp, Acurus LS11 preamp, Calfornia Audio Labs DX1 CDP and Vandersteen 2ce speakers. I still like this system a lot and it had no great faults, but ultimately I yearned for detail and dynamic range. Thus the new system. One thing you must keep in mind is that the area I live in is devoid of high end anything not to mention people into hi end gear save my coworker as luck would have it! So hearing other people's gear is non existent. So the only thing I really have to go on "what is good" is my own ears and my memory of 20 years ago when I did live next to hi end shops.

I've had some growing pains on thi new system that have led me down a couple wrong paths to finally land me where I'm at now. One thing i've learned about the Thiels (as many here can attest on this forum) is that they are VERY revealing and some might even say bright. I was beginning to agree to the bright comments but a salesmen at Audio Advisor said i should try the NAD M51 DAC and return the Rega Apollo R i bought from them. He had the NAD in his system and loved it, prior to it he said he hated all digital equipment and was a vinyl guy - he is a salesman so who knows right? I thought I'd give it a go. So the NAD arrived a couple days ago and I wired it up. Immediate first impressions was - ehh - what's the big deal. Sounded almost like the Apollo. A couple hours later would change all that. Suddenly all the bass was there and the highs didn't have the edge on them anymore. The soundstage was huge and instrument placement and space was there in spades. There was however the small tinge of brightness. Just for kicks, I took out some old Staight Wire (all copper wired interconnect) and switched out my just as old but in current use Tribtaries (silver wired interconnect) and voila - smooth as butter, or at least smooth compared to the Tributaries. Didn't think wire type would "show" so much but these new speakers reveal any and all changes to the system no matter how big or small.

I'm not great with describing hi end audio impressions but what I can say is this: I'm notorious for listening to CD's for 30 seconds at a time and jumping from one song to the next hoping to stumble upon sonic nirvana but never being quite satisfied. What the NAD did for me, and the biggest compliment i can give, is that it allowed me to listen to whole albums as if it was the first time I have ever heard them and forget about the gear! I listened to Pink Floyd's "Whish You Were Here" - an album I've listened to for 20 years and know intimately - from beginning to end and hear things I've never heard before. . .Now back to the listening!

Associated gear
Thiel cs2.4 loudspeakers
Kimber Kable 8tc speaker cable
Vincent sp331 amp
Straight Wire Encore interconnects
NAD M51 DAC
coax interconnect (monster)
oppo 93 (as transport)
last_lemming
I received my NAD M51 today and found that it had a metal screw rattling around inside and had to remove the four hex screws to lift the "U" shaped top off before daring to power it up. Apparently the assembler in China forgot to put the last screw in that holds the face plate on. I finished his job and completed the installation. Wow, what wonderful music comes through this amazing DAC/Preamp. Adjectives: Dynamic, warm, accurate, sweet, alive..... I'm using XLR between it and the power amp and even though nobody mentions it, the M51 has stereo RCA outputs that work in tandem with the XLR jacks, to feed a subwoofer. Source Oppo 95 hooked up with HDMI out to HDMI in on the M51. The lack of an onboard volume control is easily solved with a programmable remote so you can safely lock the NAD remote away for safe keeping.
The NAD M51 is sweet and worth every penny. Javon Jackson's
"Easy Does It" is like a live performance in my home.
Guys, thanks for this thread! It tipped me over the edge. I've had a PS Audio Digital Link III for years, and I love it. Still do. Found it hard to believe that the NAD M51 could be that much better. Holy s#1t! Whole new ballgame. I think it's that NAD is first to have really solved the jitter problem. Why it's turned heads with vinyl diehards. And Stereophile called the sound "tubey." But the increased level of detail and realism is just stunning. And I too find it non fatiguing. Hard to STOP listening! Breakthrough product.
The M51 outputs both on XLR and RCA. After reading Dessalvo55's post, I was thinking of doing something similar, specifically feeding my amp with XLR and using the RCA output as a line-level signal for a headphone amp, etc.. Just be aware that there is only ONE digital volume control and it is intrinsic to how the M51 does processing. If you are using the M51 in "variable" volume mode to control your XLR output, it will similarly control the RCA outputs. The RCA output will NOT be consistently line level. That prevented me from using the M51 in "pre-ampless" mode in my "standard" configuration. Unfortunately, I don't think it would be easy for NAD to solve this one; I think it would require a second, parallel signal path. It would have been nice, but I understand. Just be aware.
If you own the Nad-M51. Here are a few tweaks hat work.
To stat buy a quality power cord $3-400 is what I insider pretty good
On average,the fuse on the back is a Huge bottleneck steel fuses have 8x the resistance than the Hifi tuning Supreme fuse ,but one slightly bigger 1.125a ,29mm long ,-slow blow it us directional have the arrow pointed to the Right. Inside get some blue tak around ythe seams to absorb vibration.
Herbies makes Big tender feet I youse 3 , and 2 Vibration damping discs
Ontop spread out. If you want to buy rf caps for unused outlets and for xlr
This is an added benifit.Everything counts, allways clean all your contacts
Including speaker cables and iec blades on power cords.
Kontak makes a great cleaner. If nine use 91 percent alcohol with cotton swabs ,take most iofthe cotton off and clean untill no black oxide comes off
This is total dedication as an Audiophile I am a little extreme.
I recently purchased the Nad-M51 it is very good ,I have owned the Bryston
Dac and this dac is more resolved and involving.i recently owned the Ayon
Skylla-2 dac and the nadm51 with th Bryston digital player I purchased
Is actually more detailed and balanced ,the Ayon is a softer and a little more analog if you will ,not as good for driving rock and roll though.
The Oppo -95 I own is for good especially for 3d video ,sonicly
Not in he same league as the Nad. I did want to point out that the external
USB drive I use the Excellent Wireworld USB cable ,as well as the Platinum XLR digital cable. These are accurate statements.
The Bryston bdp is a great addition to improve any dac.