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NAD M33 Initial Thoughts

Current set-up is Harbeth Super HL5+ speakers, Son of Ampzilla II amp, Linear Tube Audio M5Z tubed pre and Bluesound Node 2i DAC/streamer. Trying the NAD M33 for a few reasons - simplicity, desire to support tech advances in audio, correct some room interactions, only listen to digital audio anyway, some glowing reviews.  Have been playing with the M33 for three days incl using the full version of Dirac.  Impressions so far:

  1. It's a beautiful piece of gear with first class packaging - they thought through the details and the buyer experience.
  2. They obviously see this as much more than a 2-channel audio product given the remote - it's substantial and is ready to control an entire entertainment system. It is also not very good off-axis in getting a signal to the unit.
  3. Out of the box with no room correction I found the sound nice, dead quiet background, bass was exceptionally tight and powerful, wide, deep soundstage similar to what I have now (maybe a bit taller actually). But... vocals seemed recessed, music overall lacked some immediacy. It was nice, just not as lifelike as I am used to.
  4. The Dirac process from the software download to figuring out what device to use it on (forget your phone or tablet, use a Mac or Windows PC) to playing with the curves is not super intuitive but worth the effort. Once you have your filters set up it's easy to change them, reload and listen to what you've created. There is so much out there to read on Dirac, it's pretty overwhelming but it does help to spend time Googling things as you can avoid a lot of trial and error. The interaction of the software with the BluOS and the M33 is impressively seamless.
  5. Dirac helped the sound in my room for sure vs no Dirac. I have some peaks and dips in my room (only one that was significant) and I was able to mediate some of the recession I heard previously. But I still can't get it to sound as lifelike as I want. Maybe the best way to put it is that I know more clearly that I am listening to music through gear with the M33 - in particular, I notice my speakers more.  Is this the DAC/preamp, is it the Class D amp section or something else - who knows?  But when I put the old electronics quickly back in play, the sound is just significantly different. In fact, the contrast is so clear that I wonder if my current system is overly lively now that I have the comparison.
I am going to continue to play around more with Dirac (it's fun and interesting) and see if further break-in helps as I have a lot of time left on the return policy from the retailer. If anything changes I will update this thread.


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mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Good sound is like soup:  so many tasty kinds!   It’s hard to settle on just one. 
jackd
1,037 posts
 
With only three days on a Class D amp of any type you've still got a very long way to go for it to break in plus it needs to be left on all the time.  If you have the standard 30 day return window you really need to have it playing whenever you can even when gone but like others have said in the end you may still prefer the tube preamp/SS amp combo with the Harbeths. 
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itball OP
101 posts
 
Thanks for the feedback, especially about break-in time. I will run it constantly and see what happens. And to be clear, it does sound really good but rather, just a different presentation at this point to what I am used to.
sockiojimbo
7 posts
 
I am considering changing to the M33 to simplify my system. Also, very interested in streaming from Tidal or Quboz, which I have never done. Is the M33 pretty simple to set up for streaming and does it perform well?
spacemanrick
25 posts
 
I have had my NAD M33 paired with my B&W 802D2 speakers now for 2 months and love the simplicity and great clear, detailed, dynamic sound I am getting from this match.

Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect are both fantastic and very easy to use with the NAD M33. All you do is start either of these 2 apps on your phone or Ipad and then tap the bottom left corner to choose playing from your phone, NAD M33, or whatever connected devices you have.

I have an ethernet connection to my NAD M33 with my google nest router but you can also connect through wifi by entering in your wifi password on the NAD M33. I was having some re-boot problems and connection problems when Tidal Connect was first released for the NAD M33 about 6 weeks ago but the stability has improved a lot with the most recent operating system update a few weeks ago.

The new Tidal Connect app is great and has a great looking user interface. I like the feature where whenever you are playing a song you can click the icon at the top right of the screen to preview a list of pre selected songs that are similar in genre and music style to the song you are playing. This is a great way to find new music! I have never used Qobuz so can’t comment on that.....
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