I took delivery yesterday and only have about 2 hours on it. As you mentioned it's too early to make a determination. Is there a detailed manual available? There are lots of bells and whistles but aside from a few videos on YouTube there doesn't seem to be a detailed manual. The sound is articulate but pretty thin at this point. My old Rogue RP-1 provides a more full sound. Again, it's early, and I'm sure the M66 will settle in with time. I'm interested in others experience.
Anybody else get a NAD M66 yet?
I took delivery of a new NAD M66 preamp last week. I’m curious if anyone else has one yet? One reason I was interested in it was the all-analogue pathway having a resister ladder relay volume control. The early videos posted by NAD demonstrated the volume control clicking (as resistor ladders will do…). Mine does not, even when in analogue bypass mode using an external source. I’m wondering if they changed the design or if mine is not working properly.
Initial impressions are mixed, but it’s too early to make determinations. The other reason I wanted to try it out is for the DIRAC live and bass control capability. After playing around with the DIRAC, I can say it definitely makes a big difference in my asymmetrical room. I finally get non-boomy bass and hear all the low notes consistently. It does seem to take a bit out of the transparency of the overall sound, but again, too early to make final judgments.
Overall, it works well and sounds pretty good, but they still have some bugs to work out, which were expected I think, given the delayed release. For example, if you are using a source with the all digital processing (like the internal DAC), and have subwoofers connected as I do, then switch to an external source with analogue bypass, the subwoofers still seem to be stuck in digital processIng and lag behind the main speakers. Also, playing around with the various settings in analogue bypass and in the digital domain have left me with an error message, and the unit reboots itself.
Used as a simple analogue preamp, it sounds pretty good but not up to the standard of a stand alone $5k preamp. One might expect that, given all of its features for the price, and again, it is early. It is very smooth though and nothing sounds unpleasant through it. It definitely shows promise, we’ll see how further use goes…
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@briankwilliams does your volume control click when you spin it or is it completely silent? I have not seen a detailed manual. They need one. Also there’s no software update available on their website yet. I’m sure that will be coming eventually. I think the unit sounds good using its internal DAC and streaming Qobuz. I also have a tube preamp (Primaluna) which does sound a bit fuller, but the NAD sounds good in that mode for a SS preamp (when using its internal DAC). Mine has about 100 hours on it. The jury is still out on the preamp running an external source. |
No, my volume control does not click. That was supposed to be a thing, right? I emailed my dealer today that I was somewhat underwhelmed and the lack of any type of manual was disappointing. He shared my comments with his NAD rep. The rep said they are indeed about to release the software update "soon" and the manual will be released concurrent to the software update. That being said, I believe we have pretty stripped down versions of the M66. That is good as it seems there will be many improvements coming with the software update. Also I calibrated with DIRAC today and was disappointed with the sound. It thinned the vocals and in general took some meat off the bone. Also, the software in DIRAC seems as though it's in a beta stage. When I go back into DIRAC live processor I get all kinds of errors. I still haven't figured out how to customize or tweak the curves. It's my first experience with DIRAC and with no formal instructions I could be doing something wrong. |
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