NAD vs. Cambridge Audio

Having heard both--but not with the various speakers in question that everyone who has auditioned may have employed, I would say that the anwser is a bit complex.
The NAD is 'punchier' a trademark of that piece--but,(to my ear) a tad bit more grainy--think Krell versus, Pass for example.
The Cambridge was to my ear a much more 'musical' sounding piece--some may say 'coloration', I can't argue in either direction.
For listening to MY favorite music on the speakers I like, the Cambridge is more musical.
Both are great products and well represented though. If you can try both...try to do so.

Good luck,

Larry

Naim is a very reputable brand. They are more pricey than Creek & Exposure but they are well known for driving difficult loads like Dynaudio & Totem with little problem. You have chosen wisely. Good deal.

I think it depends on what genre of music that you listen to on a regular basis and also how much of your budget to be allocated for the speakers to decide whether to go with NAD or CA. It also depends on what type of speakers that you have in mind. If you have silk dome tweeters, you do not have to go with NAD. But if you have metal dome tweeters, NAD's warm sound may be an easy way out for you.

I have auditioned CA with a pair of Arro at a local dealer a year or two ago. From my note, the Totem Arro, CA 540A, and 540C combo produced a holographic imaging, the "there there" imaging that most jazz & vocal fans are willing to pay good $$$ for. There was decent bass for jazz & vocal but not enough for rock, hip hop, or rap.

High is extremely smooth but a pair of hand coated silk dome tweeters on the Arro may be a factor here. Bass is a bit recessed for my taste but for fans of jazz, piano, small ensemble, and vocal, they will have no complaint. A pair of fast power subs could do the job very nicely filling in the bottom octave for small footprint speakers like the Arro or the PSB T45. The CA amp & CA CD player combo has great chemistry with that Totem Arro. No wonder that dealer has sold more Totem Arro, CA amps & CD players than anything else in his store. Problem is he does not carry Dynaudio and NAD so that I can do direct AB testing.

Now, the NAD 326BEE high is pretty smooth, partnering a NAD 545BEE. IMO, the NAD 326BEE will also have great chemistry with revealing speakers like the Totem Arro or the Dynaudio Excite X12 or even the PSB Image T45.

From my experience the NAD 545BEE CD player is a very neutral player for the $$$ and more neutral than its brother C326BEE.

If you are a bass guy, you will like the NAD 326BEE & 545BEE combo than you like the CA 540A & 540C. If the designer at NAD can find a way to tweak the NAD 326BEE just a hair so that the 326BEE will be more focused on the high and the midrange than the midbass as it is now, NAD will have a repeat success as they did with the NAD 3020 decades ago at least at this price point.

It also depends on your philosophy of a good set up. Some people would allocate 40% for speakers, 30% for amplification, and 30% for the source which is probably more wisely than my preference.

My preference is 45% to 50% for speaker, 25% for both amp & the source.

What I have heard from a couple of dealers who sell both is that the NAD is more dynamic and the Cambridge is warmer/smooth/more polite sounding than the NAD. Also that the new NAD classic series XX5 is superior to the XX2 series in that it is less warm and more detailed. I was told the NAD M3 is on a different level than the Cambridge 840A V2 (cost should be considered).

The one thing that amazes me about the NAD is their ability to drive hard to drive speakers despite their low wattage. Something to do with its power envelope.

Cambridge Audio is to Arcam what Volkswagen is to Audi.
My older Arcam alpha 8 integrated + 8p bi-amping combo belongs to a league well under the NAD 315bee.
The NAD 315 offers more of everything. Arcam is 4x more expensive than NAD, and Cambridge Audio is 2x more expensive than NAD.