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I prefer my NAD C 326BEE over My Rega Brio for my Totem Hawks.

x21

x21

pfm Member
After listening to both I must say the NAD sounds more lively. There seems to be far more punch too. The treble is a bit more honest but on good recordings it's addictive.
 
I ended up buying the NAD C 316BEE after hearing one and banging on about how good it is. Only yesterday morning I spun a CD playing the Jam - going underground and forgot I had the volume left high from the previous session. Fooking hell it kicked hard on the intro and left me smiling.
 
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Bought an expensive naim cd player back in the day to replace my Nad one

Took it back the next day and had to buy the next one up to equal the (much cheaper) Nad

Yes...I do see the irony :oops:
 
Tarzan said:
Good for you- what you like is what you like- happy listening.:)
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Agreed. Forget the hype and reviews etc. If it works for you then it is better. I have a pair of Linn Saras in my shed system, I know how good they can be, but they just don't work all that well in there.

If it works it works.
 
x21 said:
After listening to both I must say the NAD sounds more lively. There seems to be far more punch too.
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Your experience with the Brio reinforced my belief that Rega's lower range integrateds are more suitable for mellow music where grip, punch and dynamics take a back seat.
 
I've always liked NAD. My first 'serious' hifi comprised a NAD receiver and CD player. Think they are seriously underrated. When my dealer repaired my NAD for me, he was taken aback at how good it sounded. And this from a shop who was the local Naim distributor and also dealt with other very high end gear (FM Acoustics, Maggies, Wadia, Theta, Classe, etc).

OTOH I've never really cared for Rega products.
 
ryder said:
Your experience with the Brio reinforced my belief that Rega's lower range integrateds are more suitable for mellow music where grip, punch and dynamics take a back seat.
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It's not really a fair fight. The power supply in the NAD is almost the size of the entire Brio. On more suitable speakers like the NHT SuperOne the brio really can sound great. Even with music that is more lively. In the case here I am using rather hard to drive Totem speakers.

Edit: The Brio max power consumption is 195w vs the NAD C 326BEE at 290w. This would indicate a much larger power supply.
 
There is so much ignorant snobbery around NAD. The second best amp I ever had was the NAD M3, absolutely fab, the blue led display was fading then there was a failure inside and not economical to repair so that was that. If I could have found a new boxed job I would have bought it. Wouldn't consider SH cos all the displays fade. Current Audio Note SET pre-power is better but stuff like the Naim 52/scap/250 or Farlowe Exposure which I had before was just not in the game by comparison.
 
I think the biggest gripe against NAD is build quality and reliability; the comments above tend to validate the concerns about the latter.
 
Subito said:
I think the biggest gripe against NAD is build quality and reliability; the comments above tend to validate the concerns about the latter.
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Well kind of, but it was pretty old when it died. You are right though because in trying to get the NAD M3 fixed I contacted a well respected amp fixer who did Naim/ Exposure servicing and they said "too complex for us". (I can quote from the email) I guess because it isn't a 1950s design, if only there was a UK service centre I would still have it; but then I wouldn't have discovered the AN SET! :)
 
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Subito said:
I think the biggest gripe against NAD is build quality and reliability; the comments above tend to validate the concerns about the latter.
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I have a 1984 NAD 3120 that works fine still. My NAD C 316BEE from 2010 still works too.
 
A tiny bit of the email:

We have "downloaded the service manual and had a quick look and this is one bloody complicated amplifier! It will be maybe 10 x as difficult to fix as something like a £6K Naim pre and power.... For these reasons we are loath to take it on, but, will so long as you can agree to the following terms"

Now this is 'bloody complicated' because it was designed as a swan-song by Bjørn Erik Edvardsen so it wasn't going to be some old re-tread.

The funny bit was I took it to my local telly shop repair guy and he fixed it for £50:) Now if you are thinking 'some bodge' my current AN amps lost a channel and he contacted AN and got the right valves, never even asked him to.
 
MVV said:
A tiny bit of the email:

We have "downloaded the service manual and had a quick look and this is one bloody complicated amplifier! It will be maybe 10 x as difficult to fix as something like a £6K Naim pre and power.... For these reasons we are loath to take it on, but, will so long as you can agree to the following terms"

Now this is 'bloody complicated' because it was designed as a swan-song by Bjørn Erik Edvardsen so it wasn't going to be some old re-tread.

The funny bit was I took it to my local telly shop repair guy and he fixed it for £50:) Now if you are thinking 'some bodge' my current AN amps lost a channel and he contacted AN and got the right valves, never even asked him to.
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Can I ask where this telly repair shop is? I have a couple of old amps that need seeing to that I'm loathed to spend hundreds on.
 
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