I'll never buy another NAD.

That was the reason I bought my S500i since I would never spend big $$ on stuff made in you know where. It was nicely built with a solid feel. Unfortunately, it also has the shortcomings of the typical NAD CDP, it skips from time to time. My Rega Planet 2000 is a better player in terms of CD tracking ...

 

It goes well beyond human food.

 

I think you are right.

 

NAD CD players do seem to have a mistracking problem, regardless of where they were made. Personally, I like my Rega Planet 2000 better, an older CD player but it never has tracking problems ...

 

I've never had tracking problems with my JVC, Onkyo, Phillips carousel, or Marantz CDPs. Then again, I don't tend to buy the favored brands of many audiophiles. NAD has never done a thing for me which is not to say they're no good; I just don't care for how they look. I prefer Marantz for the great looks, quality, and experiences I've had with their gear going back to the 70's.

 

I have owned two NAD CDP's, a basic (made in China) model and a premium model (made in Denmark) and they both have occasional mistracking problems, something that never happen to my other CDP's for a perfect CD ...

 

I think in most cases, they just don't make CD transports like they used to... and that goes for all brands. Premium CD/DVD transports are tough to find in 2014. A lot of it is cheap, plastic junk, even in a $2000-$3000 player.

But I think NAD is still a good brand, and I think they're better than 90% of competing brands in this price range.

 

I bought an NAD 320BEE back in the early 00's used off of Audiogon, and it has been running fine ever since then, he said, knocking on wood. It doesn't blow anyone away, but it's been reliable and brings some life to my vinyl and CD's. Better than the cheap Japanese amp that it replaced.

 

I like NAD integrated amps and would gladly buy another if I needed one. Encouraged by my positive experiences with their amps I once tried the M5 CD/SACD player which turned out to be an utter disappointment (to put it nicely). I think I'll probably never venture to try another NAD disc player.

 

Take away the N and
substitute with a B.

 

One of the strange things about this place is the way that a post like the above, defending NAD quality, popped up a couple of weeks ago and revived a three-year-old thread titled, "I'll Never Buy Another NAD." Thereby making prominent and persistent once again a thread title that unfairly singles out one brand (disclosure: I really like the NAD products I've bought) for calumny and obloquy. Even though a healthy percentage of these posts similarly praise NAD!

But you could start an equivalent thread about many hi-fi brands and cultivate a similar gripe-fest about warranty disasters and reliability mishaps. Has NAD truly earned this special spot-lit place in Audio Hardware hell?

 

The only audio piece of equipment ive ever had to take back twice in a few short weeks.
Good?
No .ad

 

Agree totally, as I've had no trouble with about 8 NAD pieces over the last 10 years. Seems like the type of thread that should be locked after some time. Let someone start another anti NAD thread if they feel it's warranted.

 

Once you go nad you'll never go back.

 

Well i did and i got my money back.

 

I sold NAD at The Stereo Trading Outlet between 1994 and 2001. Their amplifiers, integrated amplifiers and pre-amplifiers were nicely finished and I can't recall any returns or repairs. Their attempts at surround sound gear were over priced and under featured. Don't get me started on the CD players. They all broke. Transports skipped. LCD screens failed. I stopped selling them. On the other hand, I sold pallets of Steve Hoffman's the Marantz CD-63SE they never came back.

 

(2) NAD amplifiers- an integrated and a power amp for bi-amplification. Quality construction, awesome sound. So far so good. The power amp is about 8 years old and not missed a beat.
The integrated is less than a year and the power LED is flickering (a known issue).
I have been told to stay away from their CD players and have done so.

 

Based on my personal experience, NAD equipments had the best quality from the mid 80's to the late 90's. Their equipments made in Taiwan and Singapore were reasonably good.

 

I've had an NAD C542 for years. It was in constant play every day.
Never a hiccup, until...it wouldn't play.
I opened it up, gave the laser a blast of canned air, and it still works flawlessly to this very day.
The Oppo outshines it, but it's HDCD still sounds very good.

My NAD C270 amp is on 24/7.
I'm sure it would sound better with another power cord, but it's never failed me. Ever, in 13 years.

The NAD T585 Universal got broken by my bumping the flimsy tray. They tried to repair it for months, but never got it right.

That's it, for me and NAD. Bye!

 

My Nad separates t-163 and t-973 are now 10 years old
No problems

 

This looks like it belongs in the kitchen.

 

I think the NAD quality issues started to become more pronounced after 2005 when it started to make all its models in one single country.

 

Gryphon has never manufactured a single piece of NAD equipment, ever. Nor has NAD ever manufactured anything for Gryphon.
NAD purchased the license to use topology parts of a discontinued Gryphon product in their design of the NAD S300
To reach NAD target pricepoint, massive savings in powersupply and other parts was required.
The S300 is a nice sounding amplifier for the money, even a bargain, but it was NEVER a Gryphon in a different wrapping.

Flemming E. Rasmussen
CEO & Founder
Gryphon Audio Designs

 

Flemming Rasmussen ?

 

I have only owned 1 NAD-the heralded 3020 integrated and it was very reliable. Regretted selling it and would love to buy one again sometime. Anyone ever have any experience or problems with the bigger NAD's-the monster 208 or the 218's amplifiers? Have seen some for sale and they look tempting.......