The NAD C3050 LE is a VINTAGE AMPLIFIER for the 21st century!
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- 👉🏻 This episode is brought to you by AudioQuest:
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🎥 Camera: Olaf von Voss
🎬 Editor: John Darko
🕺🏻 Motion GFX: John Darko
💰 Ad segment: Jana Dagdagan
🛋 My listening room in 2022:
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👉🏻 As seen in this video...
NAD C3050 LE
📖 nadelectronics...
NAD C3050 LE preview video
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Podcast interview with NAD's product manager Cas Oostvogel
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Global feedback: Class A, Class A/B or Class D?
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What's recapping?
📖 www.austinster...
More info on the NAD 3030
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Find a NAD 3030 on Hifi Shark
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NAD C399
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NAD BluOS-D module
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Dirac Live
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PSB Passif 50 video review
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Umik-1 USB microphone
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Rega Planar 8 turntable
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#NAD #vintage #hifi
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I can't help it. I just love audio equipment with VU meters. When I see them I want to have them.
My NAD 316BEE amp still sounds great playing CD's from my NAD 515BEE CD player for over twelve years already. Using some new Klipsch R-50M speakers. Love NAD! This is all I know. Thanks John! 😎🏴☠️☠️
A silver faced one would be stunning.
The problem with ‘future fi’ is it’s only future proof until they stop supporting the software for it.
A traditional analogue amplifier will never be obsolete.
Separates are the way to go.
@@khoi83 absolutely, I certainly don’t want streaming amplifiers.
I demand this video to be recorded again due to lack of door stoppers on the phono stage :) Great review as always and I particularly liked the explanation of sound stage and phantom centre.
"Like an animal", should absolutely feature more often in your reviews. Wildly entertaining to hear you say that.
This review was just brilliant. Not only did I absolutely love the side by side comparisons. Not only did I love the VU meters. Not only did I love John’s love of Andor. Not only did I love the reference to my favourite Bowie album, Low….but bloody hell, it was recorded less than 1 km away from the Darko abode. Dear John, tell us MORE!!!
Love this review. I have a 3050 reserved. Can't wait!
Andor is, indeed, bloody brilliant and the soundtrack is fantastic. Hasn't reached any of my streaming services yet. I look forward to listening when it does. Roll on season 2.
Also let's give a big hurrah to the return of VU meters. Personally I would have them on everything. CD players, TVs, washing machines, microwaves...
You killed me with “you had to get up like an animal”. Chuckled on that one. Also, the remote “beamed in from 2005”. Very entertaining, John. Thanks much.
Thanks mate bought it right the way, thanks to you.
Something for everyone, thank you. Enjoyed the outtakes!
I appreciate that you took the time to actually squeegee a window.
In fact €300 in 1972 in today’s money would be nearer €1500 not €600. That’s an order of magnitude greater and closer to the 3050’s price today. This is using the Bank of England’s Inflation calculator so that’s Sterling not Deutschmark//Euro but it’s in the right ballpark.
I still have an NAD 3080, the big brother of the 3030. It’s rated at 80 watts per channel and still sounds great. One of the backlights of the VU meters burned out but it’s alive and kicking.
me too, since '77. it's been a workhorse in numerous systems I've slapped together, or standing-in whenever I've pulled out an amp or preamp. serviced once (same issue as yours)... tech said it measured well up into 90sW/ch. sound much like darko described the 3030. currently active in system #2 (of 5).
@@grumpy9478 I used it with pre-outs from my AVR to power the front channel speakers and to use as two channel. Warm but I love it.🖖🏼
100% agree with you on Andor. Great fun review as always. Thank you.
100% Agree. Most new amplifiers are just black/silver boxes without any visual emotion to them. Hence why I think amps/receivers for the 70's are still quite popular.
DIRAC Live is a complete game changer. I have it on my NAD T 358 V3i receiver. The difference on to off is mind blowing.
YES to the Andor rant! Andor is by far the best Star Wars yet. Brilliant.
It is definitely the most demanding one. Plus its sluggish tempo and nearly non existent humor make it boring for most audiences. It is a pity, but because of its performance the second season will hardly be in the same style. Andor is not a fairy tale so it betrays the expectations.
So glad they have chosen to do a non limited version, I unfortunately didn’t manage to get one of these so was very happy they are releasing another version, this will be a big sell for NAD I think, this is the kind of design people have been asking companies to put out for years.
You will laugh JD, you know how fussy my wife is with aesthetics and how I used to have to hide all my gear behind a sofa in Wahroonga. I just discovered there was an unsold unit here in Perth, showed my wife images and she was fine with it - so nek minute I now have one !! I just wanted something with eARC so I could reduce the remote count to 1. This looks and sounds great for the money, and reminds of the time when our first decent stereo setup when we first got together was a NAD system. I'm all for the simpler life nowadays. - AJ
Enjoyed the comparison and always appreciate finding new music based on your audio rabbit holes you send us down. I was wondering if I was alone in not being able to get through Mandalorian and Obi Waaaa... but definitely agree on Andor (couldn't get enough it, have you ever watched EPIX series Berlin Station... it had the same effect on me as well, though much different genre). Keep the entertaining and also informative content coming; and cheers (and also many thanks) to you and the man behind the camera for the holiday season.
Great video as always John (and Olaf). What I would really like to see is a comparison between this new C3050LE compared to M10 V2. They seem to share a lot of hardware and features but sure look a lot different to one and other. Do they sound the same!?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Darko.Audio team!
Don’t have hopes for this sonically. Aesthetically it’s very nice.
Thanks John- I just posted a video on using pigtails on vintage amps that have a spring loaded clamp speaker output desighn - These pigtails have a 5 way binding post on one side and bare speaker cable on opposite side made by CESS - (Amazon) Awesome how you compared the Vintage 👴 lol I been a Vintage enthuist for Over 30 years And
NAD knocked the 3050 out of the Park with Desighn Simply Gorgeous ! Thanks Again !
This amp is the ideal second system in a retro-decor study or den/family room and with Dirac, can fit in great! I love the piece.
Mandalorian is easily the SECOND best Star Wars show after Andor...
I bought the NAD C3050 LE in the US ($1973 before tax) and sold it after a week. I hated the sound and didn't care for the one RCA input. I still have my NAD 7155 from the 80's (among several other newer amps) and I like it much better than the 3050. I believe that the issue is the class D amp that produces a rather thin and uninspiring sound. I did like the looks though. it might be an age thing but I wouldn't bank on that.
I had a Hypex NCore amp for a while - used with various pres. In all cases, the bass detail (and dryness) was incredible. The squeaky lens thing was there too, with a real sense of the recording space. Detail aplenty. Impressive stuff. But after a while that detailed top end started to seem unrealistic, kind of 'electric' and not natural. The midrange presence was notable by its absence too - it was there but just with the texture and weight that made it feel real. Again a long term realisation. Perhaps what you're referring to here also.
Overall it had wow factor but not grrr factor if that makes any sense. Subtle but really important.
Have heard a couple of other class Ds since and I can spot (though might expect) the same effect.
I have to say that your videos are top notch cinematic quality. Well done John!
Love the Andor plug! Loved the way you made it relevant to the Amp.
The 3050 is just the ticket for me. A wonderful video and a unique comparison. Very enjoyable. Thank you 🙏
I just watch your videos because I like you as a person Mr. Darko, even though I've never met you. But you have both a style and musical taste that I absolutely positively adore.
Awesome episode. Great review.
This is probably the most quotable Darko video ever 🔥, but the best bit: "RHCP button" (i.e. the next/skip button) 😂
Two comments: 1. You are spot on about Andor. Simply brilliant show. 2. I agree that the design aesthetic of hi-fi gear can justify a compromise in pure sound quality/perfection and/or cost. I invested in a Wrensilva console that can make no sense on a purely audiophile criteria (or even bang for buck), but fits into our home brilliantly, matches our design aesthetic and helps our family enjoy music in ways that a component rack (in our home) would not. It also helps that Wrensilva’s Sonos integration makes it a Roon endpoint and works with our Roon setup. Ready for the criticism.
Good video, i would highly recommend the Yamaha A-S1200 to you, truly one of a kind for that price, incredible build quality and amazing sound quality, you won't regret that demo.
I agree i just got one.
The Yamaha is a beautiful unit but it's not as "Future-FI" friendly and lacks a lot of the features the C3050 has. Not saying I personally wouldn't want to demo one. But besides the front level meters these two units lack much in any kind of similarities.
@@RobWooten it is a true analogue amp, a dac for 200$ will do a better job than the integrated one with less noise, the built in phono stage of the yamaha is among the best you can buy and has both mm and mc, the amp itself, the phono stage and headphone amp are dead silent with no hiss at all, weighs 23kg and will shake the house if one wishes. The NAD can't be compared to the Yamaha, The only thing the NAD has over the Yamaha is the dac as mentioned, the Yamaha does pretty much everything else in a superior manner.
I own it and have tested many other amps, none came close at around the price.
Look and Feel while not out weighing operational performance it does represent a very large portion of what makes my enjoyment because it quietly whispers Form is as important as Function. It's an integrity that helps to qualify and quantify the experience.
Hey John, just wanted to wish you the best of luck with whatever you're gonna do in December. Can't wait to see what you're going to produce in 2023!
Thank you for mentioning Andor and giving it a plug.I have been trying to convince people to watch it.Cheers John.
John, thanks for another excellent video. You said this wasn't buying advice, but it was super helpful for me. As someone who is experimenting with both vintage and class D amps, your sound comparison rang true. You know what I don't like about vintage amps? They are in the repair shop a lot.
Thank you John, you make the best HiFi videos. You blow all the other reviewers out of the water.
NAD brings back memory
Always a sweat spot in my heart for NAD. 🍻
Really enjoyed the NAD C3050LE to the vintage model. I personally went back to my 1st real love equipment with he purchase and restore of the Luxman L100. It is gorgeous and the sound signature to match. I think there is a market for bringing back the classics!
Phonostage that I use is from Project and sounds really great, the best I have ever owned. It really sounds super analog, with a lot of peace in the signal and sound.
Good video- thank you. From 17.min in to 21 or so, you make a good description {dirac) for what in the 70's and the 80's we "snobs" called, the sweet spot. No need for mikes on my ol NAD system with my ol Dual turntables...just a tuned ear from someone with relative perfect pitch being trained in Aural skills and that phantom center sound stage is within perfection of my listening chair. Speakers must be away from walls though.
Aaaah, my eyes are the best "listening thing" - it looks amazing!
Great review John. I fully agree with you that the looks of a piece of audio gear are very important, and I think should not be underestimated. Take my Adam Audio A7X speakers they sound amazing but have the looks only a mother could love. Looks were one of the reasons that I bought my SPL Director MK2, that, and they gave me a colour option, other than black or silver, namely red. I feel that NAD should really hire an industrial designer wink wink.
Enjoyable video 🙂 The M10 V2 is it's real "problem" for me. Price is equal for the moment.
The M10v2 is $3800 vs $2500 for the 3050 in Canada
@@kjltube in Europe they are both 2500€, it's all marketing.
The VU meters are the stars of the show! Fun video, you make great content!
Andor was amazing. Swooning over both those amps. Great vid!
THANKS JOHN, FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT 🤗👍😎💚💚💚
Totally agree with that looks matters. Look and feel of the equipment its part of the experiencie of music playing.
From Wikipedia: The first Class-D amplifier was invented by British scientist Alec Reeves in the 1950s and was first called by that name in 1955. The first commercial product was a kit module called the X-10 released by Sinclair Radionics in 1964. However, it had an output power of only 2.5 watts.
Interesting, thanks
The C3050 had me with the VU meters. I have the original 3020 and the modern day D3045 (bedroom amp), this will be on my shopping list when the standard non-LE model will be released.
Couldn't agree more about your comment that Dirac Live is an essential component. We don't all have perfect listening spaces, nor understanding family members to allow for heavy room treatment. Dirac isn't perfect, but with a good calibration you can remove most the problems a room can throw at you without compromising the character of the speakers/amp
Thanks for this great video John. I really like the looks of this amp but you point out quite a few differences I wasn’t aware of yet. Am I crazy to want an M33 50 year edition with the looks of the 3050 but all the internals of the M33? I hardly ever use the touch-screen, can’t read the album title from 3.5 meters away either but that wood finish on the 3050 looks like a perfect match to my 803D4’s! I really love your videos and watch them all to the last second. I love your ‘bloopers’ sections at the end! Keep up the good work and take care with all the crazy stuff going on.
It's funny that for their 1972 limited model referencing the founding of New Acoustic Dimension in 1972, they use the design from 1978... The original NADs, very first series with the name still written out, were the Model 60 amp and Model 140 & 160 receivers still produced in japan. After that cursive NAD and not written out anymore. And then move to this design and production in Taiwan. Thank you for the video and the comparison!
You both did great job at making a “box” look great ) thank you for the video and tv show recommendations. Haven’t watches Disney stuff since mandalorian
John, thanks for the comment on the bright LEDs. The 3050 LE manual is now released and it says the source and volume LEDs have 5 levels of brightness, and can be turned off too. I really think the rainbow volume LEDs (and less so the BluOs blue LED) heavily detract from the vintage look, so I was very pleased to read this. Thanks, again for the video, especially with the delay in delivery on these.
For the record, I always appreciated your videos and articles for not only gear reviews, but general audio info as well. However, I *LOVE* that you mentioned Andor! I LOVE THAT DAMN SHOW!! All the others were pure sh-t!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carry on.
Any DSP solution can solve for bass modes (peaks, not nulls). DIRAC principally solves for phase issues between your lower and upper-frequency sources. That could be mains + subs or just mains that are sitting where they shouldn't be in the room. This is great for us consumers! It's also increasingly priced-into many audio solutions. DIRAC used to charge almost $2K for this functionality, and now you can buy it for $150 as an add-on to Denon and Marantz AVR's, and it's baked-into the NAD solutions. DIRAC is obviously striving for scale as their competitors are catching up and their car audio business is failing because car audio is really hard.
John. Great as I usually. Love your style and attitude. Could you do a comparison on external DSP/Dirac equipment that would be great to add into my/other folks systems? You said it’s a huge advantage for my room and the sound image.
Agree that looks matter, thankfully NAD can provide both. I moved to a T778 after years with Yamaha/Denon and while the audio demo made my decision, the look of it with the lovely touchscreen sealed the deal. Speakers are the same, if speakers are sounding similar to others, it’s the look that sells them. If you can get a trusted dealer and state you want amazing sound but it has to look great, they can save so much time (Im happy to pay that little extra). Dirac was a game changer for me, my dual subs never sounded great with the Yamaha, Nad/Dirac changed my use of their AV receiver, listen to more music rather than watching video because of it.
Bought a Schitt Magni on your recommend, and as 1986 Perreax preamp was in for maintenance plugged it into Perreaux power amp through 1987 Rogers LS5. Lossless Apple off phone through NAOS DAC. Bloody awesome amazing sound Thank you!!! Old Hifi s still good Hifi. 😊
John thanks. I bought a 3030 when I was at university and I could never understand the VU meters!
I like John and I like audio. I’ve just discovered I *love* when John talks about audio in Star Wars.
On interest point in US, if you talk to late what were kids in late 70s, they had no qualms spending lawn mower money on Hifi and vinyl and a few jeans. 600 usd was still quite a bit of lawns mowed however.
Love the entertainment myself especially your outtakes at the end. I have taken your thoughts and used them to help my going back into with music first entertainment. Your outtakes give the impression you are OCD about presentation but this likely a normal action by RUclipsrs.
Love this, thanks for reviewing it. This suits me better than a M10 v2, as the cottage really doesn't need a Cambridge Audio Evo 150. It needs subwoofer out and a tos-link or USB Audirvana feed.
Spoke with the UK distributor for an update on shipping and they said it had slipped again, now to late March / early April. They also added a caveat that NAD said they would 'release it when they are ready to', citing tweaks to things like the overbright LEDs (that John mentions in his video) and how important this 50th anniversary product is to them. Personally, I am happy they are taking this time to get such things right, rather than rushing to take the money soon to be thrown at them by 1,972 people.
thats a lovely looking piece of kit to me....really interesting video as usual.
OMG! I'm so happy you finally posted this one, I've soo been looking forward to it since your news update on it. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world, even tho I am a man! Thank You Darko! I don't need every device that comes out, nor can I afford getting every device, so I love to bicuriously see these videos about these products; when the right one comes along and the time is right, I'll know what to buy and add to my collection.
I was really looking forward to this review/comparison. I plan to go into the direction of Dirac live with my next integrated. I enjoy my Revel F35 and Rotel RA-1570 integrated combo, but I feel like in my medium sized room with Dirac Live it would help leaps and bounds. It's also so easy to get lost in the NAD range with all of their add on modules, price points, and specs. I only wish I had a better idea of what to combine with the Revels. Thanks again for doing what you do sir ! Look forward to the follow up video.
Expensive and complicated amplifier
Your comments about Andor (and the other Star Wars shows) just earned a Patreon donation.
I would like a list of songs used in the videos. The music is always so good. Great job John!
Interesting, I've just said a couple days ago that Andor was probably the best sounding series out there right now. And excellent too!
Really loved seeing Kraftwerk Minimum - Maximum on display. I think "Vitamin" in particular sounds incredible on that live recording.
Thank you for your insight!
I am looking forward to listening to the NAD 3050 paired to the passif50… placed and paid for my own… just waiting…
Well that you have one now is giving me hope that mine will arrive before Christmas. 🤞
I don't think it will. NAD has been mum on release date, dealers don't even know when they'll ship.
How cool it would be if in the future there is a button to automatically detect the sound in the room and correct it. Basically future-fi amplifiers should have embedded microphones and do the compensation automatically.
Sub - you had me at Andor. Brilliant, mate!
Hi Darko, thanks for the decent honest reviews. Appreciate the Andor/TV portion of this review. Please can can you include “tv” comments on other integrateds’ going forward.
100% agree on Dirac, since I installed it (MiniDSP) I don’t listen anymore without it. And it is on a pretty resolving system. I’m unable to put much acoustic treatment in the room due to the esthetics commission (WAF factor 😂)
It's not that I don't care about aesthetics. I just reserve that for the speakers. The electronics are under my TV in a TV stand. Black is best as I don't want them to distract me from what I'm watching.
I have a vintage Yamaha integrated amp from 1981. Works fine but there are a few things against it. No remote! And it's silver! Also has no digital inputs but I could get a DAC. Its speaker posts are also low quality. Still works. Haven't used it in 30 years except to test it. I just bought the Yamaha s801. Looks almost identical except that is black.
To be honest I personally prefer the TI Burr Brown DAC above the ESS Sabre, maybe they went for the TI to make the sound a little warmer to make it a little more similar to the sound of old?
Couldn't agree more. To me BB far superior to Sabre musically.
I love your reviews. What about...House of Dragon vs. Andor which is the more audiophile show? Is more theatrical the new musical?
Wonder when we are allowed to get the loudness function back
One issue that I would have is if you decide to go with a better phono preamp like the Zen one shown in the video. That means if you have another device (CD player, turntable, etc) you are out of analog inputs. This is kind of unusual for NAD that likes to load their preamps with lots of inputs. Interesting that they still have the pre-out/amp-in that the legacy NAD integrated amps used to have. ANother great video John!
Maybe I somehow missed it but what were your thoughts on the built-in TI dac? Also, how can you tease us with the b-roll of plugging in those beautiful Meze’s, and then not talk about the headphone output?
Love the looks
You describe the NAD Class D sound as ‘clean’. My word for it is ‘sterile’ based on the two amps I tried. Putting that topology into a vintage looking box is not a compelling offering for me, and I was a huge fan of theirs back in the 90’s.
It depends what speaker you use?I have the NAD C388 and use an old model Dyaudio DM 3/7 and a Vermout red velvet power cord. First, this speaker needs power to shine secondly. The power cord brings mode mellow tones into it. I have been in audio since 1968 it seems people have a hard time accepting Power D, which improved a lot. Even famous companies like Canton Jeff Rowland and PB Audio use it successfully. What I learned is that synergy between components plays a big part if one is serious
Probably my favourite amplifiers so far. The production model actually has banana plug inputs.
Great information, thanks
“I have to get out of my chair like n animal” 😂🤣
Great review
As NAD engineers in the phono stage & led brightness departments furiously go to work like Christmas elves on the 3050LE production line
I saw a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 in b-roll in one of your videos. Are there comming a review of that? It also has room correction.
Best looking amp he has ever had on top of that Kallax! Boom!!!
Love 'Low', the instrumental stuff. Got into weed at the same time around 77/78. Still listen to it today. Without the weed, though. 🙄
Andor is bloody amazing, on SO many levels.