I think it's time I refreshed my NAD C325Bee, NAD D 3020?

400 quid - was your old NAD broken? I didn't spot what if anything was wrong with it. Seems a lot of money for a DAC and smaller less powerful amp that generates less heat.
 
Think of it as £200 once you factor in that I've sold the old amp and sound card and the Chord cable that came free with the new amp.

Either way, nothing was wrong with the old amp, I fancied something new and wanted the modern digital and wireless connections with improved sound quality.

Oh and in relation to your post in the other thread, reclaim some space on the worktop.

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The USB connection is picky as to which port it will work with. I guess this is because on modern mobos the USB ports share resources with other ports. The front panel USB ports on my P67A G45 B3 are connected to the mobo internally, the rear 10 ports are on their own with 7 in use. I had to swap ports with another device before Windows would play any audio through the amp.

Worth mentioning I guess.
 
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A little bit OT but I might actually pick up the D1050 as I only use headphones and my current Technics SUA-900mk2 amplifier has started acting up. I'd looked at various headphone amps but wanted to connect my CD player as well as my PC so this might fit the bill nicely.
 
1050 does look decent yup, the website goes into more detail about the headphone amp stage too so I imagine it's got a beefed up amp in there to power higher ohm cans.

Edit*
I mentioned how much more purer music sounded on this compared to the STX. The below video should give an idea just how clear and audible everything is, everything has its place and string instruments, pianos etc all sound sublime and vocals when singing is going on at the same time are never hidden or out there in your face too much either, it's all just right.

 
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That video only tells us as much as our own setups tell us so it's kind of pointless, but it's interesting to see how the amp looks on your desktop. I pine after floorstanders for my stereo setup but getting them past the wife for the living room was hard enough.
 
So looks like the source input select bug I noticed on mine was actually a fault and not the energy saving bulbs interfering. A swift drive down to Sevenoaks of Southampton to get a swap-out and all is sorted. In store they said not to feel awkward if the issue doesn't present itself in store because they get that a lot with intermittent problems but thankfully the source input cycled all on its own when just plugged into the mains on the store counter.

It's the first bug they have seen out of the many units they've sold and this replacement seems fine. Burn-in must definitely a thing because U can immediately tell there's a sound difference between the one that got replaced and this one with 0 hours of use, mostly evident in the treble detail which opened up nicely on the last one after a week of solid use.

Rock on.
 
How are you getting on with this? Still enjoying it? Thinking of ditching my 3020 for this to save some space. They've not exactly plummeted in price though!
 
Until there's strong competition the price won't really get any lower and as it stands it's one of a kind so is still considered good value for money for what's on offer.

I'm still enjoying mine, don't see any reason not to. Sound is big and detailed still and it does exactly what NAD advertise. My remote battery is dying I think, it's one of those flat batteries so will replace that soon and other than that there have been no issues.
 
Bit of a bump... The D 3020 is currently on offer for £349.

I've noticed Sevenoaks have the D 7050 on offer for £649 currently and I'm mighty tempted. My current headphones, the AKG K7XX, are powered just fine from the D 3020 but they do need more juice than the HD 598 and Philips X1/X2 did.

Main reason for being curious about the 7050 is the auto rotating display orientation. I'm moving stuff around and would like to have the amp lying flat rather than upright. The D 3020 can be flat too but the display is LED and static and looks odd when doing so. Also I've been toying with wireless streaming over the network so the added network stream functionality would be a bonus.

I figure I could probably sell the 3020 for up to maybe £250-£300 based on mint condition and get the 7050 at the offer price.

Edit*
Oh and there's an Android app to control it all!: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nadelectronics.NADD7050&hl=en

I'll decide over the next few days :cool:
 
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£400 for a rotating display and some more power, which you probably won't really notice? Business is good then I take it!

That said I'm now more tempted to swap my 3130 for the D 3020, if only so I can get the hulking great 3130 off my desk.
 
Well I'm using PC upgrade budget as I have been looking at overhauling my PC for the past year or so but every time I come to price stuff up and looking at the % gains I am looking at vs the cost of new components, I just think "wow I'm not getting bang for buck here".

Seems the 3770K OC and 16GB DDR3 still has a few more years left before any games and apps start to make them look old. If I don't need to upgrade core PC components then I may as well add some extra gloss to the audio side of things :p

I'm not expecting a huge improvement in sound considering how well the D 3020 does that side anyway, but I will be making use of the network streaming side of things and Spotify etc.

Since getting the 3020 I have not missed ditching Analogue sources one single bit. Less power consumption, less heat generated, less deskspace consumed, higher quality sound and multiple features in one Wii sized box = No brainer.
 
So I've had half a day to spend with the D 7050 and here's what I have found differences wise compared to the 3020.

- On the 3020 the volume range goes tom -100dB to 0dB, 0 being the highest volume.
- My headphones are AKG K7XX, at -20dB they are what I'd call "Loud", beyond that I would fear I'd damage my ears in the long term.
- My current speakers are Tannoy V4, at -40dB they are loud enough to be used as garden BBQ speakers where guests can hear the music from open windows.

- On the 7050 the volume range is -90dB to +10dB, so many will immediately think "hang on this is quite low volume at -40dB" when in actual fact it's not, you've got an additional +10dB to scale with. NAD's documentation doesn't make this clear, nor does any review I watched or read.

You cannot check the 7050 firmware on the unit itself. On the 3020 you can. On the 7050 you just have to check it from the web based area from a browser tab so you have to have it connected to your WiFi or via Ethernet too.

On the 3020 remote the play/pause button acts as mute when using a non "connected" player device such as USB via PC. On the 7050 there is no mute function this way.

The more advanced settings such as power save, auto power off, sub crossover, IR channel and app control when in standby can only be set via the NAD Android/iOS app. I don't have a problem with this but I wish the app had a few more bells and whistles.

The D 7050 does not have the "Bass" extension button at the back like the 3020. I guess this is because the 3020 uses clever software methods to control some of the processing whereas the 7050 is a direct digital amp and shares components with their top line of amps and receivers. The 7050 has relays that click when turning on and off and when inserting and removing headphones. The 3020 is silent in operation.

The 7050 display is VFD, it will turn off after 10 minutes of no remote control or knob activity to conserve energy. Audio will remain active though of course. The display wakes up the moment you touch anything.

The sound quality is slightly improved. Vocals sound fuller, richer and the bass seems tighter and more refined. I can liken it to sitting in a 5 series BMW then switching to a 6 series. Both epic in comfort and nice, but the 6 is just that little bit nicer still.

The headphone is specced as "high end" on the 7050, the 1050 is a dedicated headphone amp yet still has the same volume range of the 3020. This leads me to believe that NAD has put more power into the 7050 headphone amp, especially considering the relay switching when inserting headphones and the 10dB shift.

So far I am impressed. The 3020 sound quality improved over the first 2 weeks of use so I imagine the 7050 might be the same.

I'm going to eye up potential speaker choices over the next few months as I want some speakers that focus almost exclusively on vocals and soundstage. I want tro match the characteristics of the AKG K7XX as close as possible as that is now the kind of sound I really like.
 
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