NAD D 1050 vs NAD D 3020

[Psycho Sonny]

Got this cleared up once and for all today.

"Thank you for your inquiry and great question..
The NAD 1050 and 3020 are both great units and both sell for $499.
The NAD 1050 is designed from the ground up as a Digital to Analog convertor (DAC). This unit features TWO coax digital inputs, TWO optical inputs as well as a USB input. Of great importance is that ALL digital inputs support resolutions up to 24/192.
The D1050 also has single ended and balanced XLR analog outputs.

The D3020 is designed as a Hybrid product and is both a DAC and an Integrated amplifier.
This unit has a single coax, optical and USB input and supports 24/192 content using coax and/or optical and 24/96 using USB.
This unit is 30 wpc into 8 ohms.
Lastly, the D3020 supports Blutooth connectivity.

If you need a great DAC, you'll want to buy the 1050.
If you are looking for a great, all around integrated amp then you will want the 3020.

I hope this explanation helps and please don't hesitate to reply with any additional questions!
Thank you"

 

[novaenough]

So what was the great question?

 

[Psycho Sonny]

So what was the great question?

the reason to buy a D1050 over a D3020, as it seemingly has less features but costs the same.

it has the better DAC and AMP and is built from the ground up to be a headphone amp.

if you don't plan on using passive speakers D1050 > D3020 for headphone only use

 

[mrk]

I think that was pretty much a given where only headphones are being powered. Not to say the D 3020 won't power demanding headphones as one guy did on his 600ohm Beyers.

The question still remains, what is the difference in actual use with headphones and how noticeable is it. If it's very much better sounding then the fewer features and not being able to plug in speakers may offset for that better sound but if it's too small to notice, even on 600ohm headphones, then perhaps the same money spent on the 3020 to have those extra features will pay for itself down the line because you won't need to add an amp stage for them later at additional cost?

User preference as always..

 

[ethan]

To settle this once and for all I would listen to both headphone amps and then make a purchase choice on the difference, if any? That's what I wanted to do but at the time Seven Oaks only had the 3020. I was more than happy with the headphone on that so I took it knowing it was great with speakers too. Sorry MRK. Not paying attention to your thread as I have basically just repeated what you said.