My brother bought a bum Denon 395 receiver (earlier post). The guy he bought it from traded it out and gave him a NAD T742. I did not do a comparison between the two, but I am just looking for any info on NAD. I never heard of NAD before. He is basically just using the receiver to play some music through his ceiling speakers and out door speakers when he has people over...Thanks
NAD is a well known brand owned by Lenbrook in Canada. It's been around for many years. The T742 was an entry level ($400) receiver wihich gained many friends during its life, although some complained of high hiss levels by comparison to other brands. However, most were agreed that musically, the T742 was better than its far Eastern competitors, as is usually the case with NAD.
Yup, NAD make nice sounding AVR's Jim. TO my ears, they blow the doors off of Denon in the sound quality department. Personally, I would obviously be happier with any NAD, from any time period, then a Denon product. Cheers.
That used to be the case but ever since the 05 products the Denons have come a long way. NAD still take the Denons to the cleaners for music, but in other respects the Denons have certainly overtaken the NADs - which is one reason why NAD is so difficult to sell nowadays.
Frank - Have you played with the brand new NADs? Denon will always have the edge in features, no doubt. But in Sound quality, the NAD's, IMO, blow away the denons not only in music, but surround sound as well. I guess, to my ears, Denon just really does not sound good.lol Just my opinion though.
The Onkyo's are definitely different. My friend has an Onkyo, and it is a brighter sound, but in a good way. Less bass, big time, but more detail in the highs. One thing I noticed in my friends system was that the gun fire and bullets sounded too pingy. However, his room was awful. I have heard the Onkyo's in proper setups where they have shined. Sound quality, I would put them both pretty close. It is more of a preference thing. As far as features go, the Onkyo win hands down. The power supplies in the NAD's are better though. Overall I like them both. I would put Onkyo in my top 5 for AVR's for sure. Maybe even my top 3. Arcam,NAD,Cambridge,Onkyo,B&K,Rotel. There are your top AVR companies IMO.
Appreciate your thoughts Nick. Good to hear from someone who's auditioned so many AVR's. I've never found my Onkyo to sound pingy or bright but that could be because my Sinclair's are quite neutral. I've never heard a NAD HT setup. Would love to hear yours someday.
Yeah the Onkyo is just bright in comparison to a NAD which is definitely on the warm side. I didn't mean it in a way that the Onkyo is overly bright. Just compared to the NAD. I love the Onkyo lineup, and will definitely consider it if I have another failure of some kind. In most setup's I have heard the Onkyo, it has sound fantastic. They are nice looking and carry all the wanted audio codecs and features. Onkyo have hit it on the nail. Cheers.
Hmmm, not my experience I must admit. Yes, the NADs are not bright but neither are the Onkyos, even in comparison to the NADs. If anything the Onkyos are a touch warmer. That said, I have not heard the very latest NADs which should be very good machines indeed.
I rather like the way the Denons have developed in the last 3 years. They really have come on in leaps and bounds. I'm almost tempted to say they are better than the Onkyos in the surround stkes. It's only in musical terms that I find them (very) wanting. The Onkyos and NADs take them to the cleaners in this respect I think.
Cool stuff Frank. I will have to give the Denon brand another go around sometime soon as I have not heard their latest offerings. I remember when the Hi Fi brands were so far ahead in sound quality to the mass market brands. I think the gap has closed a lot in the last few years. Don't you think?
They're better than they were, by a long way, but if anything the HiFi brands have extended their lead by differentiating even more. That said, the HiFi brands seem to be chasing ever more expensive markets, and in the current climate that's a pretty dangerous thing to do for what is, after all, luxury fare.
LOL I hear ya man. A lot of people in Canada see a company like Denon as mass market. They are sold in the big box stores here, and can be bought almost anywhere. What customers do not realize is the models of the Denons sold in the box stores, are either the really low end stuff, or models produced just for the box stores. Most of the Denon models sold in the big box stores cannot be even found on their website. I will take a trip to a local Audio/Video store here called Linden Audiotronics and take a listen to some higher end Denons. I am sure they will please the ears.
Brands like Arcam,NAD,Onkyo and others have really stepped up their game with their latest offerings that is for sure.
Well, I wasn't really saying that Denon are in the Hi End. They are much of a muchness with Onkyo, Sony, Pioneer, Rotel, Marantz and Yamaha as far as I'm concerned.
Arcam is the next level up and the start of the good stuff but even that's not really HiFi. The higher Arcams are OK, but not exactly light-my-fire fare.
Rega has a niche and gives Hi-End values for sensible money. Then we get into the Cyrus, Chord, naim, and a whole heap of other brands whose performance transcends anything that the others do, even when they make components at similar prices. It's a question of 'not what you have but what you do with it that counts'.
I agree Frank. Naim, Rega and Cyrus you mention, which I love all three, are all UK brands. In the UK, are any of the Canadian/US Hi-End brands big? Names like Bryston, Sim-Audio, Classe, McIntosh or any others? Just curious. What are your thoughts on them? Sorry if I have gotten off course of the original topic, but its good to get other people's views.
They're all here and have the kudos associated with those brand names. You left out Krell, Martin Logan, Mark Levinson, conrad johnson, Audio Research, VPI, Oracle and a heap more. They're all imported into the UK by just three or four distributors who have built a cachet and mystique around the brands which makes them highly sought after. They also charge markups which would make most Americans faint.
They are much of a muchness with Onkyo, Sony, Pioneer, Rotel, Marantz and Yamaha as far as I'm concerned.