Well Father Christmas came up with the goods and I finally got round to installing my NAD C368 with BluOS module on Friday morning. Thought I would write up some first impressions after 48 hours of use. There are good and bad issues, the bad ones necessitated @support unfortunately.
Good:
Installation was no trouble at all. About 30 seconds after starting up, the BluOS software updated itself to the latest version. It didn’t ask permission, just did it! This I find vaguely annoying as I wanted to test the amp first before a software update had a chance to break it…Anyway, whilst it was doing that I downloaded the NAD Remote and BluOS Controller apps to my Nexus 6P Android phone. You do not really need the NAD Remote for a simple amplifier like this; everything from a Roon and BluOS perspective is controllable via the BluOS app.
Initial good news was that the amplifier appeared as an endpoint in Roon straight away and I could send music to it no problem. Volume is controllable via Roon Remote of course but it uses a different scale to the dB scale on the amp. The music playing appears on the NAD display as text only, Artist, Song title and a track running duration/progress bar.
The amp goes to sleep after 20 minutes of inactivity, but wakes up straight away whenever you send it some music via Roon or BluOS app.
The BluOS app is very nice and similar to the Sonos one if you are used to that (but better). Radio stations can be selected via TuneIn as well as other BluOS endpoints if you have them. Volume control of the amp is also there, using the same dB scale as the amp itself (which shows any changes on its display straight away). You can change back to Roon as a source from TuneIn on the app via a Roon ‘Jellyfish’ logo. Very smooth.
Bad:
Display displays blank characters when it cannot display something with an accent say. It is also not always 100% up to date. For example it made me laugh when in Radio mode it played a Gloria Estefan track after a Judas Priest track. Dr Beat by Judas Priest was on the display…no idea why but presumably it couldn’t display the artist name for some reason so left the previous one on the display?
Had my first lock up this morning after 48 hours. Amp started to wake up in response to Android BluOS app firing up but something wasn’t right. The BluOS app was frozen and unusable The amp no longer appeared in Roon as an endpoint either.
After a full power off/on the amp started to reboot but never got past its boot screen. I had to switch it off then on again once more to restore normal operation; not impressed! To add insult to injury, the amp lost connection with Roon after about 45 minutes of playing (44.1k, 16 bit FLAC). I had the Windows BluOS app on screen too and it showed it was trying to connect. The odd thing is that the track display updates on the amp but there is no sound. I can switch to a radio station using the BluOS app and that plays OK, but switching back to Roon as a source produces no sound (track title updates in the amp display though). Using the Roon Windows app, the Roon progress bar is not moving but the Play indicator is showing Pause (on Windows Remote). No error messages. The Android Remote is going bonkers, with the progress bar swinging from end to end back and forth ‘Cylon eye’ style. Not sure how to resolve this at the moment to get Roon playing to it again…Will update this thread when I find out (can’t keep switching it off then on again…). Roon plays OK to other endpoints. Support are welcome to pull the logs (trouble started around 11am) to find out a way forward.
(ROCK up to date, all wired Gbit switched network, no managed switches.Pi endpoints plus the NAD C368. Storage on external HD and Synology NAS)
Update: Found a Diagnostics screen on the BluOS app. I have a copy of the log file but here is the start of the bit that I think matters and may correspond with something in Roon logs:
Dec 31 10:59:34 (none) user.info dspout: [warning] dropout of 630 samples at 95842841 [2]
Dec 31 10:59:34 (none) user.info dspout: [warning] dropout of 630 samples at 95843471 [2]
Dec 31 10:59:34 (none) user.info dspout: [warning] dropout of 630 samples at 95844101 [2]
Have you updated the C368 firmware also? Not only the main firmware, but all three! I use my C368 daily and haven’t had a problem since. But always keep your firmware up to date (for the BT Update you have to remove the BluOS card), but instructions are available in the zip file.
pleased to hear about the stability potential, so there is hope (and thanks for the links). I am on the same firmware you listed but my BT is at v1.22. It came like that. Only the BluOS bit updated itself initially according to the display (to v2.14.10 which is the latest).
The BluOS app has a Reboot button in the diagnostics window, so will try that next. Roon is still not playing to it but I have not rebooted either ROCK, Roon Server or the NAD as yet. It would be nice to know which end has the fault before I start rebooting devices.
OK, using the Reboot button on the BluOS Diagnostics page has restored functionality. More likely to be an endpoint issue than a Roon one then? Lack of any error messages in Roon itself is not helpful in situations like this and has been commented on many times before. There is certainly room for improvement here. The amp was happily playing internet radio all afternoon without issue, it was just the Roon bit that did not work.
Further testing will determine the stability of the BluOS endpoint and I will update this thread with results.
This is not going well. Several more startup lock-ups over the last few days. Don’t even think about rack mounting this amp, you will need constant access to the on/off switch round the back! The display is now stuck on a track from the last Roon session; not updated in half a dozen tracks now…A Reboot of BluOS via the Bluesound app fixes that. A pattern of behaviour is starting to emerge.
Time to find out what NAD & Sevenoaks HiFi support is like.
Did you eventually get this working? I’m also considering the C 368 but not sure if I should go for the BluOS module or just add a DigiOne (for less than half the price)?
I will mostly be using it straight from Roon anyway, I don’t use Tidal and don’t have MQA files.
have been meaning to update this thread all January but have been too busy with other stuff. I had so little time using the amplifier with Roon in the end due to its chronic switch-on freeze issue. Virtually every other time it was switched on from standby it would freeze up at the boot screen (NAD logo). NAD support was excellent though. They informed me that the issue was due to the December Bluesound update and that they were working on an update to the NAD software to fix the issue. They may well have fixed it by now, I rather lost interest at the beginning of January when after getting home from the first week back at work and turning it on for my usual Friday blast, the thing froze up for the last time! It was disconnected there and then and put back in the box in disgust.
If they can release such poor quality software with such devastating results (without much in the way of integration testing it seems) there is no future for this combination that will remain in any way stable. That coupled with Bluesound’s attitude to fixing/updating the Roon endpoint software (read this Community and the Bluesound forum and make your own mind up) left me with no option but to ask for a refund.
Having lost all faith in NAD and Bluesound’s ability to maintain a stable amplifier and Roon endpoint I asked Sevenoaks for a refund. They processed this straight away and the money was back in my Paypal account the same day they received the amplifier back. Excellent service from them. I think there was a good amplifier in there trying to get out (it has a very smooth sound that may not be to everyone’s taste) but I wasn’t prepared to wait around for NAD & Bluesound to turn it into one.
And then there is the applications which control it. I installed both the NAD and Bluesound apps on my Android phone. Almost every time I opened the NAD app, it had crashed from the last time and needed restarting. At other times, due to the Bluesound card going to sleep/freezing (it was set not to) it couldn’t find the amplifier, so was completely useless until the amp was power-cycled. Both apps worked perfectly when they could find the amplifier.
I read elsewhere in this Community that NAD are releasing amplifiers with the Bluesound OS built in rather than on a plug-in card. Well good luck with that, you will need it.
Sound is very subjective and most of the reviews of the C 368 have the SQ somewhere between very good to amazing so that is probably something I have to hear for myself.
I was drawn to this model by several factors:
Fits my budget
Good SQ reviews
Has a built-in phono preamp
Has a built-In DAC
Love the simplicity
Low energy consumption
I’m a real Roon addict and wouldn’t have the urge to install/use the BluOS app anyway but I was hoping I could get rid of some cables and an extra RPi with the BluOS module and make it the most simple setup possible.
From Tony’s experience, that doesn’t seem to be the case. An extra DigiOne player instead of the BluOS is not a show stopper for me. I have several RPi’s running without any issues elsewhere in the house and that is something you can easily hide at the back somewhere.
I’m still looking around but the C 368, for some reason, remains at the top of my list
Yes, was top of my list too, but turned out to be too good to be true. Now replaced with a single box solution with a hidden Pi/Digi+ feeding it Roon (and Airplay, which the NAD did not have).
I’m thinking of getting a C368 with BluOS module. I have a node 2 and Cambridge CXA60 amp but would like to de clutter if possible without losing sound quality. How does yours sound?
I’m using the NAD C368 w/BluOS mod. Also had the turn-on freeze issue. Personal investigation has determined that powering down the amp BEFORE stopping “play” on the BluOS app causes the amp to freeze up during the next POST the amp attempts during the next power-up.
If you stop “playing” your source and “close” the BluOS app BEFORE you power-down the amp, the amp powers up properly.
I haven’t noticed this problem when using Roon, only sources coming from the Internet (i.e. Radio Play or Tidal)… But then again, out of habit, I close my apps before I power-down the amp now.
Love the amp, my ONLY grip with it is the pre-out SW filter being so high. To overcome, I send the full signal out and control the filter via my subwoofer.
Just got a NAD C368 last week myself with the BluOS. Had several days of flawless sound. But then it started locking up. I upgraded the firmware and it was find for about two minutes then started locking up again. Stay tuned. I’ll post more as I work with NAD support to figure this out. The amp sounds great when it is working.
I have resolved my issue with the help of Roon and NAD. One thing I learned was how to access diagnostics information from the BluOS app and the help section. There you can see if your wifi signal is strong enough and if the correct wifi network is being accessed. After fiddling with the wifi dongle to improve the signal strength and doing a couple other things Roon recommended, the problem is solved. You can read more about it at this thread: RAAT Error: Connection refused
Glad you got it sorted. If low WiFi signal was the issue then it is a reason why a wired connection is preferred. WiFi is prone to interference so can be unpredictable.
