Hi there - has anyone use a NAD M66 preamplifier with Roon and Dirac? I am interested in the M66, but Roon is a must, and I believe its roon certified, but I am not sure if Dirac is useable with Roon. Any ideas?
I have an M17 v2, which also is Roon certified and has Dirac. Works fine.
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Iāll second that, Dirac and Roon play just fine together on my M33. And it seems the M66 is listed as Roon Ready on the Roon/NAD partner page so you should be all set. Let us know how you like it, cheers!
Thanks for the replies @Paul_Bemelmans and @kneville. I might try and demo at home to get a feel for the unit. My heart is saying get it, but my head is saying its too expensive, and I wonāt use all the functionality e.g. I donāt have subs, headphones and a few other bits and bobs. However it should play well with my M23, works with Roon, I can link in my CD player (Cambridge Audio CXC), has a decent remote, screen etc.
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I bought the NAD M66 in April of 2024 (yep a year ago). I was super excited after doing all the research. It has everything ā¦ a streamer, high-end DAC, DIRAC Live and Bass control (I have two REL S/3 SHO Subs), MM/MC phono stage, headphone Amp, Tidal/Spotify Connect, Roon, BluOS, and Home Theater Bypass (NAD calls it āCinema Bypassā). Or at least thatās what I thought.
I bought the unit, hooked it up, and to my dismay ā¦ no HT Bypass. Apparently, between the time I researched and I bought the M66, NAD removed the bypass feature. Now I have a $5k+ paperweight in my system thatās waiting for an update/upgrade. NAD says itās coming, but they have no idea when. Iāve been asking for an entire year, but Iāve heard nothing yet.
I tried the M66 a few weeks back for the second or third time in the past 12 months. I have to remove the Marantz SR7011 AVR from the chain. Then I connected the M66 directly to my Parasound Halo A21+ power amp (balanced connections). The A21+ drives a pair of PSB Imagine T3 Towers and the REL S/3 SHO subs via their Hi-Level connection (aka - Speakon) I also moved the LFE out from the AVR to the M66ās sub outputs. I did this to set up and try the full functionality of a āpureā 2-Channel music system through the M66. But in the end, I only listened to the un-optomized M66 to see if it worked with Roon.
Roon seemed to work fine. BluOS worked. Tidal Connect worked too. But switching between BluOS, Tidal Connect, and /or Roon doesnāt seem to work very well. I started from BluOS. But I prefer Tidalās interface. So I tried bouncing back and forth. Unfortunately, that quit working, so I got stuck on BluOS. I turned everything off and waited a minute to get Tidal Connect back on-line (outside of BluOS). Another test of flipping back and forth caused it to stop working again. Roon, by itself worked fine, but switching between between BluOS, Roon, and/or Tidal Connect confused the M66. It was hard to regain full control through one app without powering off the system.
To me it sounded on the low end of fair to poor with my setup. But I must be honest, I didnāt try the DIRAC setup. Moving all the connections and the poor initial sound quality turned me off. Also, to me It doesnāt make much sense to go through the full DIRAC set-up if I have to move all the cables every time I want two-channel listening.
I suspect that DIRAC works fine. But if it doesnāt, I wouldnāt get too excited about timely or meaningful fixes, or updates They wonāt give me any information about the progress or timing of HT Bypass feature. So, Iām guessing NAD will act the same way when it comes to other support issues as well. With such a feature-rich product like the M66, Iām guessing there will be other support issues to be handled at NADās discretion.
Iām not sure what to do now thatās itās been a full year since the purchase. I want/need the HT Bypass feature and Tidal Connect most of all. Room correction comes in 3rd.
Therefore, I was considering replacing both the M66 and my Parasound A21+ (sell both), with a nice integrated. Maybe the Electrocompaniet ECI 6 DX MKII or the Hegel H400. Anyone have experience with either one?
Any opinions or silly mistakes that I might be making with my setup or my reasoning are openly accepted!
Sorry to hear of that @Scott_Sanford. I ended up getting an M66 and it has been flawless for me. I use my CD player with it, Qobuz, I can connect my NAS and of course primarily Roon. I love the remote too. Dirac has been no problem, and improved the sound. I have recently dug out my umik mic, and I want to have another go at measurement.
I have not needed pass through so I canāt really comment on it.
I really hope NAD sort it out for you ASAP.
Iām wondering if Iām being hasty about getting rid of the M66. Itās just sad that I canāt use it without a bunch of āre-configuring.ā I thought for sure that NAD would re-add the bypass feature soon. So I gave them some leeway. Now, a year later, maybe Iām just losing my patience.
Did you use the mic that NAD sent with the M66 first? Iād be curious to see if the mic matters.
Also, did you run the bass correction?
And what about the DSP inside of Roon? I wonder if youāve messed around with that compared to DIRAC.
Finally can you offer any rating that might help quantify the sound improvement you experienced pre & post DIRAC processing (i.e. 5%, 10%, 20%, better)? I suppose the effects have a lot to do with your listening room/setup. But it would be cool to hear some perspective regarding the magnitude of the M66/DIRAC improvement.
Hi @Scott_Sanford!
Its an expensive piece of kit to keep waiting around, do NAD have a roadmap for development? If you knew it was ācomingā that is one thing, so its a āwhenā not an āifā. I always think carefully if I buying for something the developer might not add in the future, I have been caught out previously.
Goodness knows! I did use the supplied mic, and I wanted to try with the umik, as I have now located it. But, I do like to tinker and see what happens. I will probably be a little more careful this time in terms of mic placement.
No subs, I use KEF Reference 1 speakers.
I have used Roons, either loading my own correction files (probably very badly done!) and also recently with files from Home Audio Fidelity (very good). I have also tried with HQ Player.
Its so subjective, so very hard/impossible to say. I did not do a blind test, so its just my view. If you have the time, you could just give it a try.
Sorry, none of these comments are very helpful! I wish I could help.
I have an M66. I dont do HT. However, I used the M66 in a setup with effectively 4 subwoofers, a 2.4 stereo. The improvement to the sound using Dirac Bass Control in my experience is excellent. Not sure what percentage I would put on it but the improvements are real. Better imaging, better bass integration and much tighter and more acurate bass. It really is good.
I gotta try it then. Thanks for the insight @Peter_Treyde !
Kind of glad I went with the Lumin P1 mini after reading all thatā¦itās been flawless and while I havenāt used the line in yet I donāt really need the Dirac or subs support.