Sorry for posting this twice, but didn’t see this subcategory at first:
At CES 2020, NAD just announced the introduction of their new M33 all-in-one amp (DAC/Streamer/Integrated Amp). Although it was known they were working on such a unit for awhile, the word now is that it will be available in March. It appears to be a very sweet Do-Everything integrated solution. I was planning on getting an Anthem STR Integrated Amp to be used with my Oppo UDP-205 (stereo DAC capability) as the dedicated stereo setup running in conjunction with my Marantz SR-7012 AVR multi-channel surround setup that I have now. However, the M33 looks like it might be an even more ideal unit for what I want.
The M33 has BluOS capability, and, although nothing has appeared in print as of yet, I imagine it will be RoonReady. My concern is that I have read multiple posts in the past where some of the BlueSound/BluOS units do not always play nicely with Roon (and I think I remember reading some stuff about NAD receivers having similar issues, either with Roon or playback of some of the higher-resolution recordings). However, this unit looks to be primo in many ways, and if it does what it is supposed to do, would save some $$$ (was eventually planning to get one of the very expensive Cocktail streamer/DACs to use with the Anthem). Also, I have some concerns about the accuracy of the projected power ratings (although this uses the new Purifi Class D amps, which have very excellent specs). My question is for current Bluesound and NAD owners, how reliable is your equipment i.e. Streamers, AVRs, Integrateds, etc, in terms of playing with Roon and Hi-Rez? Included below are a couple of photos of the M33:
I’m happy with my NAD T777v3. It does Roon well and the Bluesound Android app brings some nice extras like using the hardware buttons of my phone and tablet for volume changes and being able to pause and skip trackts using the notifications drawer while the Roon Android app needs to reconnect to the core first. NAD is known for their correct power ratings all channels driven.
I have the M32 and a 390DD with blue-sound 2 MDC cards and two pulse mini2i’s all work flawlessly with roon in multi-room, I moved over from itunes/airplay to roon/bluos last year or so.
As for sound quality with MQA the M32 is fantastic with a great open sound stage and a space and air to it that even after owning it for nearly two years can amaze me. I guess that puts me in the plus camp
For power rating I think NAD are well known for being correct even underrating them.
The M32 and 390DD can both have their line level inputs set to a fixed gain and so can be used for home theatre bypass, I cant think the M33 would lose this feature.
No problems with my NAD M10, despite roon ready certification still pending. No problems with my Bluesound Node2, which is roon ready. By default Roon uses the same device settings incl. Setting them both as MQA renderers and doing MQA core decoding inside Roon (Nucleus+). Both devices are wired via Ethernet. Weak WIFI signal might cause some problems with the Node2. I did‘nt try WIFi with the M10. Both devices offer flawless Qobuz HiRes streaming up to 24/192. SQ of M10 is excellent. SQ of Node2 is inferior to the M10, but still much better than Sonos.
I have wired NAD streamers (2 NAD CI580s) and streamers/amps (10 NAD CI720s) —both with integrated BluOS used to power house music zones. After the known sync problem was fixed about 1year ago they have been rock solid. They are great units and work flawlessly for me. I also have used wired node2s without issue and although I’ve replaced with Sonore and Lumin equipment the dacs were very good and they had full mqa unfold and rendering if you care. My units are limited to 192k however which is fine for my general house zones but I would expect The M33 to be more capable. It does seems like there are still issues with bluesound devices though as you can find in these forums, especially when used wirelessly but there may be others I’m not aware of.
My advice is, if you’re an early adopter and patient, it looks like a great product. If it has bluOS in it it will certainly support Roon. But if there are issues it will likely take a while to address. It took months and months for NAD/Bluesound to address the sync problem once identified. Fixing Roon issues is not the highest priority for NAD and Bluesound. If you expect everything to be perfect when you buy, don’t until you can verify all is good.
Thank you all for your valuable input on several of these NAD streaming products. I have high hopes for the M33 as it looks like it could be a phenomenal unit. It promises to satisfy several of my objectives in one package. Also, the caution about early adoption by Craig Palmer is always very valid when acquiring any product with newly-developed features and duly noted. I’m especially excited about its implementation of the Purifi amp stage and look forward to its release. Thanks for your inputs.
yesterday I got the long awaited NAD m33. I am very pleased with the first auditions of various genres. An attempt to connect Roon led to the appearance in the audio settings of two rectangles with “NADm33. “
The first on the red stripe says “uncertified. in the second - “through airplay.” Connection via airplay is obtained. There is no other way
It will eventually be Roon-Certified. NAD has stated so. If you had bought it before September 21 and hooked it up to Roon, even though uncertified, it would have worked. Roon made a cut-off date to require manufacturers to obtain official certification if they wanted their streamers to work with Roon. Too many manufacturers were fudging on the official certification process, yet enabling Roon anyway. I think NAD will be a little more responsive now - hopeful certification for the M33 will occur in the very near future. (This may have all been stated previously in this thread - I’m on an iPhone and was too lazy to scroll back. If so, kindly disregard this post😉)
Wow, I’m shocked I must say, received my M33 yesterday and Roon not working! Had the M10 before (and returned it for the M33) wich just got certified a few weeks ago, might have to get it back
Most of the reviews mentioned Roon worked even if they said it wasn’t certified yet, obviously because it was prior to 9/21. I have a deposit on one but they’re still in short supply. I just don’t think I want to wait as long as it took to get the M10 certified. BluOS is OK short term but it’s not Roon. I emailed NAD and got a non answer I posted in another M33 question thread.
Picked up the M33 today. I have been searching for a new amp for years, literally. Never found anything that sounded as good to me as my Rega Elicit R. It was getting old and unfortunately had the dreaded hum develop over the last couple of years. Still sounded great but could hear the hum in between tracks and in silent moments, so decided to replace it - FINALLY have done so with the M33.
It sounds incredible to my ears and the functionality is superb. Works well with Roon so far - first 6 hours of listening just completed. Haven’t tried DIRAC yet and I understand there are some issues playing some HD formats when DIRAC is activated.
I am grinning from ear to ear right now after that listening session. Superb.
Got to say the Dirac results on the M33 (I guess on all enabled kit) is astounding.
Very simple to use - even for 2.x setup - and the improvement to sound quality is not something I was expecting.
Just tried it after assuming it was a bit of a gimmick.
The M33 was sounding truly excellent.
But, on certain songs there was some high-frequency distortion (I guess… that sound when the high notes become a bit raspy) and on others some loose bass. Dirac has cleaned it up completely and also - I don’t know why - widened and improved the sound stage.
You’ll love it.
Had mine since February and only last week signed onto Roon - so far so good. BlueOS is pretty good in my Ethernet set up but Roon beats it for functionality in the end.
