NAD M50.2 Digital Music Player

NAD's new music server and network player features WiFi and ethernet networking, 2 USB inputs, Bluetooth AptX along with a CD slot on the front for either ripping or simply playing a disc. Inside are two 2TB hard drives--one for storing music and the other for automatic backup in case the first one fails. There is no DAC inside, so outputs include SPDIF, AES/EBU and optical along with HDMI.

But where things get interesting is how the M50.2 grabs a checksum for the disc you are ripping when gathering metadata. The transport will continue to work with a disc until the checksum from the disc matches what is in the metadata. NAD's Greg Stidsen explained that this means ripped discs can often sound better than playing the same disc in real time if it has some surface scratches or other issues.

Also included is the download manager software needed when purchasing files from HDTracks.com or HiRezAudio.com. This means you can purchase files via the M50.2 from either service and they will automatically download into your library.

Finally, the M50.2 can serve as both a Roon endpoint or Bluesound node, supports most PCM formats including MQA, and should appear later this month for $3,999.

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