Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier with Excelinear circuitry and tweaking adjustment. Rated power: 145Wpc into 8 ohms at 0.05% distortion.
Dimensions: 17" W x 10" D x 5" H, overall.
Price: $600 (1987); no longer available (2010).
Manufacturer: The David Hafler Company, Pennsauken, NJ 08109 (1987); Hafler, 546 S. Rockford Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281. Tel: (866) 464-2353. Web: www.hafler.com/home/.
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
I may have had 4000 LPs and a perfectly wonderful Linn LP12 turntable, but I could go for weeks on end without listening to a single LP. But I still thought of myself as one of the vinyl faithful, even as I rationalized my digital-centric listening tendencies. I loved analog in theory—I just couldn't bring myself to listen to it all that much.
Lucky me, my vinyl doldrums were interrupted when, last summer, I reviewed a VPI Classic turntable for Home Entertainment magazine. I put the Linn aside and hooked up the VPI. Wow, what a difference a turntable can make! One record led to the next…
Neil Young: Official Release Series, Discs 1–4
Reprise 519173-1(4 LPs, Limited Edition Vinyl Boxed Set). 2009. Neil Young, David Briggs, Elliot Mazer, Jack Nitzsche, Henry Lewy, prods.; John Nowland, reissue eng. AAA.
Reprise 519173-1(4 LPs, Limited Edition Vinyl Boxed Set). 2009. Neil Young, David Briggs, Elliot Mazer, Jack Nitzsche, Henry Lewy, prods.; John Nowland, reissue eng. AAA.
One of the biggest music stories of 2009 is the "return" of vinyl. For grizzled vets, particularly of the audiophile ilk, vinyl never went away in the first place, but that's a rail for another time.
A flagrant irony about this latest vinyl revival is that much of it has been led by the same record labels who, not so long ago, worked so assiduously to kill the…
A decade ago, many predicted that amplifiers with switching or class-D (footnote 1) output stages would come to dominate high-end audio. In a post–Peak Oil world in which the price of energy would always continue to rise, a class-D amplifier's very high efficiency in converting AC from the wall outlet into speaker-driving power would be a killer benefit. Although a conventional push-pull class-B amplifier has a theoretical efficiency of 78.5%, which would seem usefully high, this efficiency is obtained only at the onset of clipping; the need for the output devices to carry a standing bias…
The M2 is relatively hefty, but offers a superb level of fit'n'finish, as well as a high maximum continuous output power of more than 200Wpc into 8 ohms. In common with NAD's amplifier philosophy, more power—300Wpc into 8 ohms—is available for short-term transients. Also reflecting NAD tradition, the M2 offers optional Soft Clipping, selectable with a rear-panel switch and realized in the digital domain. The M2 uses three power supplies, all switch-mode types: one for each channel's output stage, and a third for the input stage and control section.
Technical details
In its simplest…
I wasn't sure what to expect from the M2. My experience of class-D amplifiers has been somewhat limited, but from that experience I anticipated taut, dry lows, somewhat threadbare highs, and a flattened soundstage. I got none of those things. Instead, when I fed the M2 the 24-bit/88.2kHz master files of Cantus's While You Are Alive (CD, Cantus CTS-1208), the soundstage was wide and deep, the high frequencies silky smooth, the lows warm and rich.
With iTunes playing back CD data, well-balanced rock recordings such as Mary Chapin Carpenter's version of Jagger and Richards' "Party Doll,"…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, stereo integrated amplifier with remote control, four digital and two analog inputs, digital processor loop, RS-232 port, 12V trigger input and output, and soft clipping. Digital input sample rates accepted: 32–192kHz at up to 32-bit word length. Clipping power: >250Wpc into 8 ohms (>24dBW). Maximum continuous power: >200Wpc into 8 ohms (>23dBW), >250Wpc into 4 ohms (21dBW), >300W into 2 ohms (18.8dBW). IHF dynamic power: 300Wpc into 8 ohms (24.8dBW), 450Wpc into 4 ohms (23.5dBW), 600W into 2 ohms (21.8dBW). Maximum…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP, dCS Puccini disc players; Apple Mac mini (G4 processor, 1GB RAM) running OS10.4.11 for media storage & playback with iTunes 9.0, used with Bel Canto USB Link 24/96.
Power Amplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: Aerial Acoustics 20T V2, PSB Synchrony One.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, AudioQuest VSD-4, Stereovox XV2 S/PDIF, Belkin Gold USB 2.0. Interconnect: AudioQuest Wild DBS, Ayre Acoustics Signature (both balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest Kilimanjaro, K2. AC: PS…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The NAD M2 is not the first power D/A converter to have crossed my test bench: the Sharp SM-SX100, reviewed by Michael Fremer in July 2000 had that honor. But as I wrote at the time in the measurements section that accompanied that review, "On the face of it, an amplifier accepting digital input data and operating entirely within the digital domain is a very attractive idea. But as Sharp's SM-SX100 reveals, it takes heroic engineering to make it work, and there are still some compromises involved, particularly in achieving sufficient dynamic range."
The…
It's difficult to believe that the former top model of Vandersteen Audio's line of loudspeakers, the Model 5, has been in production in one form or another since 1997. Time passes quickly when you're having fun. Like all Vandersteen speakers, the 5 was and remains a good value and performance proposition. For all the 5's high technology and excellent performance both measured and audible, its price now starts at under $20,000/pair (up from about $10,000/pair when the 5 was introduced in 1997), including a built-in, proprietary powered subwoofer in each cabinet, and a sophisticated…