Preliminary review of the NAD Masters Series M55 SACD Player on Audiogon,
Audiocircle.com and Audioasylum.com. ***
NAD M55 Master Series Universal Disc Player List price: $1799 System used with it: Pioneer 1120HD Plasma Zu Definition loudspeakers Klimo Merlino tube preamp Audion Black Shadow 845 monoblock amps Audiopax 88 monoblock amps (alternate) NAD M55 universal player Zu Varial interconnects Zu Ibis speaker cables Strictly 2 channel Preferring to find a universal disc player with HDMI video out and sound upgraded from what the mainstream brands can provide, I bought an NAD M55 on speculation. I've had it less than a day and here are first impressions: I listened to CD, SACD, DVD-A and watched/listened to some movie tracks. I have two tube-based systems and in each have universal players that were $1500 at the time -- Pioneer Elite DV59AVi in one system, and Denon DVD3910 in the other. Both these players are among a small handful of the best at video performance, and deliver the minimum threshold of high-end audio sound on all digital formats. Since my plasma displays have HDMI inputs and to me that is definitely the preferred input for video, I've been reluctant to lose HDMI in order to get better sound from something like the Esoteric universal players. Plus, I don't like the idea of paying $5,000 - $10,000 for digital gear since it plunges in value overnight. So the promise of better sound with HDMI at under $2,000 is perfect for me, and the market. This player replaces the Elite DV59AVi. The Redbook CD playback quality on the M55 is a much larger improvement over Redbook performance from other universal disc players than I expected. I've heard the McCormack, the Esoterics and of course my own players along with several others. I think this is the best Redbook sound I've heard outside of the excellent Wadia dedicated CD transport/DAC separates. And it's surprisingly close to the Wadia sound for a one-box universal solution at a fraction of Wadia's cost. In fact, it's better than Redbook or SACD on many of the high end SACD players I've heard. I still buy vinyl, and always look for SACD when a title is published on that format, but Redbook CD is the bulk of my library of ~1400 digital disks. This player seriously improves the sound of that collection. Even 20+ year old discs from the bad old early days of CD recording & mastering are much more listenable. I can already tell from a few discs that I'll be pulled back into my less listenable CDs for the music. This player gives CD music better tone, much less strain and grain, and far better soundstaging than I've ever had from that format. Whomever at NAD is responsible for the Redbook CD performance of this player, well done. If SACD and DVD-A
were no better than what I have now, the M55 would be worth more than its list price on CD sound alone. I don't have many DVD-A discs but that format is the best version of some great music. Four discs that make this true are Miles Davis' "Tutu", Neil Young's "Harvest, "The Marvin Gaye Collection," and The Eagles' "Hotel California." The M55's DVDA sound is the best I've heard from the format, bar none. And that means that for these particular performances, this is the best way to listen to this music. Really outstanding. As a 4+ decade analog buyer and listener it's not lightly that I say this universal player makes me nearly forget I'm listening to digital when hearing DVD-A. SACD is excellent as expected, with a quieter noise floor than I've sensed from this format before. However, the margin of improvement over other comparable SACD players is smaller than the margin over other players in Redbook and DVD-A, to me. If SACD were as much better over other players as the Redbook playback is, then it would surpass everything we still like about vinyl. I think the M55 makes small improvements in SACD soundstaging, and in keeping separate simultaneous transient events discrete in dense music. Tone, in the way guitar players think of tone, is meatier. It's very smooth, even on very bright masters. THIS is the SACD player I've been looking for, to do justice to the Dylan SACD reissues, which was the trigger for me to make the move to universal players in the first place, on the day that 15-disc set was released. But mainly my sense of this player is that it brings Redbook CD up to SACD standards and DVD-A is now peer to any format. Common to all formats: This player has sensational bass. It's the biggest immediate improvement I noticed on start-up. My speakers, Zu Definitions, are flat to 16Hz, quick and defined, so bass tone is fully revealed for what it is on any recording. I am getting the best bass of any player that has passed through this system, including the various high-end machines that people have brought along to listen to through my system. Bass is so much better that what I thought was a room problem is largely ameliorated. My guess is that all the attention paid to antiresonance measures in the chassis are contributing. The M55 also doesn't get strained and compressed when playing music with dense crescendos. It doesn't pinch a full orchestra, and in dense music individual events blend rather than collide. Irrespective of the recording, vocal sound floats separated from the plane of instruments, as it should. On music and DVD movies, lyrics and dialog are easier to understand because of this. The M55 gives me the best vocal clarity I've ever heard from digital sources in video or audio. The downmix to stereo is the best I've heard from A/V 5.1 hardware. Overall, I go back to big-T TONE. That's the overriding characteristic of this player that makes the deepest impression. It gives digital discs triode-like tonal richness and density, as though there's a high-grade CCa tube circuit in the analog output section and the designer emulated MOSFET bass, 300B midrange and 45 treble in the DACs. Video performance out of the box with no tweaking is excellent. I am visuallyoriented but the physiology of my eyes limits my ability to recognize every fleeting artifact I read obsessives documenting for various DVD players, on the Web. I see wars breaking out over the tiniest transient flashes in the players I own and when I go to the scenes pointed out, I am just as often hard-pressed to notice or care as I am able to recognize the flaw. In any case, video on my Pioneer Elite plasma displays, as good as it is, still isn't film in a theater. On DVD-Video, the M55 certainly compares well

to my Elite and Denon players, but it is not better nor worse through HDMI, though it is perhaps a little more nuanced and film-like through component outputs than the others. Menus for video tweaking are less complete and interactive than the more mainstream players, but I don't think video will suffer for it once setup is tweaked. Things I'd like to see improved: The remote doesn't have a backlight. It needs backlit buttons like the Pioneer's. Video adjustment menus are not interactive with the image in real time. On the Denon and Pioneer units I have, the menus overlay the video image so you can make adjustments and see the results. It is tedious and less effective to have to go back-and-forth to see the effects of a change. The user manual is very light. Compared to the documentation supplied with the Pioneer Elite and Denon units, it's positively sparse, and some functions are unexplained. The transport grinds noisily on initial read and track-to-track transitions on DVD-Audio. This doesn't happen with SACD and Redbook. My Denon player does this but less obviously. The noise subsides during playing of tracks, however. I don't know what it is about DVDA that changes transport behavior, but NAD hasn't licked it. Also, out of the box, HDMI out did not send signal to my TV. Hence, to see the setup menu, I had to dig out a cable to thread a composite signal to my TV to see the initial setup. HDMI was default ON, but I had to switch HDMI on and off a few times before it would wake up and send video to my TV. I've seen this before on my Pioneer Elite player but not my Denon. So there appears to be a problem getting the software for HDMI to wake up on first use. Beyond the geek market, NAD will get some people returning players over this. Dealers should know to tell people to switch HDMI on/off a few times if it doesn't work out of the box. This should be fixed it in a future version if possible. Industrial Design: In over 30 years of buying serious audio gear, I've never been willing to put NAD in my systems, even when their products sounded good and I had less money, because the look never seemed worth owning. There was a time I sold a ton of 3020/4020 combinations back in the day; 7020 receivers, cassette decks, etc. But the cheap feel and the not-quite black, dull monkey-sh*t brown cosmetics precluded winning any place in my homes. NAD finally catapulted past that history with the Master series. It looks better in-the-metal than it does in photographs. The faceplate feels like quality and is dimensionally interesting. Switchgear UI is simple and elegant. And the case cover is heavier-gauge steel than most competitors use. The feet are an engineered vibration control solution rather than an afterthought. Everything works. The only physical disappointment is revealed when the drawer slides out for disc access. Like too many drawer-loading players, the plastic tray feels like it will snap off if a heavy butterfly lands on it when extended. This is not specific to NAD. But since they got that the faceplate is a primary venue for addressing perception of quality and pride-of-ownership in the consumer, then I recommend they go one step further and improve the robustness of the drawer tray. It's a materials issue, along with engineering the support of the tray when it's extended. In the same vein of boosting perception of quality, while the remote is very nice, it should be in a case of machined metal. They might not be able to do that and address the other suggestions in this paragraph at an $1800 retail price point. But I doubt they'd sell any fewer of these at $1995, so there's some latitude. Much less essential: NAD chose a single color scheme that attempts to fit into both silver and black themed systems. It doesn't really blend with an all-black system such as mine, but is not dissonant with silver themes. I know it causes inventory problems, but a true black or grey + black gradients alternative would be welcome. The faceplate has enough dimensional

interest to avoid the plain-black-box look in black. Obviously, great job on the M55. This player is a real contribution to better digital sound at a sensible price. Only distribution and NAD's ability to communicate the attributes of the Master Series to a wider market will limit their appeal, and if the rest of the line is as competitive as this player is, they have winners across the board. For those of us who want a single player for everything digital, this player ought to outsell every other above $1,000 on the merits, if everyone knew about it and where to buy it. More to the point, its Redbook performance should make it the preferred disc player for anyone spending over $1,500 for a CD player. There is now no reason to buy a dedicated Redbook player, nor any reason to be without the option of buying music on DVD-A and SACD. Phil

Home Cinema Choice gave the M15, M25 & M55 "Best Buy" and the "Reference Status" Award, giving them an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars.

High End Heroes

New NAD Masters Series redefines the brand with muscle, grace and style, says an overawed Richard Stevenson Following a corporate shake-up and a major investment in R&D the NAD brand is back with a stunning range of AV components destined to shake-up the market. The industrial design is superb, the attention to detail faultless, the technical specifications impressive and, best of all, the price - relatively speaking - still represents the excellent value for money for which NAD has always been famed. But can the Masters Series take on the established brands when the budget is not very budget at all? NAD M55 UNIVERSAL DISC PLAYER To say that the NAD Masters Series M55 is something of a departure for NAD is a big understatement. Gone is dull-as-dishwater design and drab-grey finish, gone are the budget underpinnings to hit low price points and gone is the NAD house sound to be replaced with The M55 is a true universal disc -spinner with full multichannel DVD-A and Super Audio CD playback, and is built solidly enough to withstand the rigours of everyday use for about two centuries. The casework is a mix of steel panels, extruded aluminium and die-cast zinc alloy sitting on vibration absorbing silicone rubber feet. Inside is no less beautiful, with a pristine layout of high-tech glass-epoxy circuit boards and serious power supplies. The features count is not left wanting, with the full complement of Dolby and DTS modes, MP3, WMA and JPEG file support and video-scaling up to 1080i resolution. Upgradeable architecture means that 1080p scaling is only a firmware update away. Setup is via an onscreen menu system that comes second only to Yamahas
top-flight DVD players for sheer visual splendour. The OSD is available through the HDMI output, the remote navigates smoothly through the options and there are plenty of video tweaking options. So wheres the catch? Well, the disc mechanism is a little noisy when loading. but thats about it. Performance The picture straight out of the crate is crisp, colourful and smooth. Motion flows like water and there is not the merest hint of player-born processing errors or artefacts even when upscaled to 1080i.
Using the HDMI and 720p scaling to an HD Ready projector gives a rich and warm balance that oozes you into the scene without sand -papering your eyeballs. Skin tones have a natural look with a healthy glow, and the high contrast gives a very good perspective of depth. This sumptuous picture can seem a little shy of impact initially, but it forgoes the overt wow -factor in favour of a wellbalanced image that will keep you smiling long into an all- nighter of back-to-back Lord of the Rings. (Trust me, I tried it.). Trimming both the gamma and colour saturation controls offers a cooler look with more intense blues, but all of the picture trims suffer from controls that are simply too coarse for really fine tuning. The digital audio feed from the M55 to a processor has to be wired in electrical or optical digital cable rather than break-out of the HDMI lead unfortunately, but I have found this is a better option acoustically anyway. Certainly fed into a handy Arcam AVR -350 the M55 proves to offer a sound just as large and as polished as the casework. Like the picture, the sound is a grower not an immediate aural syringing but smooth, weighty and detailed with long -term appeal. The M55 and the Arcam both possess a certain laid-back charm but the combination might be just a little too refined and safe for some. Not so when the M55 is plugged into its sibling M15 processor. There is a massive synergy that seems to elicit the best of both components in a way that mixing and matching only tends to achieve on a luck basis. The sound is more immediate and crisp but looses none of its weight or authority. Even using a more modestly powered amplifier than the matching M25, the soundstage is simply huge and there is a crushing presence to soundtracks that will absolutely delight those who enjoy cinema-realistic volume levels and I do! The analog ue outputs on the M55 offer more of the same weighty and refined sound with rock-solid bass and timing that many decent CD players would love to boast. The overall balance is not as flatneutral or as stark with stereo music as perhaps audio purists would like, but the robust character and huge dynamic range certainly gets a thumbs up. On the money There is no shortage of competition at around 1300 for universal disc-spinners but the NAD M55 can hold its disc-drawer high against any contender. It is better put together than most, offers all the features you could want, and a performance that is bang on the money. Arcam, Denon, Pioneer et all, beware. The NAD Masters Series is coming to get you NAD M15 AV PROCESSOR The M15 is an ideal cosmetic partner for the M55 DVD player and simply exudes an air of classy, timeless design that most battleship Japanese AV amps miss completely. The heady mix of steel, aluminium and cast zinc for the chassis and casework look the business and the blue display complements the disc player in colour if not size of text, which is a little frustrating. At just under 2,000 the M15 is serious money but its substantial build and THX Ultra2 accreditation go along way to justify the price ticket.

The rear panel is awash with enough connections for the most ambitious AV system, although it only sports two-in, one-out HDMI and there is no analogue-to-digital video conversion. This means that you will need an additional analogue video cable between the M15 and the display just to set the thing up or switch non- HDMI sources grumble, grumble. On the other hand, you get eight digital audio inputs, zone 2 AV outputs, twin sub outputs and a raft of IR repeaters and 12V triggers for those with a penchant for Blofeld-style gadgetry and automation. Under the hood is a bespoke Holmgren transformer, a beautifully neat layout and a healthy dose of high-spec bought -in components including Silicon Image HDMI modules, twin Motorola 24-bit DSPs, Wolfson DACs, Burr-Brown chipsets and so-on. Interestingly the operation and decoding software in proprietary NAD design exclusive to the Masters Series and is, of course, fully upgradeable. The processor is completed with a neat remote control which like the M55 remote is topped with aluminium. The wonderfully titled HTRM (Home Theater Remote Masters series) controls the M55 as well of course, lights up, is easy to handle and rather thoughtfully has little buffer bars to stop buttons being depressed when it is face down on the table. Neat. However, there is no auto setup, no supplied mic, no RoomEQ and very few features that are often deemed essential for todays home entertainment system.
A la carte menu Despite the M55 disc players gorgeous and intuitive OSD, the M15s menus are seriously lacklustre. Boring monochrome block text on a black background with simple multi-page menus might be easy to use but it looks so clunky compared to everything else the Masters Series stands for particularly as it is not even available through the HDMI output. This niggle aside, the set- up is logical and straightforward, with little in the way of divergent tweakery to keep you away from your DVD collection. There is a handy lip -sync adjustment to 100ms, digital domain tone and dialogue tone controls and thats about it. I even had to find my yard-stick and dB meter for the speaker setup. Retro! Thankfully the M15 cuts to the chase without recourse to bells and whistles, neatly entering auto format decoding on demand and punching out a full-bodied and robust sound. Again, the sound is a grower, starting perhaps a little laid back and dark but drawing you irrevocably into films with its

subtle detail and natural dialogue. Push up the volume and there is not the ear-drilling upper treble of some of the larger AV amps, but a silky high -end sprinkled with that crafts a truly magnificent sound stage. The balance makes the M15 very much an all-rounder, equally at home with dramas, chick flicks or all-action block busters. Hooked up to some very neutral and revealing power amps the sound is large and clean but doesnt manage the sheer emotional charge and impact that fills the room when it is attached to the matching M25 power amp. As part of the complete Masters Series line up the M15 really shines, maximising the design synergy across the matching source and power components. From the crushing high-impact drama of Battlestar Galatica Season 2 to Pink Floyds Pulse and on to Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit Special Edition, the combo simply plonks you in the set of your favourite movies and doesnt let go until the credits roll. Comparatively speaking Interestingly, the M15 and M25 partnership works out at about 4,000 around the same ballpark price of Denons flagship AVC -A1XVA for example. Features-wise the Denon wipes the floor with the NAD pairing but in terms of industrial design, purist simplicity and a sound that will impress all day and all night without a hint of fatigue, the NADs have it NAD M25 7-CHANNEL POWER AMPLIFIER NAD has been famed in the past for its big power amplifiers but none have come quite as quite as huge or as powerful as the unfortunately titled M25. Weighing in at 44kg and nearly half a metre deep, not only is this behemoth the size and weight of most Krell power amps, it is just as solidly built and just as well finished too. Thankfully the price tag is far more NAD then Krell, and at under 2000 for 160W to all seven channels the M25 offers superb material value and power per pound. Internal design centering on a huge Holmgren toroidal transformer, power rails made from chunky copper bus bars and seven completely discrete mono power amplifiers. The spec sheet quotes a near flat response fro m 3Hz to 70kHz and 118dB signal to noise ratio at full power. With 160W on tap the design is certainly going to create spectacular dynamics.
Of course this is a NAD design too a company wont to add nitrous-like power boosts to its amplifiers. Evolving from the Power Envelope feature of many moons ago the M25 now sports Powerdrive. This circuit engages a second high -voltage rail that nearly doubles the continuous power on a short term dynamic basis. Mama. The external design shares the material mix and cosmetics of the matching disc player and processor. The intense blue LEDs show all channels in operation and the back panel offers seven phono inputs and seven pairs of binding posts that clearly wouldnt baulk at zero-gauge cable. There

is a 12V trigger to complete the Blofeld scenario and a switch to engage NADs old faithful soft clipping feature. Soft Clipping ensures that if you are comple tely barking mad and/or stone deaf and want to drive the M25 to its limits, it will fall into gentle peak clipping rather than full-scale distortion. Given the M25s power and current reserves, you would probably be sonically crushed and picking bits of molten speaker driver out of the sofa first. There should be a warning the manual if you see the soft clipping light on the front panel of the M25 illuminate, please seek urgent medical attention. Quote, unquote It takes about a nano -second of listening to the M25 to realise it is quite something special in terms of dynamic headroom, bass extension and sheer control over speaker drivers. The soundstage is absolutely immense, bursting from an inky silent background with frightening realism and tautness. It is as if every note, every sound and every effect is not simply hurled from the speakers but chiselled into the air with laser like precision. Hooked up to a big set of floorstanders with decent bass extension, the M25 renders a subwoofer all but an optional extra, such is its low down drive and power. I would go so far to say that no amplifier yet to grace the Stevenson home cinema room has ever driven my big Tannoy Dimension TD system quite so hard nor kept them under such tight control including the 20k power-amp setup currently in-situ. Bass and snare drum attack is awesome, underpinning soundtracks with incredible low frequency definition and control. The effects extends through the entire frequency spectrum keeping a flatneutral balance with tight control all the way from explosive LFEs up to shrill effects like shattering glass. Dialogue is projected superbly and the M25s rendition of vocal scale gives actors with serious presence a tangible reality in your living room. This effect extends to multi -channel and stereo music too, turning decent recordings into a full emotional experience complete with foot tapping, bopping, duck-walking or air-guitaring depending on your genre penchant. Switching back to my reference power amplifier set up, the NAD can suddenly seem a little boisterous and heavy -handed with more delicate material. Genteel female vocals lack a little of the sparkle and minutiae tonal inflections of the very best esoterica, and it is not totally character -less. but lets get real. The M25 is a sub 2,000 power amp and comprehensively eclipses every other multi-channel power amp in its class for sheer jaw-dropping performance and pretence-free home cinema enjoyment.Versatile For me, the M25 is the star of the Masters Series and is the most versatile, weaving its potent magic with just about any processor or source you throw at it. If you like you home entertainment big and dramatic in every conceivable sense the M25 is an absolute bargain. It both ices the cake of a Masters Series system and offers itself as a first-class upgrade to just about any AV amplifier or receiver out there CONCLUSION The Masters Series not only represents a design departure for NAD it could also spell the beginning of a new world order in the serious home theatre market. For a little less than 5,300 you get AV performance that fights well above its price point and three gorgeously crafted boxes with design flair that would not look out of place on high -end esoterica.

Compare and contrast to a typical Japanese AV combo at the same price: A slab -sided integrated AV amplifier festooned with features unlikely to ever see use in anger and over a grands worth of DVD player that, to the untrained eye, looks just like a Chinese special. If you like features aplenty and a high gadget count then the NAD Masters Series is not for you, but consider carefully just what you want an AV system for. If you come up with answers like performance, simplicity and pride of ownership then look no further than your local NAD dealer. The M55 universal disc player is frighteningly close to Arcams DV -137 in design philosophy, performance and price and gets a 5-star accolade in just the same way. In isolation the differences are miniscule. The Arcam nudges microscopically ahead of the darker sounding M15 with music while the NAD has marginally better picture contrast and so on. They both annoy by their lack of OSD to the HDMI output too, which is an amusing twist. Cosmetically, my vote goes to the NAD. _______________________________________________________________________
"It is simply one of the most potent, dynamic and well-controlled multi-channel power amplifiers on the market and, frankly, a 24-carat bargain"
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The M15 processor is a rare beast these days in that it eschews gadgetry - almost to a fault. There is no hint of auto-set-up or room EQ, no video scaling or up-conversion to HDMI and a distinct shortage of picture tweakery. But it matters little because the M15s fundamental sound processing and picture handling is fabulous from the outset. It is also joyously simple to use and its robust and detailed sound simply immerses you into movies whatever the genre. The M25 power amplifier is the brightest shining star of the Masters Series, causing a stir in the chez Stevenson home cinema room the like of which has not been seen since the original Star Wars trilogy was launched on Laserdisc with AC -3 soundtrack. It is simply one of the most potent, dynamic and well-controlled multi-channel power amplifiers on the market and, frankly, a 24 -carat bargain at less than 2,000. While each individual component has much merit in its own right, the Masters Series ultimate strength lies in its holistic design and system synergy the system as a whole being even greater than the sum of the parts. This is both impressive and a potential flaw in the NAD plot. You can certainly purchase the M55 disc player for its excellent audio and visual performance, the M15 processor for its smooth sound and simplicity, or the M25 power amplifier for its awesome dynamics but unless you have all three links in the chain you will never truly capture the full magic of the NAD Masters Series at its very best. Oh, go on then, Ill have all three.