Review on NAD Hybrid Digital Integrated Amplifier by Michael Wilson

If you really care about sound, you'll love the NAD D3020. I'm a music lover. I sold all my gear because I had to move from one country to another, but I used to have a stereo that cost about $20,000. I've had solid state amps, solid state amps, DHT, triodes, etc. I've had horn speakers, open baffle speakers, etc. I know my sound. 1.2K but he died a week ago. So I needed a new amp for my living room. I didn't want to spend a lot of money as I don't have room for a proper audiophile stereo, but I needed good sound. I have NHT bookshelf speakers, 6 ohms, 86dB sensitivity, so finding a suitable amp for them within $300-400 wasn't easy. bad, but it was a tiny sound, like the sound you would expect from a bad car radio (soundstage was very small from an audiophile point of view). The instruments also had no clear separation. The tone of the instruments, which I'm very sensitive to, was wrong, it didn't sound real. The next amplifier was a Yamaha R-N303BL stereo receiver. Yamaha produced a much better sound, a fuller sound. The stage wasn't small either. The problem was that it sounded very dirty, I noticed it mostly in the voices. For some reason the sound turned out to be veiled, so to speak. I tried fixing it with the bass and treble controls but it didn't work. So I returned it. Both Onkyo and Yamaha are around 50-70 watts per channel into 6 ohms. The problem is that while THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) is pretty low at 8 ohms for these two amps, it gets very high at 6 ohms (for my speakers), about 8 or 10 times higher. A 40w amp to get my speakers working properly. I saw this NAD (version V2 because I want to add a player) and decided to try it. The V2 is the same as the regular version, with the difference that the V2 has a phono input while the V1 doesn't. In any case, this is a 30 watt amp that maintains the same power and most importantly the same THD (very low) from 4 ohms to 8 ohms. I tried it and was very impressed! The sound stage is large enough, the instrument separation is very good, and the sound is full. In terms of sound, this amp cannot be compared to Onkyo or Yamaha, NAD simply plays in a different league. More importantly, 30 watts was more than enough to get my speakers up to 86dB. This is solid proof of what a well-built power supply can do for sound. A small amp with a good power supply will outperform an amp with more power but a bad or cheap power supply. Bluetooth works like a charm. As for the heat, it will be warm but not hot. This is a small amp that packs a lot of power and sounds great even for a true music lover! So if you need good sound for a small living room stereo, the NAD D 3020 (regular or V2) is a really good option!