But the moment I would touch the volume control, it would go back to near 4 volts as I had it set.Ĭonsidering how little I use these products for just testing them, this level of problems is way too excessive and indicates a product that simply is not ready for distribution and needs to have a complete test run on it and many bugs fixed.Īs usual, I start with testing the HDMI input. There were other strange things like selecting the Direct mode and then back causing the output voltage to jump to 7+ volts.
Strangely it would change as I would rotate the volume. When in this situation, it would alternate between -1 and +1 dB and even +2 dB at times. 0 dB for example sometimes would be at the peak of a detent rather than the notch. The volume control as very soft detents that did not allow precise adjustments of the volume control. Worse yet, it would buffer all the clicks and then act on them in sequence making it maddening to operate. My HDMI interface would recognize it and I could pump audio through it but no picture.Ĭonfiguring the unit through the front panel was painful as some options would take as much as 5 seconds to take effect (e.g. I was hoping that this would get it to output video to my Samsung monitor but it would not. It’s what we at Darko.Audio call Future-Fi.For testing, I performed a factory reset. Make no mistake: along with streaming loudspeakers, streaming amplifiers like the C700 are the future of hi-fi for anyone not yet body-snatched by separates idealism.
YOUTUBE DIRAC LIVE REVIEW BLUETOOTH
However, the presence of BluOS also means we get two-way aptX HD Bluetooth and low-pass/high-pass filter management for anyone hooking up a subwoofer to the unit’s sub-out connector in addition to their loudspeakers.
YOUTUBE DIRAC LIVE REVIEW PLUS
2 x RCA analogue plus coaxial, TOSLINK and HDMI eARC.
Employing NAD’s proven HybridDigital UcD amplifier technology, the C 700 can deliver 2×80 watts of continuous power and 2×120 watts of instantaneous power, for effortless music reproduction.” For those keeping score: the M10 features the more costly ESS ES9028 DAC circuit and Hypex nCore amplifiers.įrom the press release: “The highly efficient UcD amplifier design is renowned for ultra-low noise and distortion through the entire frequency range, regardless of the loudspeaker load. Inside the C700, the DAC circuit has is built around an ESS ES9010 DAC chip and the amplifier is based on the same UcD module found in the Canadian company’s C268 and C368 amplifiers. Does it need one when a volume wheel and a pair of click-switches take care of menu navigation outside when we’re not using smartphone apps like BluOS, Tidal, Spotify and Roon? And for those who prefer to keep it old school with infra-red wands, the C700 offers IR remote learning functionality.īut here’s a question to ponder: why would we get out of our seat to use a touchscreen on a streaming amplifier sitting on a sideboard (or in a hifi rack) when we already have a touchscreen in our pocket? Unlike the M10, the C700 doesn’t offer Dirac Live and whilst its display shows cover art and track info, it’s not a touchscreen. That’s almost half of the original M10’s asking. The C700 puts an 80wpc amplifier next to a DAC and BluOS streaming module inside a half-width aluminium chassis fronted by a 5″ colour display. A more wallet-conscious take on the M10 - that’s how we might see NAD’s latest entry into the Future-Fi canon and the latest in a range of streaming amplifiers to which we “just add loudspeakers”.