nad d 7050 listening impressions

[mrhoades]

Long time lurker...any owners of the d7050? I'd like to hear your thoughts. I currently own the d3020. Looking to step up a bit power wise to go with some high efficiency 2 way 'Econowave' speakers and sealed sub (Eminence LAB 12) I built.

Beyond the sound, I am also interested in your thoughts on the 7050's built in subwoofer/audio out crossover feature.

Another of the 7050's features is the Spotify Connect which really has me leaning toward the unit... Streaming direct from Spotify servers and using an IPad as remote... I must sound like a nad shill

Thanks Mike

[Ajax]

Hi Mr Hoades and welcome to CA.

 

I also have the D7050 on my short list for a new system I'm putting together for my nephew. We have selected the KEF LS50 speaker , which are supposedly difficult to drive so very interest in the responses you receive.

 

Goo Luck,

 

 

Ajax

[Stereofluss]

Hi, first of all: NAD stopped selling the D7050, at least here in Germany. Reason I heard is: too low volumes sold.

I am using the D7050 everyday for more than 1,5 years now with my ELAC FS 207.A (4 Ohm). I have a NAD 516 CD Player connected via optical in and listen to Spotify Premium via the connect feature a lot. Before I had a C720BEE amp, traditional Class AB with a lot more Watts driving the same speakers. The Class D of the D7050 delivers way more sound: more direct, more depth, more everything. The sound is simply amazing. And the comfort of this all-in-one as well.

A year ago I thought about a little more bass and added a REL T5 sub, which is connected via their Neutrik Speakon cable to the speaker outputs, not the Sub Out. But in the end, I am very rarely using it, only when I am listening to Classical music or very low volumes. Meaning: The power of the D7050 is sufficient enough for the ELAC floorstanders, even at medium volumes. The NAD can get a little warm though when listening for hours at high volumes.

If you plan to plug the KEF LS50 (with their 8 Ohm) to it, I guess it would be a good idea to compare this setting to some Dynaudio Excite X18 or ELAC BS 244.3 for example (4 Ohm). I believe these will give you way more sound, cause they don't require the power a pair of LS50 needs. (Form factor wise, I think the LS50 are a great fit though...)

Recently I installed a Qnap 131 for DLNA purposes. I ripped some CDs as ALAC and planned to do that with all my CDs. But when I tried to listen to the music, the trouble began. Not with the D7050 - which connected well and flawless with the NAS. But the Apps at hand to control the music are simply crap. The Qnap Music Player, PlugPlayer, very useless. So I got rid of the NAS and do not miss it at all. But in the end, the possibility is there with the D7050 and the flaws were with the Apps / NAS, not the NAD.

I never connected my Computer directly to them, but streamed via AirPlay and controlled the iMac with the Apple Remote App without any problems. I also streamed a lot via AirPlay from my iOS stuff before I got the Spotify account.

Result: Thumbs up for this unique amp and hurry, since I have the feeling that NAD is putting the D line to a rest - concentrating on bluesound, maybe.

[JonFo]

I love the sound of my new D 7050, it totally transformed a casual 'background music' 2.1 setup in my living room (I have a dedicated ultra-high-end HT and a secondary media room in the home, so my definition of 'casual' might be higher than most ).

 

This is not a 'class D' digital amp, this is a revolutionary power DAC, or direct digital drive as NAD calls it, and due to its architecture, it can dynamically adapt to the varying impedance/capacitance loads of the speaker to deliver way cleaner power than otherwise.

 

The fact that it has a built-in digital crossover for the sub is a huge plus. Note BTW that the 'sub out' is actually stereo on the two analog 'pre out' RCA jacks, so you must use a stereo to mono RCA Y cable to feed a single sub. The crossover freq. is selectable via the mobile app in 10hz increments between 40 and 200Hz.

 

With all the network playback features, this seems like a killer unit, but I was pretty disappointed in its DLNA implementation which besides buggy is quite limited in terms of playback quality, with the highest uncompressed audio being 16/48. See my detailed adventures getting this to work right with JRiver MediaCenter at this thread Setting up a NAD D 7050 Integrated amp / DLNA renderer with MC

 

But once all the settings are correct, it works very well with JRemote driving the experience. Airpay also works quite reliably.

 

My unit is running the latest v1.66 . Here's hoping they rev it one more time to fix a few DLNA issues I identified in that other thread.

 

All in all, a nice unit that delivers better sound quality than expected.

[gmgraves]

Long time lurker...any owners of the d7050? I'd like to hear your thoughts. I currently own the d3020. Looking to step up a bit power wise to go with some high efficiency 2 way 'Econowave' speakers and sealed sub (Eminence LAB 12) I built.

Beyond the sound, I am also interested in your thoughts on the 7050's built in subwoofer/audio out crossover feature.

Another of the 7050's features is the Spotify Connect which really has me leaning toward the unit... Streaming direct from Spotify servers and using an IPad as remote... I must sound like a nad shill

Thanks Mike

 

I too have D7050. It sounds fine but limited in power to about 35 real-world Watts/ channel. I have used it to power speakers but it sounded kind of thin to me. I currently use it as my DAC in my main system, and it is an excellent one. I like the number of input options and use them all...

[JonFo]

... With all the network playback features, this seems like a killer unit, but I was pretty disappointed in its DLNA implementation which besides buggy is quite limited in terms of playback quality, with the highest uncompressed audio being 16/48. ...

 

Actually, it does support high-res LPCM over DLNA, I've tested 24/48 and 24/96 to it just fine, even seamlessly goes from any bit-depth / sample-rate to another in a playlist.

 

The SetNext bug interfered enough with my earlier testing it obscured this fact, as well as the unit not explicitly claiming the higher res support. But it is there.

 

So even more pleased with it now.