NAD vs. Cambridge Audio

Anyone owns Dynaudio speakers & CA amps? Can you please share with us how well they partner each other?

When I shop for an amp to partner with my Dynaudio, I spoke to Dynaudio N.A and they said that NAD can partner well with Dynaudio which has been consistent with my experience.

Thx

Exposure is more expensive than the NAD 375BEE and a better mid range should be expected from a more expensive amp. Besides, I don't know if Exposure are comfy driving 4 ohm load speakers like Totem & Dynaudio.

NAD and CA are both entry level and they are both good for the money.

My Dynaudio demands decent continuous wattage so my Dynaudio dealer recommended NAD and indeed they sound very good together.

NAD sounds warm and that could help with speakers that sport metal dome tweeter like your Paradigm Studio 20.

CA edges out on NAD on vocal. NAD performs better than CA in the high and bass department.

CA looks better but does not have pre-out which may or may not be an issue with you.

NAD does have pre-out which I like but they are bland on the outside. I can hook the NAD's pre-out to a pair of power subs or use the integrated NAD as a pre-amp for another more powerful power amp.

Dollar wise both are good. I am a bass guy so I prefer NAD.

Naim is a very reputable brand. They are more pricey than Creek & Exposure but they are well known for driving difficult loads like Dynaudio & Totem with little problem. You have chosen wisely. Good deal.

I think it depends on what genre of music that you listen to on a regular basis and also how much of your budget to be allocated for the speakers to decide whether to go with NAD or CA. It also depends on what type of speakers that you have in mind. If you have silk dome tweeters, you do not have to go with NAD. But if you have metal dome tweeters, NAD's warm sound may be an easy way out for you.

I have auditioned CA with a pair of Arro at a local dealer a year or two ago. From my note, the Totem Arro, CA 540A, and 540C combo produced a holographic imaging, the "there there" imaging that most jazz & vocal fans are willing to pay good $$$ for. There was decent bass for jazz & vocal but not enough for rock, hip hop, or rap.

High is extremely smooth but a pair of hand coated silk dome tweeters on the Arro may be a factor here. Bass is a bit recessed for my taste but for fans of jazz, piano, small ensemble, and vocal, they will have no complaint. A pair of fast power subs could do the job very nicely filling in the bottom octave for small footprint speakers like the Arro or the PSB T45. The CA amp & CA CD player combo has great chemistry with that Totem Arro. No wonder that dealer has sold more Totem Arro, CA amps & CD players than anything else in his store. Problem is he does not carry Dynaudio and NAD so that I can do direct AB testing.

Now, the NAD 326BEE high is pretty smooth, partnering a NAD 545BEE. IMO, the NAD 326BEE will also have great chemistry with revealing speakers like the Totem Arro or the Dynaudio Excite X12 or even the PSB Image T45.

From my experience the NAD 545BEE CD player is a very neutral player for the $$$ and more neutral than its brother C326BEE.

If you are a bass guy, you will like the NAD 326BEE & 545BEE combo than you like the CA 540A & 540C. If the designer at NAD can find a way to tweak the NAD 326BEE just a hair so that the 326BEE will be more focused on the high and the midrange than the midbass as it is now, NAD will have a repeat success as they did with the NAD 3020 decades ago at least at this price point.

It also depends on your philosophy of a good set up. Some people would allocate 40% for speakers, 30% for amplification, and 30% for the source which is probably more wisely than my preference.

My preference is 45% to 50% for speaker, 25% for both amp & the source.

$$$ don't always buy happiness. Thus more $$$ don't always translate into sound quality. Cost is not an object is another story but how many consumers can afford to write a $100K check to bring home a pair of Dynaudio Evidence. Not so many.

Arcam has a sizeable following in the UK, Europe, & the CommonWealth nations. But in North America, NAD & CA sell more amps than Arcam. IMO, Arcam is not in the same league that of Naim or Cyrus so they cannot command top dollars. They are more expensive than both NAD & CA thus they are not that popular like entry level electronics like NAD & CA.

But I do agree with ChrisR about the NAD 315BEE. The chief engineer & designer of NAD, Edvardsen, is a good designer. He is probably the best budget component designer in the industry like Paul Barton of PSB. To label the NAD 315BEE & the PSB Alpha B 1 as "giant killer" is a misnomer but such components do offer a lotb of sonic satisfaction for almost very little $$$ from you.

I really like Rega turntables and CD players. The thing with Rega amps is that the British do not believe in subwoofer (no pre-out) and the Rega amps are a bit under power which is something that you should consider before your purchase. Stand mount speakers due to its physical character tend not to sound their best with underpower amps.

This may be a problem for people like me who listen late at night or early in the morning since you have to crank the amp up a bit for the amp to be in total control of the woofers.

I am not surprised that Rega is very appealing to people who listen almost exclusively to vocal & jazz. But for a person who owns dynamic speakers like Dynaudio & Totem, that person may have to look somewhere else.

NAD amps do not a phono stage but NAD amps are cool for people who want a utility amp that can drive almost any tough load speaker, listen exclusively to CDs, listen to all genre of music, and also hook up the NAD amps to their LCDs to watch movies.

There are always compromises in designing budget amps for any audio company and Rega is not an exception.

Rega is a great product but to say Rega is far superior than NAD or CA for that matter is merely stating one's personal preference rather than providing empirical findings based on facts & circumstances, ie."I report but you decide".

Mr. Dilly

We can always agree to disagree since people perceive value differently.

I am a simple guy so I like to stick with tried and trued partners. I drive nothing but Toyota & Honda. They are not fun to to drive like BMW but I don't have to worry much about maintenance costs besides normal wear & tear.

Dynaudio & NAD are pretty much Toyota & Honda in the audio field. That is why I have always sticked with them. Time and time again, I have tried new products but still end up owning a piece of NAD & a pair of Dynaudio in my place.

I might try CA electronics in the future but that would be at least another 5-6 years from now when Dynaudio release a new line of speakers.