Wether your using LH or EE tape, this deck with 3,75ips speed still sounds good. 7,5ips is the best speed, 15ips is an overdrive. Or you must pick the 2-track model. But far from better unlikely is my opinion. With slightly more transient sound, less wow & flutter. But listening with two ears won't even notice the difference. Houston Onsite Truck Repair

None . .

Mod raised product from 4 to 5 rating excellent built, XLR outputs. Sound detailed sound.

No balanced inputs for S500 CD player.

Purchased this product along with matching NAD S500 and S200 products. Excellent preamp for money. I had modification done by Reference Audio Mods East on S100. Included upgraded power supply,Silver wiring, new RCA's for CD, Video, new IEC connector and improved signal path cap etc. Big improvement to overall sound quality, soundstage and detail.

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ARCAM, Rotel, MF3.2 series

Solid manufacture, built like a brick outhouse. Can even make old gear sound better, so imagine what it will do for new stuff Upgrade path with XLR

Not a weakness, but the remote has equally sized buttons that are ungrouped. Hard to use in the dark, but since I've moved it closer to where I sit, it' sno longer an issue.

I'm just getting onto the audiophile treadmill. Some months ago, I bought some old Magnepan speakers and drove them with the receiver of a colleague's sister. It was a Nad 7200 PE, 35 watts per channel and it sounded fine. Better than any thing I've ever owned anyway. I then by-passed the amplification stage and hooked the Nad up to this ancient HK870 2x100 watts per channel power amp, and the speakers 'woke up'. Then I replaced the receiver with a Nad S-100, and the sound became refined. To be fair, the pre-amp has the benefit of more modern engineering, so one presumes better filtration and whatnot, so this is to be expected, but it was worth it as the detail audible on each CD let me hear new stuff with each track. It was like someone took the sock off the recording mics. No, it doesn't make the each CD sound like it's completely new, but it adds a general clarity. I won't get into the wine column language often used by audiophiles, but stress only that I am hearing new content in music with which I am completely familiar. Moreover the content is netural. CDs that are warm sound rumbly, CDs that sound bright sound bright. CDs that are neutral sound well made and CDs that are badly made sound badly made. I was grinning as I listened to all my CDs again. The pre-amp is very netural to my ear and amazingly well built. (Open it if you don't believe me. The volume control when signalled by remote, is spun by a small motor--which is to say properly, not digital switching.) The replacement of the receiver (used as a pre-amp) with the S-100 pushed my already good set-up (yes, there are exotic manufactures out there who doubtless make better and more expenive gear, but I'm not made of money), into the very good category. Bottom line: if you like made in first world democracies rather than 'hammered together by preschoolers in Red China' quality, this pre-amp will make even old audio gear sound better. It has a clarity and neturality and ease of transmission. If you, like me, are assembling a system and are looking at a S100, this is definitely worth a listen. Moreover, it can also grow, thanks to its XLR outs. Did I not mention the XLR outs? Well I shall. If your amp doesn't have XLR ins, you now have the ability to upgrade to XLR in the future with this pre-amp. I payedd $550 Canadian.

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An old Bogan tube amp. (I kid you not.)

Fast bass.Tuneful.

No great power in the bass.

Firstly make no mistake this is not a supper dupper pre at a vary low price new.It sings and swings its way through all kinds of music quite happily thats for sure.It is somewhat harsh in the treble yet still remains sweet.Bass is articulate but little real power.Piano sounds wounderful but lacks real bass.Will make a good job of all types of music.Cost of pre knew was £489.

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Audio Research ls8 mk2 pre,

Beautiful, well made, sweet soundstage, amazing accuracy, and output flexibility are just a few of the strengths of this giant killer. I also like the high grade power cord, which can be upgraded should you choose. Once again, look at the power supply.

My only complaint is the inputs, they are of reasonable quality, gold plated, ceramic and the like, but they are not fastened to the chassis as nicely similar priced Conrad Johnson stuff.

I had been in the market for a new preamp for some time, as I was tired of the harsh sounding, difficult to match entry level high fi Rotel preamp I had been using for about two years. I was actually in the market for a tube preamp, due to the wonderful presence associated with tubes. I took home an entry level Conrad Johnson tube preamp, only to have it faulty out of the box! I then brought home a Conrad Johnson solid state preamp, to have it also be faulty! I was begining to become frustrated with this, when Spearit Sound let me audition the NAD S100 preamp at home. Holy smokes! This little beauty sounds better than some 6,000$ preamps that I have auditioned, and A/B'd both at home, and in Spearit's refferance system. No joke. Stunning spouse friendly asthetics, and reasonably high build quality...not just considering the price. Open this guy up, and find a power supply looking like it belongs in a power amp! My sounstage is better than it has ever been, and I am able to use the balanced inputs on my Bryston 3B for the first time. Balanced outputs? For an MSRP of 1500.00$? Unreal. Although, I have noticed better fidelity with high quality single ended RCA's . Both mellow and dynamic, acurate but somehow never offensive. I love it to death, and would recommend this unit to anyone. Two sets of RCA outputs are also a plus, as I am running my Velodyne servo series 15" sub, allowing the 3B to operate full range. Buy one now!

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Adcom, Rotel, Conrad Johnson, and other NAD products, are just a few of the preamps I have either owned, or auditioned at some time or another.

open soundstage, build quality, design.

no phono stage

I bought this 1 year old nad s100 with the s200 power amp for $1,450 and I´m really satisfied with the purchase. Sound is detailed, great presence, neutral. Bass is really controlled, and mids are detailed. You can partner it with just about any speaker that will drive without stress. I´m really impressed with the 225w per channel. I already thought that the s300 integrated was really powerful, I wanted an amp with dynamics. But when I saw this combo at such a good price and found out that had such power I didn´t hesitate. Besides it has a great look, and those blue leds make me turn off the light to stare at them! ;-P I would recommend this amp for people like me that listen to many music styles, it will render all of them with success. It´s got the quality you´d expect for other high-end brands, but with the affordable NAD philosophy. Beast Buy!

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integrated amps: audiolab 8000s, marantz pm-17

built quality, mellineum style, quality of the sound.

does not have balanced input

A few month ago, I read a review in Sterophile, and I knew that Adcom GFP-750 get an A rating. So, I planned to upgrade my audio system, by changing my NAD S-100 preamp with Adcom-750 or ML 380s.
Before I did it, my friend (a very good dealer) allowed me to compare those three preamps together. And than I realized how good the NAD S-100 is.
Adcom GFP-750 is a little more open and transparant than NAD S-100, but the human voice become blurr, losing focus and not natural.
ML 380S has the same naturalness, a very little more detail sound, and higher built (craftmanship)quality than NAD S-100, but the price of ML 380S is seven time the price of NAD S-100.
I also have an opportunity to compare NAD S-100 to Rouge Audio 99Magnum. Rouge Audio as a tube preamp has the same sound character, a little more transparant and a little deeper soundstage than NAD S-100, but Rouge does not have an additional output where I can put my sub. I use my sub when I play some dynamic jazz songs like the songs in The Best of Fourplay album.
So, I will keep my NAD S-100 and plan to add a D/A converter to make it better. I use this preamp with NAD S-500 CD player, NAD S-200 poweramp, B&W Nautiluis 805, Velodyne SP-1200 sub, Monster M2.4 biwire speakercable, Cardas Golden Reference and Madrigal CZ1 interconnect, Cardas Golden Reference powercord and powerstrip.
If you want to know how natural NAD S-100 is,so please play Jashinta (Tribute to Ben) and Diana Krall (all) albums, and you will realized how beautiful the human voice is. If you want to know how far the soundstage of this preamp is, please play Culture album from Chis Sheeperis. So, actually, NAD S-100 only transfer what is in the software (LP or CD)without adding anything with can make the sound look beautiful but not natural.

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Adcom GFP-750, ML 380S, Rouge Audio 99 Magnum

Superb value. Very clean. Simple and pleasing appearance. XLR outputs, optional phono pre stage (not yet available) can be physically installed into the unit.

Remote controls other NAD equipment so if you have another piece of NAD gear in the same room it could be problematic. Remote isn't silver colored but is otherwise fine. You can get a pricey silver colored remote if you are so inclined. I inadvertantly mentioned this in the review I posted of the S200 but since the power amp itself has no remote control functionality that obviously doesn't apply. I meant to mention it here instead. Sorry for the mixup! But you get the idea anyways.

Again, this is NAD's first truly high end pre-amp. It is very clean, and is the obvious and logical companion to the S200 power amp. It has XLR outputs which work nicely with the XLR inputs on the S200 power amp. NAD says that a moving magnet phono stage will be installable when it comes out. Knowing NAD it could take a while but it will be a nice touch and probably will be reasonably clean (cleaner than the NAD PP-1 for example). They do not have an estimated price however.

Combine this with the S200 and you have an amazingly good value in audio. This is what NAD always wanted to do and they have succeeded.

The best place to buy this and any other NAD gear is at Saturday Audio Exchange (http://www.saturdayaudio.com). Email webmeister@saturdayaudio.com. Ask for Randy and tell him that Evan sent you. Their prices and service are both first rate.

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Other NAD pre-amps, etc.

Transparent, smooth but powerful presentation, not overly analytical. Build quality

Haven't found any yet

Simply, this pre does (beautifully) what a pre is supposed to do: get out of the way. It is simply designed, easy to operate, etc., but I am most impressed by its transparency. Music just fills my room with incredible presence.

I use the pre with the matching S200 amp, and the synergistic design/partnership is just great: super clean (but not analytical) sound, low noise floor, detailed, SMOOTH (but not too relaxed) and extremely musical, slightly laid-back soundstage with my Paradigms. It is just-right dynamic, able to convey the attack and decay of piano effortlessly, as well as the air and presence of acoustic music. Doesn’t flinch at heavy orchestral pieces, and it manages to convey midrange bloom with great finesse. It is not at all bright or fatiguing, and as far as I can tell, has no obvious sonic signature. I would consider it the SS equal of the Conrad Johnson PV10A (when paired with the CJ MV55). Different sort of vibe obviously, but both are just incredible at getting you closer to that much vanuted "musical truth". So the sound is neither tubey nor transistorized. Just musical. Remember, if each were perfect, tubes and SS would actually sound the same.

BTW, the balanced connections do seem to have a lower noise floor and slightly "fuller" sound. Use the absolute best cables you can’t afford! I don’t think you can overdo it. Great cables will only further reveal the startling capabilities of this truly high end gear. In my system, I’ve noticed that changing the pre-to-power interconnect brings about the most dramatic sonic improvement (yes, even over the source-to-pre interconnect).

Trust me, the S100/S200 combo is an insane value (not that $3K is chump change), easily competing with setups at at least twice the price. (If you’re shopping for a whole system, I also recommend the S500 CD player.) The build quality is among the best I’ve seen; the only other pre to consider at this price is the Adcom GFP 750, which has a class ‘A’ rating from Stereophile. Considering the known synergy between the S100 & S200, however, I think the choice is clear. NAD has hit a grand slam.

SYSTEM:

NAD S100 pre
NAD S200 power
Arcam FMJ CD23 CD
Sony ST SA50ES tuner
Paradigm Reference Studio 100s
Tara Labs RSC Prime 1000 biwire
Audioquest Viper ICs
Audioquest Little Feet

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Classe CP 47.5, Rotel RC972, Musical Fidelity A3CR

Looks nice, remote control.

Not as good as the older Nad pre amps

I purchased the new Nad silverline 100 to replace
my 15 year old Nad 1155 and was disappointed
with the results of this new top of the Nad
line pre amp.the silverline sounds like you've
placed a thin blanket over the speakers (B&W 801's),still not as bad as the Mcintosh c-15,
it sounded like you'd placed a comforter over
the speakers.They both sound veiled compaired
to the old 1155.the midrange is more transparent
and focused than the newer s100 and the bass
is tighter and also more focused also.I'm going
to miss the remote control when I return the
s100 but I have to go back to better sound
quality.Don't waste your money on the newer
Nad s100 the older models are more nuetral
sounding plus you can find plenty of older
models on ebay for alot less money.

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Dynaco vacuum tube, Mcintosh c-15,Nad 1155