I use the NAD-S300 since 2001 I went through many systems the last 45 years and one always looking for better sound ! When I did change some equipment in the past of course it always sounded different and one is quickly to say >It sounds better? which in fact its not always the case . Aim happy with my NAD S-300 ,its solid and when warm it sounds pretty good and will last for a long time .(when you look at the classic AMPS with good reputation most of the people who buy them don't change very often because its not necessary.I had a few CD players and now using Marantz 6005 that goes well with the AMP. Sometimes I connect my I-Basso DX 50 and it works well particularly with High resolution files .Even better with Audio Engine D 24 bit wireless DAC using ROON SOFTWARE which makes quite a difference .With all this various set up the NAD sound slightly different which was expected. .The ROON set up works best and the high treble as some complain is mainly do to the quality of music played .In my experience the most important is to get quality recorded music and not any quality and expect it sounds great !
I use moderate priced Dynaudio DM 3/7 which produce fine sound again depends on the music quality
During my long journey of Audio I went through many Brands and systems >cassette decks ,Reel to Reel,Mini Disc ,LP , DAT ,CD's and now high resolution Down loads .What aim still missing is that not many good recorded music is available ! Mostly it is for the mass market at best average quality . I stick with my NAD because it is solid and for the money I paid for I will not get anything better . I have to pay much more to get perhaps 10 % better sound ? By the way I paid 1000U$ (new ) in Bali /Indonesia

I owned this amp with an S500 CD player for about 8 years. It is an amazing combination. I only sold it as I replaced it with home built electronics. I feel the reviews that were not happy with the performance of this amp did not have it in a system that supported it's strengths. When I fed this amp a single ended signal it was ok. Fairly flat sound stage, limited dynamics etc. When it was fed a balanced signal it really came to life. I had many nights of listening where this piece transported me to a place where there was nothing but what was playing. I used this with very high efficiency and high resolution line arrays for most of it's time with me. (12 woofers and a ribbon tweeter) I tried other speakers and found that some worked well with the amp and others did not gel. I found that with the right combination of source and speakers this amp out performes other equipment that cost 2X the price. Built like a tank and able to drive almost any speaker load. I picked up the aluminum remote off audiogon. It was almost as disappointing as the stock one. I would suggest getting a nice learning remote and living happily ever after. Highly recommended.

Best bulid and finish .Good bass, nice imaging, very good for vocals, and no need for a heater to warm up your room !!!!

bright treble, the facia can get dirty due to the unique silver finish, but can be cleaned with water mixed with mild soap. Goes very HOT !!!

built like a sherman tank, this amp. from NAD is a departure from its dull lack lustre looks of yester years. It is very well made with all industry premium parts from WBT , sanken, nichicon etc. And a lot of people say it is built by GRYPHON in Denmark , and is based on the TABU integrated. I dont want to believe that as I don't want Gryphon to take the credit for the hard work NAD designers have done here.
This is a very powerful, warm sounding amp. The bass is superb,the treble a bit bright, may improve after some more hours of use. The sound stage is wide and deep. The imaging is superb and the vocals are the best virtue of this amp.
This amp. generates a lot of heat after 4 -5 hours of use, almost impossible to touch the heatsink after that. very very hot.......... not warm mid you.

Build quality is exceptional. Great soundstage and vocals.

Does throw off some heat but I once owned the AR Amp. So not really that bad.

Recently purchased along with S500 CD player. These are a matched set. If you balanced outputs on S500 to the S300, you will not be disappointed. Used with Dynaudio Contour 1.1's and Partington Dreadnought stands. Combo may be better than S100/S200/S500. I have these in my main system with Dynaudio Contour 1.3MK2's and Ultima stands. Waiting on a Dimarzio balanced to do real comparison

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MF A3.2 integrated MF A308 integrated

Everything.

Bright treble

After 4 month of extensively use, I think I’m in condition to express an opinion. My system: Integrated Amplifier: NAD S300 CD player: NAD C541I Loudspeakers: Paradigm studio 60 Interconnects: Audioquest phyton. Speakers: Nordost Superflatline. This is may first experience with NAD products, I bought my CD and amp based on reviews and store listening. Then I compared my S300 against Bryston 4B, Sonic Frontiers SFL80, Denon 1082 (receiver) and Marantz PM68, all from different levels performance. My NAD have been tested with the following CD players: NAD C541I, Sonic Frontiers DAC and transport, NAD S500, Panasonic RP82 DVD audio player and Carver CD. Speakers tested with it: Dalquist DQ30, Polk audio Lsi7, Jamo Concert 8, Bose 301, Paradigm monitor 9 and Studio 60. In my opinion the S300: Treble: Great sounding treble with a great presence, but in the bright side, little acid trebles, at least under my configuration. Mids: Wow, the mids are incredible, the voices are focus, perfectly positioned in the center of the stereo image. Bass: Perfectly controlled, natural and with a great presence. Soundstage: The great focus on mids can fool you about soundstage, but the 3D image is great and deep behind the vocals and perfectly pin point localization. Warm: This amplifier is very warm compared to other solid state integrates. Not as sweet as tubes. Detailing: great, with a huge definition, but not as Mark Levinson. Construction and Built: Made in heaven, according to my research is a Ghrypon Tabu under NAD skin, all the components and specifications are the same, except for the trafos, C Core for the Tabu, Hölmgren for the NAD, also the Dumping factor is different, 150 for the Tabu, 100 for the NAD. The rest is identical, same sanken amplifiers, same capacitors, same potentiometer and same layout. Complains: -If the CD player is not smooth and sweet enough, the sound can be consider hard, definitely the better match is the NAD S500 or a tube based DAC or CD player. -Forget about poor recordings, this amplifier is very sensible to poor recordings, you probably change your music taste to jazz and classical. Conclusions: And Overall great integrated amplifier, one of the best in its class, Have to be matched with same class components. The best features are: soundstage, mids, bass and focalization of vocals. The worse: treble. For the price, nothing even close.

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See above.

Looks pretty impressive.

Average sound quality. Remote from hell. Way over-priced when comparing to other equal- or lesser- priced products.

This is not to be an offensive review, but I think the Rotel RM1065 (an home theater A/V receiver) sounds better than the S300! The unit looks very impressive and imposing. And unfortunately, this is the only positive thing I gonna say. The remote is a complete joke. If you are crazy enough to spend $250 to buy the optional metal-made remote, then you are a complete joke too. It has many RCA (phono) type inputs plus an XLR (balanced) input. The speaker binding posts are of very good quality. But who care when the sound is not great. No clarify, no soundstage. Imaging is good but not precise. Runs like a furnance. My advice is to get an Musical Fidelity A300 or an Krell 300i instead. The NAD S300's price is completely not jusified. WARNING: The original packing material is a total joke too! UPS and FedEx require at least 2 inches of cushion around the unit, and the original factory packing do not have that much! So, as I shipped the item out, the unit got damaged and UPS refused to pay a penny. So, if you are crazy enough to buy one, make sure you ask for double-box and extra cushions, or you will be on your own EVEN if you buy the shipping insurance!

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Mark Levinson, McIntosh, Accuphase, Sonic Frontiers, Classe, Musical Fidelity, Krell, Rotel.

very very clean sounding ,power,

not a one

It is just the best sounding amp I heard under 2500.00 this S300 just sounds great nothing seemed even close to me as far as balance soundstage depth.DIANA KRALL CD ALL FOR YOU just sounds unbelievable Eric Clapton Chronicles,just blew me away,I love this Nad ,Nad people very helpfull when I had some questions for them.Sound city a guy name Matt M.great sales person,ask for him.It also looks great, very heavy amp,you need sturdy place to put it. Eagles gold cd their greatest hits by DCC sounds so good.


S300 NAD
S500 CD player Great
monitor audio Silver 5 speakers
Balanced xlr by Kimberkable Hero
audio quest Bi wire

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Does everything sonically well, true balanced design when using the proper balanced CD Player, S-500 or a Sony XA7ES.

Doesn't play as loud as I like, but don't have balanced CD Player hooked up to it yet. I heard the combo along with the S-500 will increase the output by 3 db, now if this is true this should be no weakness at all.

This thing is built like a tank right out of the box, great speaker binding posts and RCA on the back. Sonically very very detailed, all types of music sounded good on this thing so far, unit isn't even broken in yet, so it will be interesting to see what happend in the next couple of months. Coupled with the right type of CD Player this is truely one of the best "Audiophile" systems for the money to date. Even better than the A300 by muisc Fidelity I tried.
This should set a standard for a true Audiophile Intergrated, just as good as the Krell I tried and the Levinson Intergrated I heard for allot less. Enjoy the music, because this combo allows you too.(S-300/S-500)
And if anyone knows if the CD player does increase the db gain by that much please E-mail me. Thanks

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KAV-3000i(Tried)Music Fidelity A300

Incredibly clean and solid built quality, no lack of power, simple and compact compared to pre/power combo, sound quality quite impressive, relatively low power consumption, will handle difficult loads.

Lack of precise technical infos which may be useful for some people's buying decision. Can be bright with some sources. Otherwise no particular weakness has been figured out.

At last, an affordable powerful hi-end integrated amplifier. The simple looking fascia hides some interesting construction. The parts are all high quality without any doubt. The power supply is very stiff and the output transistors are 4 pairs/push-pull high power Sanken bipolar type. This alone is quite impressive for an integrated amp at this price.
Right out of the box, the sound was crystal clear, superb vocals and highs.
This product, so heavy, so simple outside, so sophisticated inside, will not be aimed at those technically illiterate buyers. Also I am not sure there is any kind of protection (heat, clipping, short circuit etc). If every safety rule is applied, there is no problem as it is really solid. There is not one technical detail in the manual!
The salesman told me that the S300 has been designed by Gryphon. That’s very interesting. I was curious to know why so much price difference between the Nad and the Gryphon Tabu. If anyone can tell... since I never listen to a Tabu Integrated Amp.
I bought this amp for many important reasons. The most important one for me was the price : it must be affordable. Then came the sound quality followed by an impressive amount of power output which is dictated by a stiff power supply. Everything should be kept compact and simple with no flimsy casing. The amp should be compatible with any speakers. And at last the power consumption should be reasonable, i.e. a nice class AB amplifier.
Considering my needs, the S300 is absolutely perfect. Though everyone will not like it as I do, it is objectively a very good product.

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Cyrus 7 is an interesting int amp with less power.

power,detail,& weight

too hot to listen in summer
balance input only

I've really enjoyed this amp all the last summer long. It starts to heat my room 2~3 hours after turn-on though.
It's very powerful to play most of all speakers I guess.
I do not connect with cd player via balance interconnecter yet. It's some inconvenient for the unbalance cable user because it is ready for cd-input whenever it is turned on.
Sound is great especially for small orchestral music. I can even see each instrument when I listen some quartet/quintets. I strongly recommend this amp to simple-life-lovers(don't like separate) ;)

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