Hi guys. Thanks for the review. I have an M10 V1 and an Atom. I find they sound very different. Like you said the M10 is clean and maybe a bit lean. The Naim is meaty but fuzzy. It’s a cozy warm sound but to me is much less transparent. My gripe with the M10 is indeed the gain, which supposedly rectified on V2. When you use Dirac and tone controls you lose 10db and 6 db of headroom. This results in a unit that may not be able to play loud enough at max volume (100/100) depending on your setup 🫤. By contrast, the Atom is playing loud at a volume setting of 60/100. However the with no tone controls or room correction, you are really at the mercy of your speakers character and room set up. It has NO flexibility in changing the sound. My strong preference after living with both is the M10, using DIRAC to correct for the room and to integrate subs. I use DIRAC to correct for frequency response and impulse on the lower end (below 500hz) but set the target curve to match the speaker’s natural response between 500hz and 20,000khz. This lets the into correct impulse response throughout the entire band and has resulted in the absolute best sound. Leagues beyond the Naim. Also you can play with the target curve to tailor the flavour to your preference if required. It’s quite amazing once dialed, but I will admit requires a bit of a “power user” owner. Not for a regular Joe with limited technical know how. Anyway, my 2 cents. Thanks for the review, and looking forward to the V1 and V2 comparison!

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your detailed insight! I really appreciate it. I don't think it's coincidence that your impressions between the NAD and the Naim is right in line with mine. You have good ears😉 It's good to hear your thoughts regarding Dirac and sharing some of your expertise. I know exactly where you are coming from as I myself got my Dirac Certification around 4 years ago. From what it sounds you are doing right. Just remember it's ok to fix the target curve if you are 100% sure that it's due to a room. Also with that being said just fix peaks and avoid nulls unless you have calculated all the phasing errors/cancellation frequencies in your give room. Thanks again for your insight! You know your stuff!

@billythestalker

2 жыл бұрын

@@Hifyed wow certified. I didn’t know that was a thing! Also the Naim’s physical design 😍 Gosh I love looking at it and touching it.

@fercontreras8

5 ай бұрын

Interesting? Which speakers are you using btw?

Great review, Hifyed! Looking forward to pt 2!

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Stay tuned.

Thanks guys another great review liked the comparison to the unity atom. And thank you for using my Michael Hedges recommendation !! I have several more I will pass on soon.

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you again for the recommendation! Amazing quality and engineering. Please keep it coming.

Nicely done guys 👍

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! 🙏

Another great review. Wondering what comparison would be with NAD C399 with the Blue OS MDC2, at about the same price, or the slightly costlier Linn Majik DSM you recently reviewed.

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! That would be interesting between the 399 and the m10. From what I remember it would be pretty close. The 399 uses the latest purifi. Maybe I should setup a listening session with both🤔. As the the Majik I do think the m10 has better drive and slightly better dynamics. I would say the Majik has a sense of refinement that I really do like.

Great review guys! Any clue as to when Part 2 might be up? I'm eagerly awaiting your thoughts on the apparent gain improvement with v2 before I pull the trigger on getting one.

@Hifyed

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I just uploaded it 10 mins ago.

I'm looking at a demo M10 v1 for less than $1000 US...is that still a good buy or 2024? Anything else around the 1k price point you'd recommend?

Thanks for the review! For the Dali Opticon 2 MK2, would you suggest the NAD M10 v2, the C700, or the C399?

@Hifyed

Жыл бұрын

No problem! With the opticon either the c399 or the M10. The M10 has a nicer form factor and screen however sound wise it's close.

@bikerdude22

Жыл бұрын

@@Hifyed What about the C700?

Bass Drops Nenad Vasilic keep up the good work

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

👍👍

Hi Folks, Good review. I have a hegel h95+lindemann limetree bridge II + the hegel acts as an amp to my fronts behind a yamaha rx-a2080. Just due to simplicity and usability I have been thinking about replacing the hegel + limetree to an m10 v2. The room is well treated well so not having dirac is not a deal breaker for me. Usability and simplicity : nad 100% so it comes down to sound. How would you compare the hegel sound to the nad ? And would the digitization of the analog inputs cause any problem when connecting to the yamaha?

@Hifyed

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! That is a tuff one to answer as I think you can go either way comparing the nad to the hegel. If you let me know what you might want more out of the hegel and hoping to get out of the nad I can let you know if might prefer it.

@CoreProject05

Жыл бұрын

@@Hifyed hey, Thanks for coming back. I do like hegel’s sound especially the midrange that -even if this is an entry level amp- steps out and the vocalist sits infront of me. Bass is tight and with my audiovector qr3 and tuning fuse in the hegel it is enough for me. What I hate is mconnect :)

Can anybody tell me some experience about warming and heating the unit? I see plenty of comments online about that issue. It'd a D class but warms more than some of A class

It sounds like you guys still have the Naim Uniti Atom. How would you compare the DAC quality in each of these two devices? Have you tried the M10 or the Atom using the pre out and just running them as streamer/preamp combos? I have the Naim and cannot use the built in amp because of the hiss at idle with my Klipsch Cornwall IVs so I just use it as a streamer/preamp. I guess it’s a known issue that I wish I’d know before I bought it. Any noise with the M10? Thanks!

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

We also still have to release the Review of the Atom as we have to redo it. It's funny I have tried exactly what your asking. You will lose a tiny bit of transparency that way however overall I like the Naim DAC. The hiss you have can most likely be rectified. You can use a product from ifi i'll have to check which model you need. Also if you add another ground for the chassis to the safety ground on your wall outlet may solve the problem. Just make sure you get some help of you are not comfortable doing so yourself. I know Naim very well and they will pick up ground loops/hiss easily. This gets more pronounced as your Cornwall's have a very high sensitivity. The good thing is you usually can solve it. As with the NAD M10 high unlikely you would have any noise but the sound between the two is subjective.

@dannyfannyfoodle

2 жыл бұрын

@@Hifyed thanks for the thoughtful reply. I don’t think it’s a ground loop as it’s a hiss not a buzz. It’s the same when the unit is turned off (which is really standby). One day when I did have it hooked to my speakers but turned off my son walked through the room and asked if my stereo was on. He could hear the hiss just passing through. It’s fairly faint, but loud enough to be annoying and, obviously, raise the noise floor. But I like it so much, I can’t think of a DAC/Streamer that I would replace it with for the similar money. I would want volume control as my integrated (Conrad Johnson CAV-45 S2) is not remote. I’m totally open to suggestions.

Hey I have a question what our your reference speakers? 2 songs for you both Ghost rider Make us Stronger Evanescence My immortal Thanks guys !

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Our speakers a pmc gb1i. We use it as it’s relativity neutral. Thanks for your recommendations. Ghost rider Is one of my regular go to tracks! I’ll be using your suggestions in the near future. 😉

@ericschwartzberg5083

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks guys

I'm a satisfied M10 owner, but struggled initially with its inability to wake a sub and the weird volume control. After a bunch of discussion with NAD/Bluesound they advised the logarithmic nature of the volume control and sensitivity of the sub out which meant you would have to have it cranked all the way up to wake most subs. It's no wonder they fixed this in V2, the original design was a complete fail in this respect. They insisted it wasn't a design fault and was working as intended. But hey they fixed it anyway. Go figure. Having said that, this device is a wonder of the modern age. Mine drives a pair of PSB Imagine minis and an PSB sub (NAD powered of course). It lives in a cabinet so its not on display. Because it can be driven with a mobile device, all the content is at the fingertips ready to be enjoyed. The app is mature and stable and never interferes with the listening. Way better than a dedicated remote in my view. It has sufficient grunt to drive the mini's up to high listening levels with great clarity. Add Dirac to this and then you have, certainly in my case, incredible sound given not much is visible at all. We call it the Tardis for this reason. I'll be interested in your comparison between the two versions. Since they tell me the hardware is new in the V2 I'm expecting the way the volume controls work to be completely different. And stick a sub on both of them and see how that goes, especially with Dirac. And if you want another track to showcase your setup, try Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows. You can feel that door slam, it has solid bass and great clarity as well as being an awesome tune. Turn it up!!

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your detailed insight! You are right they have been struggling with the volume/sub thing for awhile. One of friends previously worked for NAD during that time. One of the reasons was they wanted to be more in-line with Dolby. During that time they had many upset people as they did not know what was going on. It took awhile however I think they found a good balance. Nice pairing with the PSB's, keeping it within the family! I'm trying to remember if we did compare the sub our videos are usually more than a month behind. I know we did test the overall volume gain and output. We also tested which one hit higher spls before distortion as they claimed. Thanks for the Track! I have not listened to it for awhile and will make sure to check it out again.

Compare to nad c399?

@Hifyed

2 жыл бұрын

From what I remember it is pretty close sound wise and has the same sonic signature. I think it may be a good idea to do a side by side comparison.

@hclandscapes

Жыл бұрын

@@Hifyed I would also be interested in this comparison as both are in a similar price bracket but this M10 is part of the master’s series and it would be good to know how close the C399 get to a masters series amplifier in sound quality.

@Hifyed

Жыл бұрын

@@hclandscapes I'll try to make it happen! Hopefully, we don't come off as a NAD channel 😂

Melody Gardot ❤

@Hifyed

Жыл бұрын

👍👍