NAD 320 or Yamaha RXV 550

The NAD 320BEE any day if music is whatyou are into.

I'm sure Manek will second that

Cheers
Krishnan

Buy the NAD and spend the extra money on Cables & accessories !

yes,,,,i second , third and fourth it as well....
In india, nad 320bee is the best entry level amp for its price and a little more. No doubt about it. But one should not forget that tonally a particular person might find the yamaha a better choice.

My vote also goes to the nad320bee.

manek,.

Hi Roshan,

If you are looking at building a decent 2 channel audio system, then the 320BEE would be a very good point to start from. It wouldn’t give you any HT, however.

If you are looking for a system which allows you the flexibility of HT, as well as 2 channel music (albeit of a lesser quality), then you could go in for the RXV 550.

It would depend upon your priorities basically.

Hello Roshan,
I am yet to understand why have you pitted to different products onto each other ? I mean, its quite evident that NAD320bee is for good stereo and Yamaha RXV550 is totally for HT (if I am not wrong). Neither of them would be able to take each other's place. They should have been compared if both were for similar purpose. I find you quite often on this forum so I dont have any doubts that you know how a stereo is different from HT...then why this confusion ? Did you actually find the Yamaha RXV550 to be that good on stereo as well ? As far as I have auditioned, yamahas (especially entry level HT receivers) are not that good at stereo and infact the Denons are quite better (its my opinion). What is it that actually drives you to compare these two products,its still my curosity.

i beg to disagree with u abhi.
i actually found my yamaha to be a better stereo performer thn the denon 1604 that i auditioned at profx.
the yamaha that i have seems to sound better with digital interconnects than analogue ones. i don't know how, but that's what my ears tell me.
can anyone explain how this is so?
however, in this case i have to agree with u, u can't compare two amps designed for different applications unless u go high end.
weigh your priorities and make ur decision.
stereo or HT?

Thanks Guy's,

My whole purpose was to audition a range of speakers, all in my room. There is a satellite subwoofer, bookshelf subwoofer and a pair of floor standers. The problem with the NAD for such a job would have been that I get only tone and base control. With the Yamaha I get super control, specifically on the sub woofer end.

The NAD would have won hand's down for a pure stereo application, but I would not have been able to push the speakers to the limit!!!

Any comments!!!

Roshan.

Hi Ben,
Which yamaha amp did you listen to or you own one ? I have listened to rxv450, it sounded quite bright and a bit rough to my ears. It also matters, which speakers are connected, but Denons seemed to be smoother (entry level Denons).

Benks,

One reason for the digital interconnects to sound better could be that the DAC in the Yamaha is better than the DAC in the CDP.

BTW, have you hooked up your new toys yet?

hey abhi,
i own a rx-v450!! yeah, the treble is a bit bright(connected to my diamond 8.4s).
the multichannel sound was very bad compared to the 2 channel stereo.
i suppose u could call it rough when compared to stereo amps,but the mids are very clean and the bass is surprisingly very acceptable.
but, i have to say this, when i listened to a stereo amp it just blew me away. the difference is enormous(hence, the reason i bought the 320BEE ).
the denon 1604 was very good for HT but it just didn't impress me in stereo mode.

no :(, parents are returning on the 21st.
the total baggage is in excess of 100kgs with just my stuff weighing in at 35kgs!!
my dad said that he'll have to leave some of the stuff behind and that my uncle would bring them over when he visits next month.

Actually the dacs in my DVD player are of audiophile grade. three wolfson 24bit/192khz dacs.
its impossible for my amp to have better dacs.

hey Ben,
Can you tell me what other receivers did you audition before you finally selected RXV450 ? Which is the receiver you liked most ( below 30k range) both in HT and 2 channel purpose ? Yah, I want to mention that I felt harshness of RXV450 more after I heard the same set of speakers on a entry level Denon 2 channel amp. The difference was so noticable that I couldnt simply compromise on it.

It is not the chip but the implementation which is important in a DAC.

please remember it is not the chip which makes it audiophile grade but the design, components, powersupply etc etc etc

there are filterless DACs costing many times over which could blow the pants of any "audiophile grade "

also Burr Brown is used by many many cos due to some advantages it has over Wolfson..and vice versa.

DVDs can never have an audiopphile grade DAC..chip yes, DAC No, as the cost would go up astronomically.

But DVD players can hev much better transports as they use a finer laser and sensors.

benkenobi schrieb:

Actually the dacs in my DVD player are of audiophile grade. three wolfson 24bit/192khz dacs. its impossible for my amp to have better dacs.

hey arj,
i actually went for this specific dvd player because it does'nt have dolby or dts decoders and has five channel output only for dvd-audio and not for dolby/dts.
it only outputs the dolby/dts signal in two channel mode so that my amp can decode it. they have instead incorporated a complete bass management system with all options that are usually available on any av receiver. i can even set the delay timings and change levels(built in preamp) on each of the channels with speaker settings for each channel(large,small).it also has crossover settings for the sub.(all this with the help of an OSD which is not available on my receiver itself)
it cost me 30k. i bought this because of its sound quality.
there must be some other explanation to it.

hey ben,
no offence man, but there are very few Universal players which do well on 2 channel redbook as well. and those which start doing those well start at around USD1000 or more..hence my comment.
usually these are bested by entry level cdps (Read marantz/rega/NAD/rotel et al)
am sure your DVD plahyer does a wonderful job with DVD Audio discs, but I would be sceptical about its redbook performance in comparison with a good dedicated 2 channel cdp or even with a external DAC,

things are changing these days, with more and more universal players being pumped out so would really not like to say too much on this..perhaps this is just me being too oldfashioned about stereo

Arj, I would certainly agree with you there.

Benks, tough luck!! Hope your 35 kgs isn’t the stuff that is being left behind!! Tell your Dad that Nads / Deftechs are highly perishable items and need to be connected to an electrical socket soonest to survive

Abhi, it wouldn’t be fair to compare the RXV 450, or any other entry level HT amp for that matter, to an entry level 2 channel amp. Unless it is a very poor design, the 2 channel amp would win.

Roshan, you seem to have lost me there. What, exactly, is the purpose behind this entire exercise? Are you auditioning the 3 sets of speakers in the environs of your room, with a view to purchasing the most suitable one in the future? Or, do you just want to give them a good workout and see them sweat?

Cheers

Guy's,

I bought the NAD 320BEE. At 21k sticker price, it a rip off, but I couldn't wait!!!

Roshan.

good for you.
where did u buy it from.
what are the speakers and source?

A friend picked it up for me from Lakozy (I am Bombay based Lazy bum!!!). I am using it with a pioneer DVD player and monster interconnects. I will be using it with a C521 BEE eventually though.

Currently it is set up with the Lithos terra 1 and I will be switching the speakers to the Lithos Studio and then to the Lithos pro 10.

Hey big-ears hope that answers your query.

Thanks everybody for the feedback. I will give you my detailed comments on the Lithos after I put them thru' my personalised test!!!!

Like I mentioned earlier, my 2 paise worth...!!!




Roshan.

hope the lithos works out for you roshan.

manek.

Hmm lots a talk about lithis.tell me guys where can i audition one in bangalore...how does norge compare to lithos