Do you want great sound or useless features?
Written: Aug 03 '04 (Updated Aug 06 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Great sound quality for the money.
Cons: Bugs/flaws makes one test the unit thoroughly before buying.
The Bottom Line: 4 1/2 - Solid value, will last a long time, especially the amps. One needs to test a unit thoroughly and know what features are useful compared to other competitors.
|
|
|
| goldenarrow's Full Review: NAD T752 5.1 Channels Receiver |
I bought an open-box demo of the T752 from a local dealer. A few thoughts first on what I look for in a quality audio experience. First, the amplifier section should state its true output power. Many receivers today are published with specs that say they have 100 watts per channel but deliver half of that when put to full 5.1 surround sound load. Second, I look for a balance between features and sound quality. The previous receiver I traded-in for the NAD was a Sony DE-885, which had lots of neat features but such a lousy amplifier section that it aggravated a tinnitus problem in my right ear. Also, I could actually hear a "fuzz" with CD playback with the Sony but when immediately switched to the NAD, the "fuzz" had disappeared (along with 75% of my tinnitus problem). Third, and this might be more a personal preference than the other two, a balance between features and simplicity of use.
The NAD T752 has all of these qualities. For instance, in the same price range, there are a number of receivers that tout more features. But one of the requirements I needed was useful range to its electronic crossover. Having a range of 40-200 Hz is great because I can choose how low I want my subwoofer to go (I like 60 Hz so to let my other speakers give me some bass from all directions). The others I looked at only had 80-100-120 as settings.
Regarding the 5 built-in amps, the unit can be pushed hard and not sound congested or dull sounding. I notice this mostly on loud, extended movie sound effects or some hard rock/electronic pulsing type music. These amps will not let you down when it comes to clean sound. In fact, even other professional reviews will say that the NAD amps have some of the best sound at the rated power. But they can also deliver very delicate sound of the softest music.
Another nice feature is having 7.1 analog input. When shopping for receivers, I had the thought of what it would take to buy an extra stereo amp and hook it up in conjunction with my NAD stereo receiver and Proton power amp. The nice thing about a 7.1 analog input is that big knob on the right - the volume control. Trying to replicate that one volume control with 3 stereo amps would have cost me almost as much as buying an A/V receiver like the T752. This would be true for any A/V receiver with 7.1 analog input and is worth looking for when shopping for receivers. A nice extra is that NAD allows the bass and treble controls to work even through the analog inputs.
It has all the needed analog and digital inputs and outputs on the back. When comparing to other receivers, the NAD is lacking in some of the extras, like only two component video inputs instead of three, or only one digital output instead of two, that kind of thing. So, compromises are made compared to other competitors but it seems done in a way that most normal human beings would not use anyway. For instance, all S-video and composite inputs are transcoded at the output but there is no transcoding to the component video outputs.
The HTR-2 learning remote is a little complex to setup but then very easy to use. I like that it is logical so that I know consistently what to do in order to get what I want done - choose source, push button. That simple. I have yet to make use of the macro capability but that is where I plan to string many commands into one button. It is not as sexy as those new LCD touchpad type of learning remotes, so one has to judge for oneself in using it.
The DSP is useful in that it does not have too many choices for stereo surround processing but the ones there are effective. I especially like EARS which is a NAD specialty surround mode. It takes the ambient qualities of the stereo recording and applies a minimum of processing to get a nice balanced effect from all the speakers. It sounds the least "contrived". The NEO:6 Music mode is also very effective, a DTS supplied mode.
For technical gore, the Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC's) are from Cirrus Logic (CS4340 and CS4228) and are 96kHz/24bit. The DSP is also from Cirrus Logic (CS493263) the same that is in the T762. Some people prefer Burr-Brown DAC's but I cannot hear any difference. From a listening standpoint, since this is a discontinued model from a previous year, it makes sense that the DAC's are 96k/24bit. The newest competitors are now coming standard with 192k/24 or 32 bit DAC's. This can make a difference if you have the right source material and player. However, for DVD movies or music videos, the highest resolution in digital sound is 96k/24bit according to the DVD forum specs. See this web site for more info:
http://www.surroundassociates.com/fqmain.html#2.5.5
In fact, I believe all 5.1 surround sound is only 48k/24bit on DVD's. So, one does not lose anything when buying the T752 with the current version of DVD's. SACD and DVD-A do not use the NAD's DAC's, so that is a non-issue as well.
The T752 also comes with DTS-ES, the Matrix version, not the more expensive Discrete version. Nowadays the Discrete version is becoming standard issue at this price range. Also, the DTS decoder is not "96/24" but, according the NAD tech support, plays DTS "96/24" discs anyway, but at 48k/24 resolution.
What might be a big issue with some people are the flaws. Yes, there are flaws. When I got my unit home, the front panel display, along with the audio, would cut-out for about 1 second, then come back on as if nothing had happened. I played the FM radio for 6 days straight and the problem disappeared after 36 hours of continuous use. This problem, I will chalk up to being a unit that was sitting around for a long time and needed to get all the circuits flowing again. It seemed unique to my unit and the dealer never heard of that problem. It has not recurred with almost two months of daily use.
A bigger concern is how the NAD T7x2 series receivers handle "old fashioned" CD's. On some CD's (NOT SACD or DVD-A), the first half-second or so of each track is cut-out, as if the receiver did not receive the first few milliseconds of info from the CD player. And yes, this is a receiver problem, not a CD problem (technically this has to do with how the CD was recorded but NAD should have known this would be a problem). This can be annoying with those musical pieces that have a burst of music immediately at the start of each track. This supposedly happened to a few other manufacturers but they changed it quickly. For me, this is not a big deal since I have moved on to listening to SACD and DVD-A discs. But, if you have a large collection of CD's and not planning to upgrade to SACD or DVD-A, then this receiver is NOT for you (however, the problem can be mitigated by using an SACD/DVD-A player's Front L/R 5.1 analog output using a pair of cable splitters to the CD input on the NAD, just adjust channel levels as needed - this is how I listen to problem CD's). I have read that the NAD T7x3 series does NOT have this problem. Another reason that this is not a big deal for me is that I plan to upsample all of the CD's in my collection that I want to keep to a DVD-V standard resolution as soon as the software gets cheap enough. Then I will have CD's with a higher resolution (albeit, "upsampled" or "interpolated" but still sounding better than the original). This kind of software is getting cheaper and in one or two years should be affordable. Thirdly, it seems to happen to maybe 2% of CD's.
The NAD T752 has had, I think, a bum rap. I have only experienced these two problems, one of which cleared up by itself. Other people will have other stories to tell, so you should audition one for a length of time and get assurances from a dealer that you can return it for, not just a store credit but, a refund if the unit is not to your liking. This is true with anything you buy. The sound quality is exceptional and I know that I would have had to pay 50% more in order to get the kind of sound my ears need and deserve.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 599
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
goldenarrow
|
|
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.