Интегральные усилители — NAD C 338

Announced by NAD on 23 March 2017 at USD 649, the C 338 was presented as the first hi-fi amplifier with Chromecast built-in, joining a stereo integrated amplifier with Google Cast streaming, Bluetooth, a moving magnet phono stage plus its own headphone amplifier, in a low-profile case.

Key specs that matter

Continuous output is above 50 W per channel into 8 or 4 ohms. IHF dynamic power is 80 W into 8 ohms, 150 W into 4 ohms and 210 W into 2 ohms. At the speaker outputs THD stays below 0.03% from 250 mW to 50 W, noise is more than 98 dB down A-weighted, and damping is above 300 into 8 ohms between 20 Hz and 6.5 kHz. Frequency response holds within 0.3 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and channel separation exceeds 75 dB at 1 kHz and 65 dB at 10 kHz. The case measures 435 x 70 x 285 mm and weighs 4.85 kg net.

Engineering and use context

The preamplifier section reaches THD below 0.005% at 2 V and noise 106 dB below output IHF A-weighted, with line inputs presenting 56 kOhm plus 100 pF. Digital inputs are one optical and one coaxial, both handled by a DAC that accepts up to 24 bit and 192 kHz with an input sensitivity of 18% of full scale. An active power supply with Asymmetrical PowerDrive can deliver 160 W continuously and more than 300 W instantaneously, and the DAC is an eight-channel device in a dual-differential configuration with 120 dB dynamic range. A separate TV audio input sits next to the stereo line input, and the MM phono stage presents 47 kOhm with 100 pF, accepts more than 80 mV before overload and keeps noise more than 76 dB down with an MM cartridge or 82 dB with a 200 ohm source. Standby draw is 0.4 W in ECO mode and 1.8 W in control standby, and the unit runs on 100 to 240 V mains. Volume is set by a solid state control in 0.5 dB steps with 120 dB dynamic range, and a UPnP client streams from NAS libraries under the NAD Remote App for iOS and Android.

Pairing

Google Cast lets phone apps send music over the home network, while the headphone amplifier is designed to drive high impedance headphones. The stated dynamic power into very low loads indicates the unit copes with low impedance loudspeakers, while a dedicated sub output feeds an active bass module. Record players with MM cartridges need no external phono preamp.

Alternatives

The NAD C 388 is a larger integrated model rated above 150 W per channel with two MDC expansion slots for optional BluOS, HDMI or USB modules.