NAD - D 3020 v2 Hybrid Digital Integrated Amplifier

The NAD 3020 v2 Hybrid Digital is a great little amplifier and DAC. Like all NAD gear, it offers good value for the money spent. With an honest 30 Watts RMS per channel and an oversized power supply it easily drives bookshelf loudspeakers to room filling volume levels. I've owned quite a few NAD stereo components over the years, including the original NAD 3020 produced back in the late 1970's, and the latest NAD Digital Hybrid amplifier is worthy of the NAD name.I purchased this amplifier for exclusive use with a SuperMicro PC running Windows 7 Pro and JRiver Media Center software. My Windows PC has an optical S/PDIF output on-board so I used that interface instead of the noisy electrical USB or RCA outputs. The optical S/PDIF interface effectively isolates the noisy PC chassis from the sound system entirely.My NAD 3020 v2 Hybrid drives a pair of ELAC B6 Debut Series loudspeakers and the amplifier's subwoofer output is connected to an ELAC Debut S10 200 Watt Powered Subwoofer.Sound quality is good, with no noise or any of the jitter normally associated with a USB connection. The amplifier's on-board DAC handles 24bit 192KHz Hi-Resolution FLAC files with no problem.The NAD 3020 v2 Hybrid replaces an older NAD C160 Preamplifier, NAD 912 Stereo Power Amplifier and Cambridge Audio DAC Magic 100 I had been using. Everything needed for stereo sound reproduction is now handled by this one small component instead of a whole stack of components and interconnects.I use my PC for ripping audio CDs in FLAC format that are then uploaded to a networked music server for use with an audiophile quality Hi-Fi system in my living room. The NAD is a great way to monitor CDs while they are being ripped and for general listening in my office while I work.The optional 6dB Bass boost at 80Hz is perfect for smaller bookshelf loudspeakers that normally roll off at the low end, but if your system employs a sub-woofer you'll definitely want to leave it turned off.If you're considering purchasing this amp make sure you get the newer v2 model, it trades the noise-prone USB connection for a Moving Magnet (MM) phono preamplifier and RIAA equalization circuit. The v2 model also has preamplifier outputs that allow you to connect a more powerful amplifier if you ever want to drive larger more demanding power-hungry loudspeakers.The NAD 3020 v2 Hybrid uses a Class D power amplifier circuit. Class D power amps have taken a beating in the audiophile press over the years, but the newest Class D amplifier designs have none of the sonic issues associated with earlier iterations of Class D circuitry. While Class D amplifiers used to be relegated to subwoofers only, they can now be used to power full range speakers without any sonic shortcomings.The NAD is rather unique at the $399.99 price point. There are other amplifiers costing the same, but they don't include all of the features the NAD offers. The 30 Watt per Channel amplifier, on-board DAC, MM Phono Preamp, Headphone amplifier, remote control, preamplifier outputs, Bluetooth aptX interface and multiple analog and digital inputs make this little integrated amplifier a bargain.It makes a great starter system for music lovers. It can serve as the hub for a dorm-room Hi-Fi, home office system, or computer sound or gaming system.The only caveat I have is the Auto-Standby power feature gets a bit tedious, but it can be defeated if you don't want the amplifier to constantly shut off when you use your computer for things other than music and only need to hear the occasional warning beep or error tone.There's a good equipment review of the NAD 3020 Hybrid Digital Amplifier in Stereophile Magazine. Google "Stereophile NAD 3020" to read the entire review online.

if you really care about sound, you will love the NAD D3020.I am an audiophile. I sold all my equipments because I had to move between countries but I used to have a stereo system that was around 20K. I have had solid state amplifiers, solid state ones, DHT, triodes, etc. I have had horn speakers, open baffle speakers, etc. I know my audio.Nowadays, I had a 120watt solid state asian amplifier Qinpu that I bought new for 1.2K but it died a week ago. So, I needed a new amplifier for my living room. I did not wanted to spend much money because I do not have the space for a real audiophile stereo system but I needed good sound. My speakers are NHT bookshelves, 6 ohms, 86 db sensitivity, so it was not easy to find a proper amplifier for them in the 300-400$ range.First, I tried the Onkyo TX-8220 2 Channel Stereo, the sound was not bad but it was a tiny sound, like the sound you would expect from a bad car stereo (in audiophile terms, the soundstage was really small). Also, the instruments did not have any clear separation. The tone of the instruments, which I am very sensitive to, was wrong, it did not sound real.The next amplifier was the Yamaha R-N303BL Stereo Receiver. The Yamaha produced much better sound, a fuller sound. Also, the soundstage was not small. The problem tough was it sounded really muddy, I noticed this mostly with voices. Somehow, the sound seemed to have a veiled. I tried to fix this with the bass and treble controls but it did not work. So, I returned it.Both the Onkyo and the Yamaha are around 50-70 watts per channel in 6 ohms. The problem is that while the THD (total harmonic distortion) in 8 ohms is pretty low for these two amplifiers, in 6 ohm (for my speakers) it gets really high, like 8 or 10 times higher.I knew I needed at least a 40 wattt amplifier to properly drive my speakers. I saw this NAD (the V2 version because I want to add a turntable) and decided to try it. The V2 is the same as the normal version with the difference that the V2 has phono input and the V1 not. In any case, this is a 30 Watt amplifier that keeps the same power, and most importantly, the same THD (very low) from 4 ohm to 8 ohm.I tried it and I was really impressed!!! The soundstage is big enough, the instrument separation is very good, and it has a full sound. There is no way to compare this amp with the Onkyo or the Yamaha in terms of sound quality, the NAD is simply in a different league. More importantly, the 30 watts were more than enough to drive my 86db speakers to loud levels. This is solid evidence of what a well built power supply does for sound, small amp with good power supply will outperform an amplifier with more watts power but a bad or cheap power supply. Bluetooth works like a charm. As for heat, it gets warm but not hot.This is a small amplifier with a lot of power and a great sound, even for a real audiophile!! So, if you need good sound for a small living room stereo, this NAD D 3020 (normal or V2) is a real good option!!!

Loved NAD for decades. This unit is a killer design. Sounds fantastic and gets loud with my bookshelf speakers. A quality control issue shows up as “crinkling tissue paper” noise on right channel. Unit returned. I’m ordering another assuming the flaw is rare.

I bought this amp because it offers the ports I need at a good price point. I care about sound quality, but I'm no audiophile. The amp does everything advertised but has some flaws. It takes a long time to start up (presumably because of the software is running on this thing vs. an old-school analog amp) which is annoying, especially since automatic shut off is enabled by default. You can turn auto shut off off (so, it'll stay on) but I can't do this because of another problem:Bluetooth mode has no authorization model. Anyone with a bluetooth device can connect to it. Not only that, but it will change modes if it detects that someone connected to bluetooth! So, you could be at the climax of an album or film and suddenly have your audio cutover to something else. This is inexcusably horrible, but admittedly only a problem if you live in an apartment, so I gave it two stars. If there's somehow a software update that prevents this, I'd give it 5 stars.UPDATE: You can enable "Auto Sense" which will wake up the unit when it detects a signal. This also causes the unit to turn on instantly, instead of taking a while as mentioned above. However, there is no de-bounce, meaning that unless you have a _very_ delicate touch, pressing the power button to turn it on will instantly turn the unit back off. Thus it usually takes me a few tries to turn it on with this feature enabled.