MODULAR AV AMPLIFIERS FOR A NEW AGE
NAD T778 Review
So here goes on my initial thoughts. So far ive only had a couple of days with it but ive learned a lot about the unit. The NAD replaced a Denon 6500 I’d had for about 6 months and after a bit of wrestling with Audyssey was getting a fairly decent sound out of the Denon. It was always a stop gap as at the time, I hadn’t realised I was going to leave The Movie Rooms so it actually stayed longer than expected. Other than the frustrating Audyssey set-up, the Denon got extremely hot in my rack, so much so that I had to employ the services of a USB fan to help cool it. I suspect this was due to the fact I was running a lot of 4ohm speakers off it, so it was working quite hard and add into that the fronts were low down to 40hz. The only other major issue I had was that the Xbox One X didn’t play nice with the Denon at all, it refused point blank to work in 4K with the Denon in enhanced HDMI mode, so eventually I had to use a HD Fury Dr HDMI to spoof it into 4K.
So other than a lift in sound from putting in the NAD, I was also hoping to combat these other niggly issues in one fell swoop. Knowing the fussiness of a lot of modern AVR’s I didn’t hold out a lot of hope of squashing all these issues with a box fresh brand-new unit, but I was hopeful.
The first thing you notice when you open the unit is how compact it is, it had a smaller footprint than the Denon which it replaced, and it was much smaller than the Arcam 850 I had before that. The accessories all feel very well made. The remote is heavy and has nice bright backlit buttons on the whole front facia. You get the Blue Sound USB adaptor in the box to enable the NAD as a Blusound Zone, plus the usual leads and cables. You do get a basic DIRAC Microphone in the box but already owning an XTZ & Earthworks microphones I pretty much ignored it. It looks like a similar puck style one to the old original Arcam but made from aluminium. It also comes with rack ears included in the box as standard.
The amplifier is 9 channels but only the surround back channels can be re-assigned. They can be Surround Back, Front Height or Bi-Amp (front). For reference, I run 11 channels at home plus one big ported 15” subwoofer. Interestingly you can run an enhanced bass setting in the menu like on the Denon/Marantz, which sends low frequency to a large set of fronts along with the sub, which is useful if you have a big room and only one woofer.
The unit itself has a full touchscreen which is responsive and easy to use, along with and on-screen set-up display which mirrors the display exactly. The unit looks like it doesn’t have any video overlay, so no live volume on the screen or ability to check the codec deployed. Although the detailed video information and audio codecs are visible on the front of the unit if you need to see what is coming in and going out. I did try to get the NAD remote app to work, but it didn’t work instantly so I didn’t pursue this as it want massively important to me. I do intend to try to get this to work if I can. One small niggle is that when you are in the menu, you don’t press enter to access the menus, you press the right jog wheel. This took a bit of getting used to and initially caused me to change the remote IR code by accident. This wasn’t a major problem though as the touch screen came and saved the day, quickly reverting it back on the front of the unit.
Once I had it all plumbed in, I went straight to the update screen and updated the unit. This was a very easy process, it did an online search and updated both the unit and the Blusound zone with the newest firmware. Initially I set the unit up manually with an SPL and a laser measure. This was just to get an initial listen to what the raw sound was doing. This tends to help me as it lets me know what I need to do with DIRAC later in the process to tame or improve certain areas. I have to say the sound straight off the bat was very, very good. What you would expect from efficient digital amplification, fast, very clean with bags of detail and most importantly, not harsh. Exactly what I like. Over the weekend I watched a full film, 8 Days of Night and also the Carabao Cup Final On Sky, along with a bunch of my usual clips such as Blade Runner, Casino Royal and Edge of Tomorrow. The cleanliness of the sound is what is so immediate, and this really helps place specific sounds in the room and also seems to help the transition of the sounds from each speaker. The dialogue was crisp and very clear, this is where I feel the benefits of the digital amplification can be really heard. A lot of amplifiers muddy this, and I did find when I owned the Arcam I needed to split out the centre in DIRAC to give it special attention in the EQ. I didn’t feel the need to do this with the NAD. This overall clarity gives a fantastic base for the deployment of DIRAC, as you can really hear what is going on. Later, on Sunday night I completed the DIRAC set-up. It connected first time on the network and was the usual process with version 2 that I’m used to with the Storm and the Arcam. I did find the test tones violently loud. This almost turned into some sort of stress test of all my speakers. If this is the normal volume for the tolerance of DIRAC on the 778, I would recommend you go out of the room or wear some ear protection for the initial capture. With DIRAC engaged I was able to give the midrange and bass a little more warmth, but overall didn’t need to make as many changes as I had probably done in the past, which again is a great sign. Generally, if you can have a light touch with the EQ you do get the best results I find.
I have a lot of sources plugged into the 778 and the HDMI was rock solid, it didn’t stutter once. BT Ultimate, Now TV, NVIDIA Shield, Xbox One X, JVC Tape Deck & Sony Minidisk all worked flawlessly, every time. The only small niggle was that when I changed inputs on the HDMI there is a very quiet “pop” through the speakers, something I’ve fed back to NAD to see if it can be rectified. One bonus was at turn on; the NAD seems to immediately accept IR commands even when it isn’t fully powered up with the front screen display. This meant the Harmony remote I programmed also worked every time with input changes unlike the Arcam which I had in the past. It needed delays introducing to hit the power on, input change time. One side note is that the 778 wasn’t in the Harmony database but I just used the codes for a 777 and it worked perfectly. Switching inputs and the general speed of the unit in response to commands was excellent.
The other last major part is the Blusound dongle module, again this worked perfectly. So much so the Sonos Connect went on eBay the same day.
Overall, I think it is the best integrated I’ve owned, and one of the best I’ve heard for quite some time. The fact it all works from the off is brilliant and given the competitors struggles to get a glitch free unit, NAD should be commended. To be honest, there is very little wrong with it in my eyes and I can’t wait to keep using it.
Dan Bland