NAD 3020 as headphone amp

[rl1856]

You might say I am predisposed to this design as up until early this week, I already owned NAD 7020 and 7060 receivers. The '20 is in use by my daughter and the '60 receives a signal from the computer in my study. Anyway, I was perusing the wares at a local pawn shop when I saw a dusty and scratched NAD 3020 sitting on the shelf. After a quick test and negotiaton of the price, it came home with me. As I was driving home I wonded what I would do with it. For the past several weeks I had contemplated setting up a headphone system downstairs so that I could listen in peace while the kids watched TV or played games. Noting that the 3020 has a headphone jack, I figured it would be ideal. I ran some RCA cables from the analogue output of our DVD changer to the AUX jacks of the NAD, hid it on a shelf behind a comfortable chair and proceeded to listen via my trusty Grado SR60 cans.

WOW !! Wide frequency responce, great imageing, soundstageing and wonderfull non fatigueing sound. Even better is that the amp has tone and balance controls- a slight decrease in bass and a slight shift to the left and I have a solidly centered image that is nicely balanced from top to bottom.

The best part though is the price- FREE ! I actually purchased another item along with the NAD, that I was able to quickly resell for the combined cost of the NAD and the other item. Even if this weren't case, the 3020 would still constitute a bargin given the quality of the sound. From what I understand, the CMV for these is less than $120, so anyone looking for a realatively affordable headphone amplifier should at least consider this one !

Nirvana it is and I am listening as I type this (Miles Davis- disc 4 of the Complete 7 Steps box set).

Should have done this years ago.

Best,

Ross

 

[Nak Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rl1856 The best part though is the price- FREE !

Excellent !

Apparently "sorry for your wallet" doesn't apply to your case here .. so .. welcome to head-fi ! When I was lurking headwize long time ago I was totally confused by this 'amped' concept - as I've been listening through integrated amp's phones jacks with good results (although with crappy vintage phones). So later on I copied a Szekeres with high expectation. While it indeed give slightly better sound plus that wonderful crossfeed effect, the improvement was not anywhere as huge as I imagined earlier. Considering $25-50 outlay needed to get DIY parts, I would say that getting old NAD off garage sales would be a better solution for those looking for best value amplification.

 

[Mr Do]

I have the same NAD and the headphone out sounds excellent. Don't forget it is a cult classic amongst budget intergrated amps. You can definitely build a good second system around this little killer. It's known for having a fairly good phono stage. Some argue it's the best NAD integrated ever made. I love mine. Hense the cult classic.

Do!

 

[ooheadsoo]

I had a 3220 (might have been a 3120, I don't remember) and the headphone out was on par with my pretty beefy meta42. Not true of my 3300.

 

[slex]

This vintage really pair well with schiit multibit dac of todays. Tremendous energy, very near tube sounding. Get this, its a dicrete amplifier of yesterdays,very smooth and non fatique listening pair with now affordable schiit mimby.

The tone control is a plus for taming or boosting frequency your headphones lacks or excess.The soundstaging of this NAD super deep and wide too.

I prefer this NAD to my audiogd C2 amp for its very smooth and endless power. Using a fostex TH-OXX now, i be able to tame them for all genre of music.

Good hunting if you decide to get one, it wun cost you a arm or leg.

 

[griff2]

The NAD's output impedance through it's headphone socket would very much preclude it from being considered as a headphone amp. The same applies to any speaker amp which used current limiting resistors to connect the headphone socket to the output stage of the amp. I have a soft spot for the Denon PMA 250 MK1, but the headphone out just doesn't sound that good due to the high output impedance caused by the current limiting resistors. Anyone interested as to why output impedance is so important should read the white paper from Benchmark (https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-damping-factor-isnt-much-of-a-factor).

 

[bagwell359]

NAD 3020 started being sold in the very late 70's/early 80's. The original is the one to have. They sold it for many years for good reason. The earlier ones need the coupling caps redone. Nice piece. Makes a nifty little pre-amp too.

Think about running it out of the speaker jacks. Doubt it could run lower efficiency planar.