[estreeter]

Chris has made it abundantly clear where his DAC loyalties lie, and it would be pretty hard to take a backward step from some of his rhetoric in this review. Dave and Obo are familiar with my obsession with DACs which can act as speaker preamps, and according to Mr Connaker the Alpha does that very well indeed - to my knowledge. the OD does not. 
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/244-berkeley-audio-design-alpha-dac-review/
 
At $5,000 the Alpha DAC is a high-end audio bargain. This level of quality and features could honestly sell for twice or three times the price. Every Alpha DAC owner and audiophile I've talked to who has heard the DAC has been very impressed. In a recent DAC shootout for the Bay Area Audio Society the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC took first place hands down. I would not be surprised to see the Alpha DAC ascend to the top of many lists and receive much deserved accolades in the weeks and months ahead. Whether I'm using Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows the Alpha DAC from Berkeley Audio Design is my reference DAC for the foreseeable future.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

Chris has made it abundantly clear where his DAC loyalties lie, and it would be pretty hard to take a backward step from some of his rhetoric in this review. Dave and Obo are familiar with my obsession with DACs which can act as speaker preamps, and according to Mr Connaker the Alpha does that very well indeed - to my knowledge. the OD does not. 
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/244-berkeley-audio-design-alpha-dac-review/
 
At $5,000 the Alpha DAC is a high-end audio bargain. This level of quality and features could honestly sell for twice or three times the price. Every Alpha DAC owner and audiophile I've talked to who has heard the DAC has been very impressed. In a recent DAC shootout for the Bay Area Audio Society the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC took first place hands down. I would not be surprised to see the Alpha DAC ascend to the top of many lists and receive much deserved accolades in the weeks and months ahead. Whether I'm using Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows the Alpha DAC from Berkeley Audio Design is my reference DAC for the foreseeable future.

 
There's a couple of ironies in that. First, the guys at Berkeley insist that you can't get the best performance unless you have the USB conversion outside of the DAC itself. Empirical has already proven that wrong, and the fact that the Off-Ramp outperforms the Alpha USB converter (which you would expect, half the Alpha USB is bus powered, after all) proves that Empirical knows a thing or two about USB. Second, at least the Series I Alpha DAC has already been taken down by several rivals like the Weiss and the Meitner, and that's according to Chris. Meanwhile, the Overdrive (depending on its state of tune) seems to be able to match or exceed all comers.
 
The Overdrive has a preamp function, not only that but Steve believes that it outperforms both analog domain, resistor based controls and digital domain controls. He describes the Overdrive volume control as a hybrid between the two. It works by varying the voltage to the DACs, so there's no loss in resolution as attenuation increases.

 

[woodcans]

In my system, the NAD outperformed the Berkeley series 1.
 
Quote:

 
There's a couple of ironies in that. First, the guys at Berkeley insist that you can't get the best performance unless you have the USB conversion outside of the DAC itself. Empirical has already proven that wrong, and the fact that the Off-Ramp outperforms the Alpha USB converter (which you would expect, half the Alpha USB is bus powered, after all) proves that Empirical knows a thing or two about USB. Second, at least the Series I Alpha DAC has already been taken down by several rivals like the Weiss and the Meitner, and that's according to Chris. Meanwhile, the Overdrive (depending on its state of tune) seems to be able to match or exceed all comers.

 

[grokit]

That's messed up that the Computer Audiophile is this closed-minded

 

[estreeter]

Dave, I stand corrected on the preamp issue. Its still very ugly.  

 
woodcans, if you are serious and speaking from more than a brief audition, then the M51 could well outsell the Bible. 

 
(I would also point out that the Weiss seems to have a reputation for being 'very Swiss' - enormously gifted technically, but a long way from being the life of the party. The Meitner is a more recent addition to the fray - it would be fantastic to get them all in room with some capable companion kit  and DBT everyone in this thread. Almost as great as landing on a planet populated entirely by beautiful Amazon women who want to make me their Emporer, and about as likely .....)

 

[ecohifi]

Quote:

Dave, I stand corrected on the preamp issue. Its still very ugly.  

 
woodcans, if you are serious and speaking from more than a brief audition, then the M51 could well outsell the Bible. 

 

I dont think that NAD had forcast this interest, demand is outstripping supply and they cant keep up, further more there has been 2 other units including mine that has had issues straight out of the box and I know of a C390DD that failed as well, it looks like they have a real QC issue as the PCBs soldering is a little less than desire, extremely ordinary, obviously assembled in a cheap production facility in China,  probably explains why it is packed so well as the M51 come in a double box!

 

[Somnambulist]

Heh, you're using the OR though, I think pretty much every input would sound good!
 
I think at this point, the JK MIII is something approaching a safe bet for me. Easy to get a non-proprietary 5v linear PSU for it. A fair bit less than the OR or AP, neither of which I can afford, but supposed to sound good. Only dislike would be the way you have to avoid killing the batteries on it.
 
Quote:

My M51 will not work using the hdmi I2S output from my OR5, so I don't think it accepts i2s over hdmi. Sound via OR5 coax is glorious. I can't detect a difference between the OR5 coax and AES outputs into the m51, in my system.

 
Also yeah, must be v. popular as my order is still 'processing' and I bought it Saturday. Maybe if I ring up and moan (they advertised it as in stock and delivered in 2-3 working days) they'll give me something free lol.

 

[mcullinan]

Mine would overheat and all the remote functionality would stop. I returned it and am now waiting on an Eximus DP1.
It was a really great sounding Dac though!

 

[vlach]

Quote:

In my system, the NAD outperformed the Berkeley series 1.
 

 
That's a HUGE statement and quite a compliment to the NAD. Care to offer some comparisons/descriptions in terms of the SQ improvements over the Berkley?
 
I'm currently debating between the M51 & Anedio D2. So far my only concern with the M51 is the analog output stage which doesn't look very substantial, and then i read your post saying it outperforms the very highly regarded Berkeley which causes me to scratch my head...
 
Thanks.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

I've been listening to the NAD M51 (loaner) for a couple of months now, and I am very impressed.  I'll have more impressions at a later date, but I think this is a nice sounding piece of kit that compares well to my PWD.  A very straightforward unit.  In fact, I wish there were more controls on the faceplate (esp volume) but NAD made lots of good decisions in implementation, imo.

 
Agree with this 100%.  I had some time a few weeks ago w/ the M51 along w/ Purrin and it did very well versus the PWD during direct A/B using the HD800 and BA.  Warmer mids and about 98% of the detail if I had to throw out a random number which depends on what people are listening for.  

 

[estreeter]

Wow - favourable comparisons with both PWD and the Alpha - little wonder NAD are having trouble keeping up. Sad to hear about the quality control issues, but after recent problems with gear from Stax/Aude'ze/Leben and others, I think a new 'verb' is about to enter the vernacular - 'Dude, you've been head-fi'd !'   

 
(note that I'm not excusing any of the above, particularly at the prices the 3 companies mentioned charge for their products) 

 

[Furryman]

Hi all,
 
First post on the site, though I've been reading for a couple of years now.
 
I'm considering an 'upgrade' from my Stello DA-220 Mk II. The rest of my system is quite forward - SB Touch, NAC202, Naim NAP200, highly modded DIY HiCap, Isol-8 minisub, custom cables, B&W 705. I'm considering the Naim DAC, but have had my interest piqued by the NAD M51. I just wondered if anyone here has had first-hand experience of both and could lend and opinion?
 
I suspect I'll end up auditioning both, and will happily write a review, though I'm no artist when it comes to words, so I'm not sure I'll be able to convey anywhere near as much as those with more experience in writing reviews, but I'll have a pop!
 
Best

 

[mcullinan]

The Nad is weird in a way. The presentation is up front but I would not say it is forward sounding. From a sitting position the music is on you, and definitely not laid back. But there is no high end glare or brittleness. Does that help?

 

[zachchen1996]

for dacs is it better to use the coax in or the i2s in? is there any difference between using the two?

 

[Somnambulist]

Technically i2s is supposed to be superior because from what I understand it's a more direct link between source and DAC, but I imagine as long as the coax connection is tidied up via a good USB to s/pdif it can be excellent as well.
 
Quote:

for dacs is it better to use the coax in or the i2s in? is there any difference between using the two?