While many hi-fi manufacturers with plans to launch new products at the prestigious High End Munich show are remaining tight-lipped until next week’s event, an excited NAD is seemingly all too happy to share what it has in store for team What Hi-Fi? and other attendees: the latest edition to its Classic Series of amplifiers.
The all-new C 379 is what the Canadian brand calls a ‘HybridDigital DAC’ amplifier, referring to the company’s proven Class D amplifier design as well as the ESS SABRE digital-to-analogue converter at the core of its digital circuitry and connectivity offering. Another key feature of many of NAD’s recent amplifier releases has been its versatile, futureproofing Modular Design Construction (MDC) technology, which allows owners to upgrade the amplifier with BluOS network streaming with Dirac room correction and/or emerging AV technologies as they come along – and those module expansion slots are part and parcel of the C 379’s offering too.
NAD claims the C 379 can deliver 80 watts of continuous power (into eight and four ohms), though it can also be bridged with the company’s C 268 power amplifier for a 300-watt continuous output. The brand also boasts high running efficiency, with the new model supposedly consuming “less than half the power of conventional amplifiers in its class”.
Even if you don’t opt to add the BluOS streaming module to the C 379 – right away or ever – you still get offline streaming via aptX HD Bluetooth, plus several analogue and digital inputs (including HDMI eARC and MM phono) that can accommodate sources from TVs to turntables.
There’s also a built-in headphone amplifier stage that NAD says can drive a wide range of headphones, too.
This versatile little machine will officially launch at the High End Munich show next week, with availability following towards the end of June. It costs £899 / $1099, putting it in the firing line of Arcam’s formidable, Award-winning A15 integrated. Will it ruffle the proven class leader's feathers? It certainly has above-par flexibility and futureproofing on its side.
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