Master of smart amps?

Only two issues ago we looked at a set of smart amplifiers — boxes which stream music and also provide power so that they can be used as an easy just-add-speakers system solution. An amplifier’s traditional roles are the switching of inputs, the control of volume level and, of course, the power to drive speakers. A smart amplifier adds to these a streaming data connection to the home network and internet. And through this a smart amplifier gains near-infinite possibilities — software control, playback of local music from the network, access to the whole world of internet radio and online music services, some paid, some free. The most successful of that group, though also the priciest at $1549, was the Bluesound Powernode 2i, which has since had an HDMI input added as a useful bonus. Bluesound also benefits from being sister company to NAD, with access to its raft of amplification technologies.

But here, with NAD’s own M10, the interaction seems to go the other way. This is one of NAD’s Masters Series, a higher level of component introduced in 2005, simultaneous to NAD’s adoption of ‘digital’ amplification at a time when most audiophiles were greeting Class-D with not so much open arms as a raised cross. So the M10 takes the latest developments in that heritage, and pinches Bluesound’s streaming platform to handle the front-end. Which makes a lots of sense.

More than this, Bluesound, or BluOS as the ‘platform’ is called, was developed to support for this level of quality from the beginning, above most rival streaming and multiroom platforms, notably in supporting high-res audio from the start, where others added it later or still don’t support it. All BluOS and Bluesound 2i products can stream at high-res from Tidal’s HIFI-level Masters albums, able to fully unfold MQA files. They all have AirPlay 2, which delivers CD-quality streaming and multiroom from Apple devices and computers. They can