NAD has been a legend in affordable amplification for decades, ever since its 1975 catalogue declared ‘New Acoustic Dimension’ as “a new design philosophy to develop equipment which will reproduce music as close to the original as the state of modern technology permits, in a price class which sets new international standards for performance.”
This proved no idle promise, with the company delivering understated affordable power ever since, becoming known as no-nonsense NAD, creators of the legendary “people’s amplifier” in the classic 3020 and its ongoing variants.
In 2005 the company, now part of Canada’s Lenbrook Group, took a deliberate step up the ladder with a new Masters series, which pioneered the use of so-called digital amplification, working with a number of developers before settling on technologies adapted from those invented by Hypex and recently also Purifi.
At the same time NAD has become adept at developing ‘smart’ amplifiers, designed for streaming as much as playing music from traditional connected sources, and fronted by large full-colour displays. In this it is rather usefully assisted by Bluesound, its sister company under Lenbrook, creator of one of the leading wireless streaming and multiroom platforms. Merging Bluesound’s BluOS platform with
