D3045 Hybrid Digital Amplifier

Great amplifier. Pure, clean sound in a compact form factor. My only complaint is the remote. You have to be within about 6’ of the amplifier and pointed right at it for the remote to work. Very frustrating. Also, the display is very small...volume levels are easy to read, but source selections are tiny and impossible to read unless you are standing directly in front of the device. Still, these are minor annoyances. I feel I made the right choice and am very happy overall with this amplifier.

It sounded great while it lasted. The first one crapped out right before my extended 3 year warranty ran out. Instead of fixing it, they just refunded my money to my Amazon account. At the time, it had gone up in price an extra $150. So I went ahead and bought it again with an extended 3 year warranty. This time it only lasted a year. Now I have to return it again and the price is now three hundred dollars more. Plus the obviously necessary 3 year extended warranty. Consequently, I don't want another NAD. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't really sell anything of comparable sound quality. They no longer have Arcam, Rotel or Adcom which I would love to try, but no. The best thing they've got is Cambridge Audio, So I guess I've got to get one of those. On second thoughts, maybe I'll just slowly spend the refund money at Amazon and save up and buy something better from somebody better.

This was an upgrade from the NAD 3020v2 only after a LOT of deliberation primarily around price as I found that ultimately comparable units from other manufacturers cost more. Also, while I wanted to try eqpt from a different mfr. we really love the 3020, many reviews from people who did the same upgrade indicate that it was a good move. The reason for the upgrade from the 3020 is that it is NOT strong enough to power a turntable even though it has the input capability and the newly purchased turntable was otherwise useless, so rather than acquiring a pre-amp it made sense to go with a more powerful amp. From the get go, I was Shocked at the Size Difference between the 3020 and the 3045. One of the things about the 3020 is its petite footprint: I Love that! The 3045 is Mongo in comparison and I Don't love that. Another thing lovely about the 3020 is its high quality fit and finish. The 3045 disappoints in this department. The unit I rcvd. came with a flawed casing trim that looks like and is cheap plastic and its two ends don't line up well making it obvious where the seam is. Also, the remote, which admittedly has improved function over the notoriously weak 3020 came with a battery tray that fits loosely into the module and looks as though it is going to work its way out of its slot, and while it does actually work I am not at all impressed by the poor 'Made in China' fit and finish of the overall device including the remote. As to sound reproduction, well, it is difficult to criticize this for it is truly exceptional. All of the mid to high range sound elements are discrete and pristine creating a sound that is bright and crystalline and impressively so. As to the low end, or bass elements, this machine is pre-progammed with varying levels of what the company calls high pass which I understand is to accommodate the use of a sub-woofer. What it does is allow one to decide the crossover for the bass response with the signal split between speakers and subwoofer at pre-set crossover levels. There are four different levels (40, 80, 120 and BassEQ), the higher the setting the less bass response sent to the main speakers. On a practical level, running through Q3050 tower speakers, is that at 120 the sound is far too bright and becomes unpleasant to hear after a short time; the next step down (or up), 80, allows more bass, but is still too bright and bass light. Meanwhile, the next setting, 40, actually sends too much low end to the speakers (audioQ3050) causing a muddled and thumpy bass response. Fortunately, the Q3050's come with foam dampers that can be fitted into the bass port which was exactly what was needed for our room to give a fully dimensional bass beat and low end sound. Not sure what the BassEQ does but using it results in a lot more bass response that is beyond what we want, and as the 40mhz setting in conjunction with foam dampers in place on the 3050's works really, really well, that is this system is to be played. Note that this unit does power a phonograph adequately, but if you play a lot of record LPs I would NOT recommend buying this machine for this purpose unless you also get some kind of a pre-amp or are only playing it in an intimate setting. Also, this machine has a USB that people are using for high quality streaming devices. This is something that we are definitely interested in exploring, so points to NAD for that thoughtful addition. The notoriously weak remote of the 3020 is improved upon with the 3045 but NAD should have included a function that allows one to revert or go back to the previous Bass pass setting without having to cycle through them all in order to revert to the immediately previous setting. The biggest reason we stuck with NAD for this upgrade is the Auto Off feature which is a critical component because this is primarily used as a nighttime pre-sleep wind down device and it would make us crazy if the thing stayed on all night after our selection has played through. It is difficult to know which other, similar amps have this feature and how well it works. NAD's auto off function is Excellent and it seemed like more effort than it was worth to actually find a device that both sounds as good or better than the 3045 does and which has a reliable auto off function. This was really the determinative factor in our buying decision. Now then, if this machine is that good, why rate it only three stars? For the following reasons: 1) Dimensions are mongo compared to the 3020. 2) Fit and finish are punk. 3) Function display is weak so that it is difficult to see from a distance what function is in use, unlike the 3020 which stacked them so one could tell by the position of the maker light which of the functions was activated (phono, Bluetooth, Aux., etc). Having said that, while the added knob on this device for changing functions is convenient I frankly would prefer less knob if it also meant smaller case dimensions. 4) Finally, as to sound reproduction. It is a funny thing but the 3020, as set up in our bedroom, created a sound stage that, with closed eyes one could almost imagine an instrument being played in the room. The 3045's sound reproduction, on the other hand is so clear and pristine that it is almost clinical so that, with closed eyes, one truly appreciates how well-produced the tracks are. In other words, the 3045 sounds like studio perfection, but one is never fooled into believing one is listening to a live instrument (I speak of this only in the context of listening to the speakers in their ideal soundstage). This is fantastic for music that is highly produced so, for instance, and I am going to drop names here, a song like 3raniac's Fresh New Eyes is perfect for this kind of listening. I would argue that some music will only fully reveal itself to your ears if listened to through something like the 3045, e.g. highly produced, multi-textural, layered sound. On the other hand, more straight forward music production of what should be just a band playing music is going to sound like professionally reproduced studio sound when coming from the 3045. Funnily enough, it wasn't until listening to the music from outside of the sound stage was I fooled by the 3045 into thinking I was hearing live instrumentation and it was when the saxaphones come in on Moondog's 'Bird's lament' and, also to Howlin' Wolf's 'How Many More Years'. After this experience I have come to appreciate the 3045's delivery a bit more in relation to the 3020 which could never make an instrument sound live outside of its direct line of sound, or soundstage. To deserve 5 stars this 3045 needed to be smaller in overall size; have immaculate fit and finish; more functionality of remote's features; better display elements on the amp case itself.

I connected the NAD amp to my macbook pro with a USB Type B cable for lossless audio with Apple Music. It's driving a pair of KEF LS50 Meta speakers and the 60 watts per channel is adequate although hopefully a future version will have a bit more. I got so frustrated trying to stream audio to a HomePod with airplay 2 or other bluetooth solutions where there are delays and dropped connections. For me a wired connection is must also since I do some video editing and any lag from wireless is a dealbreaker. I also love that it has the ability to stand upright and I can just reach over to adjust the volume old school way. when powering back on it remembers the settings and so does my Mac. I also use SoundSource for EQ settings. The compact size is awesome too and looks good beside the KEF's. The remote control is a slightly cheap and the buttons don't have a solid or tactile feel to them but I don't really care. I only use it to turn the unit on and off and then use the volume dial. This was really the only amp I could find that had all these qualities and I couldn't be happier. Finally have a seamless audio solution while working which is the only time I have to enjoy music. Highly recommended!

While it technically functions, it has a number of usability problems. First, it takes at least two seconds of audio to play from the source before it actually starts sending audio to the speakers. Fine, I've just gotten into the habit of rewinding as soon as audio starts so I don't miss anything. Second, the remote has a maximum effective distance of about four feet. This means that it would be easier to use the controls on the unit. Except the controls on the unit go to sleep after a few minutes of inactivity. Third, if you connect your phone to it using bluetooth, it doesn't automatically change source input to bluetooth, even if other input sources are silent. I'm about to dispose of this unit after 6 months of use because of these issues. I strongly discourage getting this, because you will just get something less bad later.

This is a great sounding amp with plenty of power, but the remote control is horrible. It is almost unusable from more than five feet away.

Endlich ein Amp der (fast) alles kann. Klingt über USB sehr gut (decodiert auch MQA und DSD), Installation sehr einfach. Toll ist auch, dass er jede Quelle auf Bluetooth senden kann (für Kopfhörer z.B.), das Pairing ist aber etwas tricky. Sehr kräftiger Kopfhörerverstärker. Nur das Display könnte eine Idee heller und auskunftsfreudiger sein.

Awesome little amp, perfect for a desktop based system due to its tiny size, yet has the power and features to do just as well in a main set up. With all of its features, excellent sound quality, and MQA DAC too, This one is hard to beat for the $$.

I didn’t want a ‘piece of furniture’ amp. It needed to be small, vertical oriented, with single hdmi arc. I’ve been looking for this for years. It sounds perfect driving my small minx speakers/sub combo. Replaces my Bluesound powernode. Awesome nad.

Also bin sehr Zufrieden mit dem Verstärker. Es gibt nur zwei Kritik Punkte : Helligkeit der Anzeige ist wirklich schlecht. Zweitens für das Geld hätte ich gerne eine bessere Fernbedienung , ein paar Tasten mehr und die Optik ( kommt echt billig Plastik rüber) läst zu wünschen übrig. Technisch ist der Verstärker echt Tip Top. Anschlüsse alles was man braucht .

I bought this to drive my Elac Uni-fi 2.0 UB52 speakers in my home office. Overall, I'm happy with the D3045, it's loaded with features and has very good sound quality. I think as a splurge step up from something like an SMSL AD18 or Topping amp this is well worth it. I've not been able to A/B this with many other amps, however I did instantly notice a few things: 1) it has an incredibly low noise floor which is very important to me given I'm listening in near field, 2) more than enough power to drive the 6ohm rated, 85db UB52s comfortably, 3) the headphone amp is miles better than the well-regarded Fiio E10K I upgraded from (driving the Drop 6XX), 4) there is just zero distortion with this amp all the way up to painful volumes both with the headphone amp and the speaker outputs. I am mostly streaming Tidal MQA, and very impressed with the clarity I'm getting from this setup. My only complaint about the sound quality is that the combo of UB52 + D3045 + my particular room can feel a bit dry at times. This isn't a party system, but this also means it's very well behaved in my small office. The only thought I can't shake is whether a D3020 with a separate USB DAC would be just as good or better for less money, provided you didn't care about MQA.