NAD Masters M10 Film : "A Pocket Rocket"

When I say in my NAD Masters M10 Film Review that this NAD will suit the new Audiophile or anyone who wants a second compact system, I’m telling porkies really…. This is because it also suits the upgrading HiFi consumer too, who is perhaps used to budget gear. Class D often yields advantages over Class A and AB amplifier designs for reasons Paul McGowan of PS Audio often talks about.

Perhaps the only achilles heel of the NAD is the fact it doesn’t have a headphone output but is AptX HD Bluetooth capable instead. When you consider all it does ; Class D, Streaming, Roon, Dirac, BluOS, small form factor, cleans the dishes & does the ironing…. the fact it is missing the socket of little ol’ small round proportions, is being pedantics really.

Often the reasoning is there is simply not enough space on a cases rear real estate, it doesn’t suit the ethos of the product, an interference with the sensitive electronics, and so on. As a viewer contacted me to my website said, you have to disconnect the speaker cables in using the pre outs to a headphone amp with the M10 as there is no way to turn the output off to mute speakers.

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Again this is no disadvantage because the M10 does so much already and the lines between Bluetooth and conventional headphones are drawing narrower, maybe there is no chasm at all, depending on your view. OK maybe not with the Sony WH-1000XM3’s (now replaced by XM4’s) which are more about ‘out and about’ cancelling than detail, but how about HiFi Man’s Ananda’s Planar Magnetics!

I often see comments to my website that people don’t want to buy products because they simply miss a feature. Obviously for naturally selfish human reasons, which can’t stand up to scrutiny? Well maybe so because the better way is to ask ; “do the features and returns and sound quality offer more than missing a feature”. That’s the way I look at it – although I suppose I can in reviewing HiFi. But whatever, the NAD M10 is certainly a product where the adage “I can’t really do more” applies and that’s a big take out of this appraisal.

It’s time for albums, certainly.

What NAD have to say;
The audio world has shifted. Where once available solely on discs, the best quality of music is now delivered over the internet. Not only does it sound better, but entire catalogues of recorded music are more accessible than ever before. Curated playlists make music selection and discovery easy and fun, while multi-room wireless audio multiplies the possibilities.