Bill Monaco

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $799.00 from Saturday Audio

Summary:
Purchased this product along with matching NAD S500 and S200 products. Excellent preamp for money. I had modification done by Reference Audio Mods East on S100. Included upgraded power supply,Silver wiring, new RCA's for CD, Video, new IEC connector and improved signal path cap etc. Big improvement to overall sound quality, soundstage and detail.

Strengths:
Mod raised product from 4 to 5 rating excellent built, XLR outputs. Sound detailed sound.

Weaknesses:
No balanced inputs for S500 CD player.

Similar Products Used:
ARCAM, Rotel, MF3.2 series

fishwhacker

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Son Ideal

Summary:
I'm just getting onto the audiophile treadmill. Some months ago, I bought some old Magnepan speakers and drove them with the receiver of a colleague's sister. It was a Nad 7200 PE, 35 watts per channel and it sounded fine. Better than any thing I've ever owned anyway. I then by-passed the amplification stage and hooked the Nad up to this ancient HK870 2x100 watts per channel power amp, and the speakers 'woke up'. Then I replaced the receiver with a Nad S-100, and the sound became refined. To be fair, the pre-amp has the benefit of more modern engineering, so one presumes better filtration and whatnot, so this is to be expected, but it was worth it as the detail audible on each CD let me hear new stuff with each track. It was like someone took the sock off the recording mics. No, it doesn't make the each CD sound like it's completely new, but it adds a general clarity. I won't get into the wine column language often used by audiophiles, but stress only that I am hearing new content in music with which I am completely familiar. Moreover the content is netural. CDs that are warm sound rumbly, CDs that sound bright sound bright. CDs that are neutral sound well made and CDs that are badly made sound badly made. I was grinning as I listened to all my CDs again. The pre-amp is very netural to my ear and amazingly well built. (Open it if you don't believe me. The volume control when signalled by remote, is spun by a small motor--which is to say properly, not digital switching.) The replacement of the receiver (used as a pre-amp) with the S-100 pushed my already good set-up (yes, there are exotic manufactures out there who doubtless make better and more expenive gear, but I'm not made of money), into the very good category. Bottom line: if you like made in first world democracies rather than 'hammered together by preschoolers in Red China' quality, this pre-amp will make even old audio gear sound better. It has a clarity and neturality and ease of transmission. If you, like me, are assembling a system and are looking at a S100, this is definitely worth a listen. Moreover, it can also grow, thanks to its XLR outs. Did I not mention the XLR outs? Well I shall. If your amp doesn't have XLR ins, you now have the ability to upgrade to XLR in the future with this pre-amp. I payedd $550 Canadian.

Strengths:
Solid manufacture, built like a brick outhouse. Can even make old gear sound better, so imagine what it will do for new stuff Upgrade path with XLR

Weaknesses:
Not a weakness, but the remote has equally sized buttons that are ungrouped. Hard to use in the dark, but since I've moved it closer to where I sit, it' sno longer an issue.

Similar Products Used:
An old Bogan tube amp. (I kid you not.)

Price Paid:  $782.00 from Audio vision

Summary:
Firstly make no mistake this is not a supper dupper pre at a vary low price new.It sings and swings its way through all kinds of music quite happily thats for sure.It is somewhat harsh in the treble yet still remains sweet.Bass is articulate but little real power.Piano sounds wounderful but lacks real bass.Will make a good job of all types of music.Cost of pre knew was £489.

Strengths:
Fast bass.Tuneful.

Weaknesses:
No great power in the bass.

Similar Products Used:
Audio Research ls8 mk2 pre,

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Spearit Sound

Summary:
I had been in the market for a new preamp for some time, as I was tired of the harsh sounding, difficult to match entry level high fi Rotel preamp I had been using for about two years. I was actually in the market for a tube preamp, due to the wonderful presence associated with tubes. I took home an entry level Conrad Johnson tube preamp, only to have it faulty out of the box! I then brought home a Conrad Johnson solid state preamp, to have it also be faulty! I was begining to become frustrated with this, when Spearit Sound let me audition the NAD S100 preamp at home. Holy smokes! This little beauty sounds better than some 6,000$ preamps that I have auditioned, and A/B'd both at home, and in Spearit's refferance system. No joke. Stunning spouse friendly asthetics, and reasonably high build quality...not just considering the price. Open this guy up, and find a power supply looking like it belongs in a power amp! My sounstage is better than it has ever been, and I am able to use the balanced inputs on my Bryston 3B for the first time. Balanced outputs? For an MSRP of 1500.00$? Unreal. Although, I have noticed better fidelity with high quality single ended RCA's . Both mellow and dynamic, acurate but somehow never offensive. I love it to death, and would recommend this unit to anyone. Two sets of RCA outputs are also a plus, as I am running my Velodyne servo series 15" sub, allowing the 3B to operate full range. Buy one now!

Strengths:
Beautiful, well made, sweet soundstage, amazing accuracy, and output flexibility are just a few of the strengths of this giant killer. I also like the high grade power cord, which can be upgraded should you choose. Once again, look at the power supply.

Weaknesses:
My only complaint is the inputs, they are of reasonable quality, gold plated, ceramic and the like, but they are not fastened to the chassis as nicely similar priced Conrad Johnson stuff.

Similar Products Used:
Adcom, Rotel, Conrad Johnson, and other NAD products, are just a few of the preamps I have either owned, or auditioned at some time or another.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Sydney A/V, Mangga Dua Mall, Jakarta

Summary:
A few month ago, I read a review in Sterophile, and I knew that Adcom GFP-750 get an A rating. So, I planned to upgrade my audio system, by changing my NAD S-100 preamp with Adcom-750 or ML 380s.
Before I did it, my friend (a very good dealer) allowed me to compare those three preamps together. And than I realized how good the NAD S-100 is.
Adcom GFP-750 is a little more open and transparant than NAD S-100, but the human voice become blurr, losing focus and not natural.
ML 380S has the same naturalness, a very little more detail sound, and higher built (craftmanship)quality than NAD S-100, but the price of ML 380S is seven time the price of NAD S-100.
I also have an opportunity to compare NAD S-100 to Rouge Audio 99Magnum. Rouge Audio as a tube preamp has the same sound character, a little more transparant and a little deeper soundstage than NAD S-100, but Rouge does not have an additional output where I can put my sub. I use my sub when I play some dynamic jazz songs like the songs in The Best of Fourplay album.
So, I will keep my NAD S-100 and plan to add a D/A converter to make it better. I use this preamp with NAD S-500 CD player, NAD S-200 poweramp, B&W Nautiluis 805, Velodyne SP-1200 sub, Monster M2.4 biwire speakercable, Cardas Golden Reference and Madrigal CZ1 interconnect, Cardas Golden Reference powercord and powerstrip.
If you want to know how natural NAD S-100 is,so please play Jashinta (Tribute to Ben) and Diana Krall (all) albums, and you will realized how beautiful the human voice is. If you want to know how far the soundstage of this preamp is, please play Culture album from Chis Sheeperis. So, actually, NAD S-100 only transfer what is in the software (LP or CD)without adding anything with can make the sound look beautiful but not natural.

Strengths:
built quality, mellineum style, quality of the sound.

Weaknesses:
does not have balanced input

Similar Products Used:
Adcom GFP-750, ML 380S, Rouge Audio 99 Magnum