I have, on at least a few occasions, referred to my reference integrated amplifier, the NAD C 3050, as the Workingman’s Integrated Amp. But I think it’s time for me to reframe that sentiment. I’m actually starting to think of NAD as a company with something resembling real class consciousness, because the new C 379 ($1099 stock; $1499 as reviewed, with the MDC2 BluOS-D expansion module—all prices USD) is every bit as much a working-class product, but for wholly different reasons.
What reasons, exactly? Well, for one thing, the C 379 is a brilliant example of value engineering. It is, in many respects, a C 399 (an integrated amp I went absolutely ape over) with more modest amplification modules. Instead of the beastly >180Wpc Hypex nCore modules of its bigger sibling, the C 379 boasts a very respectable (and probably more than most people need) 80Wpc into 8 or 4 ohms by way of Hypex UcD modules that deliver IHF dynamic power of 140Wpc into 8 ohms, 250Wpc into 4 ohms, or 260Wpc into 2-ohm loads.
That’s not all. While that’s almost certainly all the amplification that anyone buying an integrated amp costing ~$1100 needs, what if it’s not? What if you buy or inherit some difficult-to-drive speakers or move to a larger space? What then? Well, in most cases, you’d either have to buy a new integrated amp with more onboard oomph or bypass the internal amps altogether and route the preamp outputs (assuming you have them) to a beefier outboard power amp, leaving you with an unnecessarily heavy preamp weighed down by amps you never use.
But not with the C 379. Its speaker-level outputs can be bridged to provide up to 300W of continuous mono power, and it can be paired with the C 268 stereo power amp ($999), whose output can also be bridged, resulting in a monster of a high-power stereo system, without any wasted components and nothing to worry about trading in.
What’s more, like most of NAD’s newer gear, the C 379 combats waste in the upgrade process by way of its MDC2 (second-gen Modular Design Construction) upgrade slot. This means you can buy the amp as-is, and if you decide down the road you want to upgrade it to add Wi-Fi and ethernet connectivity, Dirac Live room correction, advanced bass management, MQA decoding and rendering, Apple AirPlay 2 support, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, and integration with Lenbrook’s BluOS streaming ecosystem, you can purchase and plug in the MDC2 BluOS-D module (the installation of which I detailed in my unboxing blog post). Or you can skip straight to that and purchase the C 379 with the BluOS-D module preinstalled and save a few bucks and a few minutes.
Either way, you’ve got Bluetooth onboard, as well as oodles of connectivity both analog and digital, so the C 379 in both its stock and upgraded configurations can handle a lot of hi-fi. It boasts an HDMI eARC port, two optical digital ins, two coaxial digital ins, a phono stage (MM), two line-level inputs, stereo preamp outs, dual subwoofer outputs, and a good amount of control connections. The only thing it really lacks is a USB-DAC connection, but that’s par for the course with NAD.
Setting up and dialing in the NAD C 379
Given how close the C 379 is to the C 399 I’ve already reviewed, it’s no real surprise that the setup process is remarkably similar, except for a few corner-case setup scenarios. As such, I won’t be rehashing the entire process. I refer you back to that older review for any considerations with regard to most of the BluOS setup, Dirac Live room correction, bass management, etc.
I also fully detailed the hardware installation of the MDC2 BluOS-D module in my unboxing blog post, so I’ll refer you back to that piece, as well. In terms of software, there wasn’t anything for me to configure or install to activate the added functionality of the modular card. Once I connected a network cable and powered the system on, an update automatically downloaded and installed, and that was that.
One curious niggle worth mentioning here is that, for whatever reason, the BluOS app named the zone “C389-24A,” but it was easy enough to change it to “C379.” And frankly, I was going to rename the zone anyway, since this review gave me my first opportunity to test out BluOS in a three-room configuration, along with my C 3050 (which I relocated temporarily to the A/V system in the master bedroom) and the Bluesound Pulse M speaker in the living room, which I use for long-term testing for a Wirecutter guide I maintain.
Really, the only thing that stands out about the setup of the C 379 itself is the Bridge Mode configuration, although there’s not much to that other than flipping a switch and juggling the speaker-level connections. It’s worth noting, though, as I said in my unboxing post, that my review sample came with the Bridge Mode switch flipped to On (Mono), which could cause problems if you connect a pair of speakers that can’t handle that much power and crank the volume for your first listen. So beware. But when I intentionally bridged the output and drove one of my reference Paradigm Studio 100 v.5 tower speakers for some brief mono listening, I didn’t encounter any issues. The binding posts are so clearly labeled that you shouldn’t have any trouble wiring it all up, even if you lose the quick-start guide.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a C 268 power amp on-hand to run a proper high-powered 300Wpc bridged setup, but truth be told, that’d be overkill to a ridiculous degree in my ~12′ × 10′ listening room. Frankly, it’d be overkill in my ~17′ × 19′ open-floorplan media room, the largest room in the house, which is only separated from the second-biggest, the kitchen, by a countertop. So I’m not sure what such testing would have told me. But if you do need that extra oomph or want to hold space for a setup that might one day require it, it’s nice to know the capability is there, and it works quite effortlessly.
For the bulk of my testing, I relied on the standard stereo mode, with the C 379 driving my aforementioned Paradigm Studio 100 v.5 towers by way of a pair of SVS SoundPath Ultra speaker cables. For sources, I connected my U-Turn Theory turntable to the phono input, connected my Oppo BDP-93 to one of the optical digital ins, and ignored them both for the most part in favor of the multiroom streaming functionality added by the BluOS-D module.
How does the NAD C 379 perform?
By and large, I’ll be focusing herein on the sound of the C 379 without Dirac Live room correction engaged, if only because the results of running it were no different than with the C 399. The long and short of it is, Dirac improved the bass performance of my speakers in my room, removing little distractions and tightening up the lower end, assuming I used my own target curve rather than Dirac’s or NAD’s. Dirac’s curve proved a bit lean for my tastes, and NAD’s was a little too bootylicious. But splitting the difference resulted in pretty much perfect performance. And there isn’t much else to say about that.
Here’s the thing, though: I imagine there will be a number of people who either have no intention of installing the BluOS-D module that adds Dirac Live, and at least a few who plan on adding it down the road as budget allows. So it only seemed fair to live with the system as they might. And I still found myself mighty impressed by the C 379’s ability to deliver every ounce of current my speakers require to really crank out a healthy bottom end.
A great track for testing out an amp’s ability to deliver sufficient current (assuming its output impedance is low enough, of course) is “Mycelium” from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava—which I auditioned via the LP (KGLW-032-2LP) and via the BluOS app (24-bit/48kHz FLAC, KGLW / Qobuz).
What the LP told me is that the C 379’s phono stage is, at least to my ears, indistinguishable from that of the C 3050. That leads me to suspect that RIAA equalization is also handled in the digital domain here.
What both the LP and the streaming version told me is that, unless you have really difficult-to-drive speakers, the C 379 is more than capable of delivering rich and robust bass, among its many other admirable qualities. The bass in this track wasn’t performed by normal KGLW bassist Lucas Harwood; it was mostly by band leader Stu Mackenzie, with a few lines by co-guitarist Joey Walker. I’m not sure who performed which parts, but the bass line here is equal parts playful and subtle, never overwhelming the mix but rather just fitting right in there. It’s yet another case of precisely the right amount of bass—not too much and not too little. The consequence is that, when played through an amp that can’t quite deliver the goods, the mix can start to sound thin really quickly.
That was never the case through the C 379—with or without Dirac Live. The bottom end provided a robust foundation for the positively trippy mix built around it. What’s more, given that this mix will tax most any amp at right around the point where my speakers provide their most challenging load—especially between ~50Hz and ~250Hz—it gave me a wonderful opportunity to test just how hard I could drive the amp comfortably.
Without earplugs, I couldn’t sit in the room with the volume turned up to -24dB. With my concert earplugs in place, I could handle closer to -12dB briefly, but after a bit my tummy started to feel weird, so I eased back on the volume knob. The chassis, meanwhile, didn’t even feel warm to the touch after all this.
For what its worth, most of my listening was done with the volume set at closer to -30dB, which resulted in average SPLs of around 80dB measured from my listening position, which was roughly six feet away from the speakers.
Mind you, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava has about as much dynamic range as Sam Kinison did, so for something a bit more audiophile-friendly but equally revelatory, I turned my attentions to “Frevo Rasgado” from Friday Night in San Francisco by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía (24/176.4 FLAC, Columbia-Legacy / Qobuz).
This one has about three times as much dynamic range, and as such, is a much quieter recording on the balance sheet, so I cranked the volume up to around -16dB on the front-panel readout, which resulted in a very comfortable listening session punctuated by some truly spectacular sforzando explosions that rang through the C 379 with stunning clarity and tactile punch, not to mention delicious high-end sparkle. The dueling back-and-forth between McLaughlin and DeLucia at the end of the song also proved to be a delightful demonstration of the C 379’s imaging and soundstaging capabilities. 10/10. No notes.
For whatever reason, the wonderful soundstage spread out before me prompted me to grab my Audeze LCD-2 cans and plug them in for a listen, which is a little strange for me, because Friday Night in San Francisco is such a quiet album in terms of average levels that most built-in headphone amps can’t drive my thirsty cans to satisfying listening levels when fed this album.
Indeed, I had to turn the C 379 up to -5dB to really get into the music. But the fact that it could get there at all is impressive. Even 3dB of headroom would have been a nice surprise with this one. And with most of the music I listen to, the amp didn’t struggle in the slightest to drive the Audezes to their fullest potential.
I was also happy to see that the amp has volume memory, although the temporary auto-mute that kicks in when you both plug in and unplug a pair of cans is a little longer than it needs to be, in my opinion. But that’s about the only criticism I can muster with regard to the performance of the headphone output.
As I’ve said, this was also my first opportunity to test out BluOS in a three-zone configuration, and although it didn’t change my impressions of the system, it confirmed that adding and removing zones when you get above two rooms is every bit as intuitive. The lack of latency is also appreciated. BluOS is still a rather straightforward multiroom wireless ecosystem without the expanded feature sets of its biggest competitors. But to my mind, that means there’s less to go wrong and fewer navigational steps to remember. I do wish it were a little easier to remove just one zone with the press of a button, since adding a single zone to a session is that easy. But overall, although I’m more likely to just use AirPlay 2 for multiroom unless I’m streaming from my turntable to the rest of the house, I’ll take this over Sonos any day of the week, especially when you can have a proper hi-fi setup in every zone if you want.
What other integrated amps might you consider in this class?
If I were shopping for a new integrated amp right now, I think the choice would be between this guy and the NAD C 3050 I procured over a year ago.
Pitting the C 3050 ($1399 sans BluOS-D) against the C 379 ($1099 sans BluOS-D), I was not hearing any meaningful differences in terms of performance, and I was not coming close to stressing the amps of either. So it really comes down to aesthetics and features.
So what does the C 379 bring to the party that the C 3050 lacks? The bridgeable output stage, of course. But there are also some appreciable differences in terms of I/O. The C 379 has an extra optical digital in, along with another coaxial digital in. It also has one additional line input, along with a second subwoofer output. And it adds a 12V trigger in and an IR out (both 3.5mm), as well as RS-232 connectivity.
The C 3050 has 100Wpc versus 80Wpc of output, though, not to mention its delicious retro-tastic design, including VU meters. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that I really prefer having the front-panel knobs for source selection, tone controls, A/B speaker selection, etc.
So it really comes down to which of those feature sets appeals to you, and whether or not you vibe with the design of the C 3050 as much as I do.
TL;DR: Is the NAD C 379 worth the money?
More so than any integrated amplifier I’ve reviewed in ages, the NAD C 379 embodies the ethos of SoundStage! Access nearly perfectly. Compare it to something like the Marantz Model M1 I reviewed for Simplifi some months back, and the value of this new NAD piece becomes all the more apparent. There was nothing wrong with the M1, mind you. Its performance was solid as a rock. But it was hobbled by its HEOS operating system to a degree, and much of its $1000 price tag seems to have gone into the sleek form factor. Nothing wrong with that at all, if that’s your jam. I’m just calling it like I see it here.
The C 379 delivers equivalent sound quality (albeit with a weensy bit less power), more connectivity, and more upgradability. What’s more, it’s upgradability without waste. I am, to the surprise of no one, a big fan of the permaculture movement (the symbiosis and sustainability aspects of it, mind you, not the white-settler colonialism baggage). And in permaculture, there’s a saying: you never actually throw anything away, because there is no “away.” The fact that you can up the amplification of the C 379 without rendering its own internal amp modules null and void is a big plus for me. The fact that you can add streaming and room correction and multiroom audio without adding another power supply to the system is a huge one.
Mind you, I still love the C 3050 more, but mostly based on vibes and ergonomics. Because vibes and ergonomics are very important to me. There’s also the reality that I just don’t think most people will ever actually need more power than the C 379 delivers, so that upgrade path might be a little academic. But so be it. This is absolutely a model for what a budget-conscious integrated amp with zero performance compromises should look like. It’s the best value I’ve encountered in quite some time.
. . . Dennis Burger
dennisb@soundstagenetwork.com
Associated Equipment
- Speakers: Paradigm Studio 100 v.5
- Subwoofer: SVS PB-1000 Pro
- Sources: Maingear Vybe PC; iPhone 12 Pro Max; U-Turn Theory turntable with Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge; Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc player
- Headphones: Audeze LCD-2
- Speaker cables: SVS SoundPath Ultra
- Power conditioner: SurgeX XR115
NAD C 379 integrated amplifier
Price: $1499 as reviewed with MDC2 BluOS-D module, $1099 without module
Warranty: Two years parts and labor, non-transferrable
NAD Electronics
The Lenbrook Group
633 Granite Court
Pickering, Ontario L1W 3K1
Canada
Phone: (905) 831-6555
Website: nadelectronics.com
