It’s difficult not to love this spruced-up version of NAD’s classic amp
View online review whf.cm/D3020V2
N AD ignored a number of rules when it released the D 3020, an update of the legendary ’70s NAD 3020 amplifier that was released to coincide with NAD’s 40th anniversary.
If using Class D amplification wasn’t enough of a thumbing of the nose to traditional designs, the D 3020’s chassis looked positively futuristic. It stood upright with dimensions wildly unbefitting of ‘proper’ hi-fi.
The D 3020 was unlike anything else on the market, and it sounded great. While, essentially, this update is a slicker, classier-looking version of that amplifier, it has one important thing in common with its predecessor – great sound.
It features the same glossy curvature and similarly chunky dial, yet somehow still it succeeds in making the original seem dated. Although, in fact, there is an argument to say this version of the D 3020 is itself harking back to the past. Aside from its refining of the original, NAD has kitted the amplifier out with a moving-magnet phono stage to reflect the resurgence of vinyl in recent years.
Otherwise it’s more or less as was, with those turntable inputs sharing the rear of the unit with connections for optical, coaxial and RCA, plus an optional subwoofer output alongside those for traditional stereo speakers, while Bluetooth also claims its place.
The presentation is tonally even, but with great body to the sound.
A bass boost is available via the amp’s credit-card style remote and, while the natural balance is far from lacking at the low end, that optional increase is tasteful – it plumps up those bottom frequencies without softening or fatiguing the performance.
Impressive detail
Detail levels are impressive by class standards, as the D 3020 V2 refuses to let its modish aesthetic be a trade-in for sonic insight – its observations about Kamasi Washington’s take on Clair de Lune are acute.
Painting broad but textured strokes across its sizeable canvas, the NAD never all
