New Digital From NAD & Nagra – CES 2019

Two of the digital highlights from CES this year came in the form of the all-in-one M10 NAD streamer ($2,499) and new Nagra DAC X ($64,500). Both releases were securely lodged to the trimmed 29th floor of the Venetian in Las Vegas and made for interesting talking points, even though they clearly target two different markets.

The new DAC updated from Nagra includes a separate power supply and a custom delta sigma chipset. Along with a custom USB design, the Switzerland-based manufacturer decked out the internals with a total of 37 individual power supplies for everything on the inside. The demonstration at CES utilized a pair of Wilson Audio Sasha DAW speakers ($37k) alongside the HD Pre ($65.9k) and Nagra Classic Amplifier ($32k).

For the minimalist, NAD launched the M10 streamer which includes 100×2 watts of Hypex nCore (class D) in a relatively tiny chassis. The front panel is almost entirely covered with a display screen and BluOS offers control for multi-room use, Roon endpoint and more. Additional DSP is in-box in the form of Dirac room correction. The CES room had the new M10 shoveling music out to the masses with a pair of Dali Epicon 6 floorstanders ($14k) that produced a full and energetic sound in the fair-sized room.

Is this what we are looking at for the future of HiFi? Surely the classic analog/tube distinctions will stand the test of time to core enthusiasts, but it’s hard to deny the obvious convenience factor of the M10. Both the size and the sheer accessibility of the library make it wildly appealing to a growing number of incoming audiophiles. Let’s not forget about the room correction either. If our demos from Gayle Sanders’ Eikon were any indication, it may very well be the final frontier for precise audio recreation in the home.

Nagra is currently taking orders for the DAC X and the NAD M10 will start shipping in early February.