Stereophile's Products of 2020 Component of the Year

[JBT]

And the winner is,


NAD M33 integrated amplifier ($4999; reviewed by Kal Rubinson, October 2020, Vol.43 No.10 Review)



Life is good for the NAD M33—winner of both our amplification component prize and this, the overall prize for Component of the Year 2020. What can I write here that I haven't written above?

The last few years have brought a fundamental change to music-listening. Sure, it's true that vinyl is thriving (which I'm very happy about, except for the effect it has had on used-vinyl prices). But meanwhile, otherwise, the long-anticipated fade-away of physical media is finally actually occurring, because streaming services have become ubiquitous and also very good. Meanwhile, much other music has gone virtual, via downloads, ripped CDs, and the odd vinyl needle drop. And let's not forget about smartphones, tablets, internet radio stations, podcasts. Factor in multiroom audio and wireless speakers (and other output devices), and you have a music-reproduction ecosystem utterly different than it was just a few years ago—and far more complicated.

Devices like the M33 bring order to the chaos. It takes this complicated ecosystem and makes it simpler than ever.

At least as important for Stereophile and its readers is that it does all that with unassailable quality. Sure, there are people out there who will prefer the sound of their tube or class-A amplifier, but the amplification technology inside the M33—Purifi's Eigentakt—has the potential to win over even the most anachronistic audiophiles.


https://www.stereophile.com/content/...component-year

[PHC1]

I have faith in Bruno Putzeys and his class D designs.
I'll be keeping that class A for the time being but having heard the NAD (previous generation) it was indeed a good sounding product for the money.

[GeAllan70]

need a shootout!!

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by GeAllan70

need a shootout!!

Apples to oranges, imho.