NAD - D 3045 Hybrid Digital Amplifier - Black

The NAD D 3045 is a compact, powerful and versatile Class D amplifier for any stereo setup in your home, with a price point that is very reasonable, considering all it has to offer. -- Build Quality -- The 3045’s body is primarily made of plastic, with it’s sides of a matte finish and the front/top panels of a glossy finish. The volume and input selection knobs are also plastic with a transition from gloss to matte. There is a small screen up front to indicate volume and inputs, and On/Off is a capacitive touch sensor switch on top (or on its right side, as the 3045 can be either stood vertical or laid flat. It comes with 8 rubber feet for both options. I chose to stand my vertical, so I only applied feet opposite to the On/Off touch sensor. The connection panel at the back is made of metal. Overall, I think it is simplistic and aesthetically pleasing, even with the plastic making a majority of the casing. --Connectivity -- I think this is where my mind was blown for having so many options in a small package. A quick roll call: Inputs -- Phono (2-RCA) Line 1 (3.5mm) Coaxial (RCA) Line 2 (2-RCA) Optical 1 Optical 2 COMPUTER HDMI ARC Bluetooth Outputs -- Speaker Left Speaker Right Pre/Sub Out Bluetooth (as transmitter) Headphone Jack There are also ground, service(USB) and +12 trigger-in ports, but I did not use them. Oh, and don’t forget power. -- Usage -- I have the NAD D 3045 set up in my garage-turned-mancave, which is a 20’x20’ space. I’m currently running DALI Spektor 2 speakers rated at 100W and a B&W ASW608 down low. A humble setup, IMO. I’ve been able to play back old CDs with an old Discman, receive audio through HDMI ARC, stream audio through Bluetooth, and playback any media playing on my computer. On the flip side, I was able to switch the Bluetooth as a transmitter, effectively listening to any input wirelessly through my headphones. Speaking of headphones, I was also able to plug in another pair of non-wireless headphones into the 3.5mm jack found on the front panel. -- Performance -- Sound quality will always depend on what you’re driving; The 3045 had no problem powering the Spektors, given the 60W RMS, having the output sound come out very strong, clear and warm @ 85dB, yet very neutral across the frequency range. The unit itself will get warm to the touch, but nowhere near the point of concern. The sub was connected using the Pre/Sub Out RCA connection. Also with its low impedance headphone amp, I was able to enjoy the same clarity, brightness and warmth through my B&W P7s. I’m super happy and impressed with this amp. The 3045 has a Bass EQ feature that I also found welcoming and many might find as well if you intend to just drive a pair of bookshelf speakers. It helps to fill the void of not having a sub. The 3045 had no problems driving the 5 ¼” woofers and the bass was very appreciated. I could probably run the speakers without a sub, but I knew I was going to run one regardless. The NAD allows for high-pass filtering options fixed at 120Hz, 80Hz and 40Hz. -- Cons -- Again, the NAD 3045 is aesthetically pleasing to me, but it’s still plastic, so there's always that question of long term durability. Also, the glossy area of the front and top panels are fingerprint magnets, especially where you have to touch to turn it On/Off as it is a capacitive switch. Speaking of On/Off switch, I’m still having problems with it registering my finger to toggle states. Now I just leave my finger firmly pressed against it in hopes that it triggers the switch. I’ll turn to the remote for help, which in itself is also a problem when it comes to registering inputs. Simple changes to volume control can be very frustrating. Fortunately for my use-case as a computer audio setup, I can easily reach for the volume dial, but for others, it may be a PITA if dependent on the remote. The bass equalizer sub-filtering options are fixed at 120Hz, 80Hz and 40Hz, and I wish it was a bit more variable. I felt like I kept tinkering with the high-pass filters just to get the right amount of bass out of my speakers from track to track, so I just ended up leaving it on 40Hz as it sounded best in conjunction with the sub. -- A Big Deal To Me -- Forgive me if I’m late to the game, but the computer connection was a welcoming surprise because I primarily wanted a speaker setup that was far better than the typical 2.1 speaker setup made for computers. The 3045 provides this as one of its many options. There is no need for any extra audio cabling to get a signal from your PC to the 3045. Just plug it in using a USB-A to USB-B(v2.0) cable (not included) and the PC will immediately recognize it and install the necessary drivers automatically. It was ready to go! With the 3045 having such a small footprint, I could have it on my desk next to bookshelf speakers and not worry about real estate. But it didn’t stop there. With the USB connection, I was able to decode MQA tracks. The manual has extra steps to install software to allow the decoding of MQA tracks. What the heck is MQA? It stands for Master Quality Authenticated, which allows you to stream the original master quality recording. That translates into lossless, studio mastered tracks through your speakers. It's worth mentioning that this capability is only feasible through a computer as input. TIDAL streaming service offers MQA tracks; the TIDAL software was able to recognize the NAD device and enable MQA listening. I’m hooked.

I had to test this with some familiar equipment just to see exactly what I was getting into. And ultimately, I was not disappointed. I’m actually really impressed. The contents of the box are as simple as the amp itself. You get a single sheet of instructions (that’s all you need), two power cables (you’ll only use one), a remote and some stick-on feet for the base. Setup is easy. However, cable management can get a bit tricky since this is such a small form factor and it has so many inputs. And the sound is…just right. I am a long-time user of the speakers I tested this unit on. Using ceiling mounted, down firing, directional 6.5” speakers accompanied by a 10” 450W subwoofer proved to be an excellent pairing to this amp. I was able to get quality, room filling sound out of every input I tested. Records sounded natural and deep. Everything digital I tested was crisp and gave a wonderful ambience that I can describe as not being too intrusive while making its presence known. Results can vary on digital sources as when you start overlaying equalizers through apps and other hardware, it can get a bit off. But each user will have to kind of dial that in on their own. Overall, this is a really nice amp. The simple and curved design make it a great fit for minimalistic turntable setup that you can stream to. However, limiting it to just that would almost be tragic given its capabilities.

The NAD D 3045 is an excellent little amp that can accept inputs from almost any source. Connections include HDMI ARC, 2 Toslink optical digital inputs, coaxial digital, phono input, USB for computer connections, and 3.5mm analog. Output includes post terminals for two speakers, subwoofer output and a 3.5mm headphone jack. I mostly use this amp for my family room TV with a pair of bookshelf speakers and a powered sub. The sound it generates is impressive, clean, and dialogue is clear, which is not always the case with some systems I’ve tried in the past. I had to set the TV to output as PCM, as the helpful display on the amp told me to, otherwise I would have been hunting through the manual to figure out why sound was not playing! This is exactly what I need to fill the space of my open living room. I’ve tried many soundbars, but none are powerful enough for my space or they have other quirks that make them less than ideal. I prefer the HDMI-ARC connection because the amp will turn on/off and the volume control works as expected with my TV's universal remote. The display is simple, showing you the current volume and what source is playing. It will recognize whether the unit is in a horizontal or vertical position and rotate the display properly. This is a welcome feature, as I’m considering mounting this to the underside of my TV cabinet horizontally with some adhesive strips for a nice, clean look. I also tried streaming Apple music from my phone and that worked as expected. I could not detect any sound coloration. It was one less step then streaming through Airplay on my TV as the TV did not have to be turned on. The amp features two-way Bluetooth meaning in addition to streaming from Bluetooth sources like your phone you can also stream to Bluetooth headphones if you’d like. One of the other cool features is it can connect directly to a PC or Mac over USB so that you can use the built-in DAC to play high-resolution audio. The amp supports MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) output meaning the amp is “guaranteeing” that it’s outputting MQA encoded sources as intended. This only works with the USB, digital, or optical inputs. For computers, you'll need to download an audio driver from NADs website and find one of the older USB Type-B cables. This is probably one of the only downsides I’ve found. I wish it was a USB-C connection as this is more common on most computers now. Type-B is the cable that was commonly used with printers before they went wireless. Pros: Small compact size Every input you could think of Plenty of power for bookshelfs and powered sub Includes remote High-Res DAC MQA Decoding and Playback Bluetooth Streaming from Devices AND to Bluetooth headphones w/ aptX Cons: Comes with European power cord? (wasteful) A Type-B USB cable would be good to include since most don’t have these lying around -- or just make the next model support USB-C Overall, this is an excellent amp with a variety of use cases. I have an old turntable console from the 50’s that my wife wants me to restore, and I might buy another one of these to use with that.