NAD Masters M33 -- first review

[pvanosta]

For what it is worth, Stereo Magazine rated the NAD M33 at 89% and the Devialet 210 at 97% sound quality.
https://stereo-magazine.com/review/nad-m33-review
https://stereo-magazine.com/review/devia...ual-review
Devialet has improved sound quality, power output, and features since the 210, but the cost and power consumption of the Devialet remains embarrassingly high compared to the NAD. I love that NAD integrated Dirac. Devialet's "Sweet Room" is a joke in comparison (and true-to-form doesn't even work as advertised due to bugs). I was glad to see NAD finally include AirPlay for those with Apple devices. However my friends with NAD often have them in the shop for repair, and get even worse customer service than we get from Devialet, so I'm leery of NAD quality and service. Our NAD service center where my friend's M22 is vacationing hasn't been able to get any contact with NAD for about a month now. So for this month at least my Devialet sounds 100% better than my friend's NAD.

My 2 cents: before I bought my Expert Pro 220 CI, I owned a Hegel H390, which I specifically bought because Hegel said they were finalizing full ROON support (i.e.: connect via ethernet and get 'Roon Ready' status) 'in the next few months'. Fast forward to 9 months later and still no sign of Roon Ready status at Hegel, so I sold the Hegel and bought the Devialet.

The Devialet would be damn near perfect for my needs (repeat: MY needs; everyone else's mileage may vary) IF it would support higher-rez  files:
- DSD files, beyond the standard DSD64 (up to DSD256 would be nice)
- higher-rez flac (up to 32/384)

The machine that would do all the Devialet does, plus those 2 things, would get my money.

The NAD machine looks great on paper (the new AMP modules look very interesting), but I don't see Roon certification, nor do I see a lot of mention of DSD support. In addition, I have no use for their own app or BluOS support, being a lifetime Roon subscriber.

So for now I stick with my Dev, until something which ticks the rest of my boxes comes along (without the need for a second mortgage)