There's been a lot of chatter lately about NAD and Cambridge Audio budget integrateds and since I have both at home I thought I would do a little comparison. I always pick the worst times for little experiments like these. I was home for lunch and went into my son's room to check out his Cambridge Audio 540A. I found an old cd of mine he had borrowed - Green Day's "Dookie." I know, don't laugh. I figured why not start out with a non-audiophile disc that's probably closer in quality to the majority of recordings. I loaded it and began to check out the tracks I was most familiar with. I listened to Basket Case all the way through and segments of other tracks. Not really my taste, but I found myself getting into the music. The sound was very clean and crisp and I was drawn in by the pinpoint imaging. But, I felt like there was something missing in the lower end. (Actually, what prompted me to compare the CA to my NAD is an earlier post from someone who had just bought the 540A to replace an older HK receiver. He commented that some music seemed to be bass shy with the CA in comparison.)

I went straight to my bedroom and played the same tracks in my NAD C340 system. Both the 540A and C340 are rated at 50wpc. I immediately noticed that the music seemed to have a little more weight or sounded fuller at the bottom end. But then the surprise - there was no additional bass/midbass info. or extension. The music simply was not as clean in that region which gave the impression of a fuller sound. This might be what is meant by "coloration." I also found that the imaging and soundstaging seemed less defined on the NAD system - "hazier." I noticed it took more effort to "get into" the music. (With the CA system I got a glimpse of being in the studio when sitting in the sweet spot.) I had noted some sounds/noises while listening to the CA system that I thought might be attributable to the system's ability to reproduce detail. I listened for those sounds/noises while listening to the NAD system thinking that they might be lacking. The detail was there, but it stayed more in the background. I realized that what seemed to be a lack of bass in the CA system was actually a lack of bass in the recording.

The gear in each system is listed below. I don't doubt that the associated gear may have played a role in what I heard, but I think the amps made the biggest difference. I've always been pleased with my NAD bedroom system. This little comparison made me appreciate the CA though. Next time I go amp shopping I'll have a point of reference from which to start.
Cambridge Audio 540A
Polk RTi25 speakers
Pioneer Dv-354 (? - I'll double check the model # if anyone's interested)

NAD C340
NHT SuperOne speakers
Cambridge Audio D300 cdp