As with the state of music and the greatness of songs, albums and bands, time usually decides the impact of consumer electronics components.
Proving that its original Masters trio of products, the M50, M51 and M52, were important and ahead of their time, NAD at not only updated the players but streamlined them to make them more relevant in today's consumer audio world at CES 2017.
Consolidating the M50 and M52 digital music players into a single solution it calls the Masters Series M50.2 Digital Music Player, NAD is now shipping a state-of-the-art music player that integrates into its BluOS wireless whole-house audio ecosystem, while providing homeowners with a device that plays 24-bit/192kHz high-resolution playback capabilities.
“NAD has redefined the modern audio component system in an entirely new way, starting with the M2 DirectDigital Amplifier a few years ago and culminating last year with the groundbreaking M12 Preamp DAC and M22 power amplifier,” says Greg Stidsen, director of technology and product planning, NAD Electronics. “NAD has eliminated obsolescence with Modular Design Construction [NAD MDC technology] while expanding the frontiers of connectivity with BluOS. The M50.2 is the future, but available here today.”
The M50.2 is the company's flagship digital music player, and it offers features such as the aforementioned BluOS wireless whole-house audio platform, CD ripping capabilities and 24/192 file storage via 2TBs of active storage and 2TBs of cold automatic backup storage.
The component only offers digital outputs such as AES/EBU and HDMI. The only thing dealers need to do is add a DAC or digital preamplifier such as its M12 or M17 products to create a turnkey digital audio system.
The company also points out the player supports streaming services such as TIDAL, Spotify, Napster and Deezer.
Some of the other features of the M50.2 include the ability to decode MQA, FLAC, ALAC, MP3, WMA, AAC and Ogg files, wireless Bluetooth, IR in and out, RS-232, and it offers control through the BluOS app for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Apple OS, Windows, Control3, RTI, Crestron and URC.
NAD Electronics' M50.2 Digital Music Player will ship at an MSRP of $3,999.
