I'd say that it depends very much on your application. If you are driving tough speakers it may make sense to pay more for the higher wattage of the 208. Otherwise you could save some on the amp and buy a nicer set of speakers or whatever else. I would bet that both amps are very clean and give great power output so I don't think the quality would differ greatly.
Rotel uses homemade such capacitors, transformers and other high quality components brands such as vishay (resistors), rubycon black gate (small capacitors), but let me tell you exactly why I will always prefer Rotel to NAD, unless NAD changes drastically its production methods: I know Rotel basically uses the same AB class design in their amps, so as NAD (I believe), with the difference that NAD puts some extra protection circuits (remember, anything you put on the signal path is a potential source of distortion). So, we can assume whatever the power announced by them, the topology will remain the same, independent of price. And my experience comes from the day I went to buy a preamp Aura CA-200, and took the power amp (Rotel RB990BX - 2 x 200W RMS). When I got to the shop (I don't believe in buying by specs or without listening), they had a set of ProAC Response 2.5 powered by the Aura and a NAD 218 THX (2 x 200W RMS), and they said the NAD was capable of some astonishing 70 amps peak (In fact the NAD was way bigger than my Rotel), and would overrun my Rotel... Well, I didn't know Nad so I kept my mouse shut! As we listened to "Friday night in San Francisco - Paco de Lucia, Al diMeola..." we gradually rised the volume until the 66 number on the Aura, where the Nad started to clip! They said it was because ProAC were very current demanding speakers, something like 85 Dbm... Then we tried my "little" Rotel, and guess what? We gradually come up to 99, no fuss, big sound, cleaner, better in every way...! So, from that day on, every time I compare (by listening, not by seing the specs) 2 equal powered power amps from Rotel and NAD, NAD has always been overruned by the Rotel, and may I say, the only amps I've seen taking on Rotel were either high end ones, or very much above Rotel's price, something like Classé Audio, SOME Marantz and Denon top amps (for instance, these were no match for the MICHI line of Rotel), and of course if you go Pass Aleph, Plinius, Krell, Mark Levinson, some Jeff Rowland, yes you'll get more current than Rotel, but never NAD... Hope i've been of some help
Oh, by the way, this wasn't a five minute shopping! I was there from 9.00AM through 8.00PM, just to buy the Aura CA-200 and the Sony XA50ES (cd player). Those guys at the shop gave me a very professional service! They have just put up with me for 11 straight hours, always with the same recording, "Friday night in San Francisco"... Very good service!
anonymous joe
Unregistered guest
Posted on
yes I have found Rotel to be better sounding than most sub $1k amps, and NAD to be average
I owned NAD and now own a Rotel RB981, far better and more revealing, neutral.
Thanks Joao for the input. VERY interesting. I take your advice.
In the store where they have the NAD 216, there is also a Rotel RB956AX. Maybe this amp isn't at the level of the NAD, but it will be good to make a comparative of sound quality.
Well,I don't think it would fair to compare a 250W x 2 RMS power amp (NAD) with a 90W x 2 RMS (Rotel), we would have to use the RB1080 (200W x 2 RMS), which I think would be enough to wipe the floor with the NAD (This 216 is also a good amp!)