NAD C399 Hybrid Digital DAC Amplifier

The NAD C399 is the flagship integrated amplifier of NAD's Classic series. It is a "Hybrid Digital DAC Amplifier" that, as The Absolute Sound (February 2023) put it, essentially combines the C658 streaming DAC and the C298 power amplifier into a single chassis, with a fascia that is the spitting image of the C658. NAD was an early mover in the modern integrated-amp wave - the D3020 was one of the most important first-wave models - and the C399 reflects what has and hasn't worked with customers over those years: one box that does the job of two.

The review sample in both pieces of coverage the Archive has was fitted with the MDC2 BluOS-D module, which adds network streaming. Pricing made the value case clearly. The C399 alone was $1,999, or $2,598 with BluOS-D. The C658 and C298 with BluOS-D together totaled $4,187. In the UK, the module-equipped unit was quoted at £2,099 in May 2022, which puts it in territory the Arcam SA30 has been occupying. The Classic-series styling is trademark NAD gray, deliberately less flashy than the Masters-series models.

The Absolute Sound's Paul Seydor came away impressed. He called the C399 a genuine bargain in electronics, the kind of component where all you need to supply are speakers. His listening notes center on vocal realism. Frank Sinatra's voice stays smooth and open through his Capitol years and becomes suitably throatier and rougher by the Reprise era, while Doris Day sounded clear but with surprising body.

What is missing: the sources available to the Archive include no power-output figures, dimensions, weight, or detailed inputs/outputs for the C399, and no confirmed production years.