0:10 welcome to Hi-Fi I'm Marcos this is Kurt
0:11 and today we've got a hell of a treat
0:12 for you
0:14 we're doing a big three showdown of the
0:18 NAD M10 V2 the name Unity atom and the
0:21 Cambridge audio Evo 150.
0:23 why are these the big threes arguably
0:25 these are some of the most popular
0:28 all-in-one players that are are on the
0:29 market right now
0:32 this is our first comparison video which
0:34 seems to be a lot of work uh so if you
0:36 like it please subscribe and hit that
0:38 like button
0:40 so the rules are simple we're going to
0:42 rate it out of five the winner gets a
0:45 five and everything else is based on
0:47 that reference
0:49 and if you watch our other videos the
0:51 categories are going to be based on the
0:52 same thing
0:55 as you all know this Trio are all in one
0:58 digital music players
1:01 they all feature similar Tech and they
1:09 first on the list will be the NAD M10 V2
1:12 braided at 100 watts per Channel priced
1:15 at 3 800 Canadian or around twenty eight
1:16 hundred dollars USD
1:19 we've got the name Unity Adam
1:21 rated a 40 watts per Channel
1:24 priced at 4 800 Canadian or around
1:27 thirty five hundred dollars USD and
1:28 right in the middle we've got the
1:31 Cambridge audio Evo 150 rated at 150
1:33 watts per Channel priced at forty two
1:36 hundred dollars Canadian around 3 100 USD
1:38 USD
1:40 first thing we'll be looking at is the
1:43 overall build quality of each unit
1:45 so we awarded the winner
1:47 the name and the reason for this is the
1:49 overall build quality when compared to
1:50 their arrest it just it feels a lot more
1:53 heftier and it is partially indeed
1:55 heavier and one thing is the little
1:57 details you know you can see all that
2:00 thick aluminum casing in the front on
2:02 the top and even the heatsinks on the
2:04 side we also thought the display
2:06 actually I think was a lot better than this
2:07 this
2:09 um than compared to the others and also
2:12 to even the overall build of the unit so
2:14 when turning that volume control there's
2:17 almost no play at all in that volume
2:20 control and it was it's it's also like just
2:21 just
2:25 smooth coming in at a score of 4.5 is
2:27 the Cambridge audio Evo 150. the overall
2:30 build of the Evo 150 is really really
2:32 nice and the one thing that stuck out to
2:35 us the most is the interchangeable wood
2:38 paneling and also the tactile Source
2:40 selector and volume control
2:42 and based on the other scores the NAD
2:44 comes in at a four and the reason for
2:47 that is I still think it's I think
2:49 incomparable it may not have that the
2:52 hefted the others do but the way that
2:54 the screen kind of just fills the entire
2:56 unit and one thing I think it's the
2:59 slickest looking out of them all
3:01 the second category is the overall setup
3:04 of the units so the winner the category
3:06 and the score of five will be is the NAD
3:10 M10 the reason for this is I think in
3:12 the Hi-Fi world it's the most polished
3:13 app when you're setting it up it's one
3:14 of the only ones that actually guides
3:16 you through kind of like like a wizard
3:18 where it's almost like a step-by-step to
3:21 help you get through the process
3:23 also the app is really easy to navigate
3:25 compared to the others especially when
3:28 you're using title on there one thing is
3:30 title even when you're using the search
3:32 on it it's the only one that I think
3:35 really keeps intact like the original
3:38 experience on title
3:40 so I do like to on the software on the
3:43 blue OS is that it's it really keeps
3:46 everything intact so whether in title
3:48 you're using the search functions within
3:50 the app itself it kind of maintains that
3:53 same consistency I find a lot of the
3:54 other units is when you're using the
3:57 search it doesn't populate it uh
3:59 properly as compared to what's found in
4:00 the blue OS
4:04 coming in at four out of five rating are
4:07 both the Cambridge audio Evo 150 and the
4:09 name Unity atom the reason why they came
4:12 in at a tie is because the setup is
4:14 quite good but they both have their
4:17 quirks one thing I really like with the
4:19 Cambridge audio Evo 150 is the graphic
4:22 interface of that app is really good
4:25 it's nice and clean it's pretty easy but
4:27 I find it's pretty light on information
4:31 so when it comes to the name app it's a
4:33 lot more simple looking it's a little
4:36 bit rough around the edges but one thing
4:37 that I really like if you do select an
4:39 album you can hit
4:44 the I logo and it will show you a whole
4:46 bunch of information about that album so
4:49 if you're a big music lover and you like
4:52 to really dig deep the name app might be better
4:57 coming in as our third category will be
5:00 features not only the physical features
5:03 but also the digital features scoring a
5:05 five out of five will be the Cambridge
5:09 Evo 150. the reason why the camera Geva
5:12 150 is very feature Rich so it has
5:15 balanced inputs moving magnifono stage
5:18 both A and B speaker zones and many
5:22 different inputs for digital and analog
5:24 also to note it does have a headphone
5:26 output as well
5:30 coming in second at a score of 4.5 is
5:33 the NAD M10 when it comes to inputs and
5:35 actually features is probably one of the
5:37 least out of the bunch and the reason
5:40 why we're scoring it quite high and
5:44 right after the Cambridge is Direct on
5:46 there so a lot of a lot of you guys
5:47 might know what that is is room
5:50 correction and people that need it this
5:52 is actually I think a big feature that I
5:54 wish the others had coming in in third
5:57 place is the name Unity Adam scored at
5:59 three and a half out of five
6:02 why is that it's because the name Unity
6:05 atom is pretty feature light uh the
6:07 biggest feature about it I would say is
6:11 the HDMI ARC input when you
6:13 consider all the rest of its inputs it
6:16 only has a single analog in and a
6:20 pre-out uh whereas the NAD also has dual
6:22 sub outs one thing with the unity atom
6:24 though it does have a quarter inch
6:28 headphone socket and multiple USB inputs
6:30 if you want to add some hard drives or
6:33 USB sticks
6:35 so whatever categories just like in our
6:37 other videos is our low and high volume test
6:38 test
6:39 this time we're gonna do a little bit
6:40 different we're going to do it more on
6:43 long term so we're going to play a full
6:45 bandwidth track that's got a lot of bass
6:47 and we're going to see how it performs
6:49 over a longer period of time so starting
6:51 with a low volume the winner of this
6:53 which is in a score of five was the name
6:56 Unity atom the thing is at low volumes
6:58 at that 60 DB car which is normal
7:00 conversation level just find that you
7:02 just hear everything the most it seems
7:06 to have the most texture especially in
7:08 the base region it was really still
7:10 quite authoritative at those lower levels
7:11 levels
7:13 rated out of four is the Cambridge audio
7:17 Evo 150. we just found when listening
7:20 compared to the name it was just a
7:22 little bit less authoritative on the
7:25 bottom end and it just didn't seem to be
7:27 as commanding
7:29 coming in at third with only half a
7:30 point in difference between the
7:33 Cambridge at a three and a half it was
7:35 really quite close in low in low volume
7:37 listening the only difference is I would
7:40 say is the base was that just that
7:42 little bit better on Cambridge and the
7:44 reason why it it scored a little bit lower
7:49 when it came time to our high volume
7:51 listening test we did a little bit
7:53 differently this time so we measured it
7:56 at a full bandwidth for over a minute long
7:58 long
8:00 coming in at a rating of five is the
8:04 Cambridge audio Evo 150. it maintained a
8:07 respectable 86 decibels in our Listening
8:09 Room what really stood out with it is
8:12 how composed it was and how articulated
8:14 the base presence was and everything
8:17 else it was really good and coming in second
8:18 second
8:20 with a score of four and a half was the
8:23 name right at the lowest power at 40
8:27 Watts actually hit 83 decibels which was
8:29 almost the same amount as the NAD and
8:31 only three decibel less than the
8:34 Cambridge audio and sometimes he shows
8:36 you that sometimes wattage really was
8:38 rated under manufacturer's specification
8:40 doesn't always relate to real world
8:44 conditions at louder levels the name was
8:46 probably the most easy to listen to but
8:48 probably the least amount of fatigue and
8:50 across the bandwidth when it comes to
8:52 the base and the top end nothing really
8:55 broke down coming in at third place was
8:58 the M10 which maintained a
9:01 pretty high 83.5 decibel
9:03 the reason why we rated it in third
9:07 place was because we found at the higher
9:09 volume levels it did seem to compress
9:12 the base or almost kind of cut it down a
9:14 little bit so that's why it came into third
9:19 our next category will be musical performance
9:20 performance
9:22 when I came down to considering musical
9:24 performance we want to know the
9:27 performance of each amplifier across
9:29 many different genres of music and the
9:32 genres will be contrasting each other so
9:36 we're looking at jazz EDM and Rock
9:39 first category is jazz we listen to
9:43 Vince Guaraldi and Bola Set uh the song
9:45 called Ginza Samba
9:49 this is not typically like a true jazz
9:51 song more like a Bossa Nova song and
9:54 what I really like about it right at the
9:55 start of it it starts off quite a quiet
9:57 and builds up and
10:00 Vince Guaraldi starts playing the piano
10:03 and it's impactful it's nice it's Jammy
10:06 and I really like the flow of this song
10:08 so our favorite in this category and
10:10 giving a score out of five was the name
10:12 when listening to this recording you can
10:14 tell it's really mixed and sounding like
10:17 it's more of a smaller venue and you you
10:18 really have your the piano just kind of
10:21 right off kind of right on center and
10:22 the strings on the right and then
10:24 percussion on the left one thing is what
10:26 kind of made this this name really stand
10:29 out is on the rim top you can really
10:31 tell that he rested the butt of the
10:34 stick close to the edge and this is
10:35 something that I think the name just
10:37 does so well in terms of texturing that
10:39 I felt it did compared to the other ones
10:42 and one of the biggest things too is the
10:45 is just even in in the detail and again
10:48 just the way the the strings sounded
10:50 there was just so much texture uh than
10:53 the others again making the name just
10:55 really stand out in this category
10:58 one thing you can really notice is when
11:00 they're using a sustain pedal or holding
11:01 their keys it becomes a lot more
11:04 apparent the the name is just able to
11:07 really it really just just really pick
11:10 it up more and and it becomes a lot more
11:12 noticeable uh which I think was just
11:15 just a really good strength of this of
11:16 this unit
11:18 and the Cambridge audio coming at in a second
11:19 second
11:22 in which we scored this at four
11:24 things sounded obviously in comparison
11:26 sound a little bit more cleaner sounding
11:28 but that's the thing is
11:30 um why I why why we both felt that it
11:32 was it was under the name uh it's
11:33 because it just the name just just
11:35 sounded a little more live and a little
11:38 bit extra texturing is is why we might
11:40 be put it just under however though if
11:42 you like a little more cleaner accurate
11:45 sound the the Cambridge not a bad it's
11:48 also another good option the NAD coming
11:50 in at three and a half so really close
11:51 to the Cambridge and the reason why I
11:54 say this because sonically on job it
11:56 sounded really close for the exception
11:57 of the bass I think the bass was a
11:59 little bit more controlled and we can
12:00 both agree that it was a little bit more
12:03 present the reason why it just slightly
12:06 came in behind at that 3.5
12:07 the second song we listened to we
12:10 decided to pick an EDM or dance track
12:13 and the song we picked was Armin Van
12:16 Buren and shivers which kind of was a
12:18 throwback for me because I kind of grew
12:21 up listening to trance music dance music
12:24 like this so I really enjoyed it one
12:26 thing I really love about these old
12:28 school dance tracks is just they start
12:31 off heavy hitting and fast the bases
12:34 impactful there's a lot of spatial
12:36 effect and then they always
12:39 in the middle dive right down and get
12:41 really quiet and they have this big
12:46 build until it picks back up again and I
12:47 always love listening to tracks like
12:49 this they get my heart thumping and my
12:50 legs moving for sure
12:52 and taking the top spot with a score of
12:55 five uh was the Cambridge audio
12:57 when it comes to EDM I just like when
13:00 the backgrounds Distortion are just so
13:02 low which the Cambridge evil has and
13:04 because it's got such wall control on
13:06 the base
13:07 um it just sounds better when things
13:08 sound a little bit more accurate and
13:11 really tight and precise sounding so we
13:13 really had to give it to the Cambridge
13:15 audio on this one
13:17 and coming in second let me give it to
13:20 the M10 you know really similar sound to
13:23 the the Cambridge audio was in the way
13:26 of presentation again it's just that
13:28 base I think the Cambridge audio just
13:30 has a little bit more Fuller in that
13:32 bass so when it comes to EDM it just
13:35 creates a little bit like just just
13:37 again a little bit more body and and
13:40 half to to the music
13:42 and that's the reason we only scored it
13:45 at half a point less at 4.5
13:48 and then third with a score of four uh
13:50 we gave it to the name I think you know
13:51 in a lot of ways some people actually
13:54 might like the way it sounds better on
13:56 on the name just because names are more
13:58 a little bit more diffused but again for
14:02 us uh I think that's why we we we kind
14:04 of just give it a little bit less but
14:05 you know what there would be surprised
14:07 that some of you guys actually might
14:11 actually might prefer it better for EDM
14:12 and with a name because things are a
14:14 little bit more diffused it's just you
14:16 know having that that darker color or
14:19 that jet block uh low Distortion
14:22 background in both the name and the NAD
14:26 things just don't really seem to to pop
14:28 out as much and again for ADM that's
14:30 kind of what you want
14:32 and lastly when it came to listening to
14:34 the Rock we threw it back to the 90s
14:35 Pearl Jam
14:38 and the song we listened to was why go
14:41 and why did we pick the song it's super
14:44 busy it's got a lot going on it seems
14:46 like they threw all kinds of distortion
14:48 and Reverb on everything
14:51 every single instrument and it just has
14:54 this crazy energy to it the drums are
14:57 impactful the vocals are loud and clear
15:00 and the guitar is just right up in your face
15:01 face
15:04 I came down to this tune Kurt and I
15:06 really came to a Crossroads and we had
15:09 to give the same score to two different
15:12 amps I personally picked the Cambridge
15:15 audio evil 150 as my number five the
15:18 reason why I just thought it kind of
15:20 cleaned things up a little bit the snap
15:22 of the drums was a little bit cleaner it
15:24 didn't sound quite as distorted or quite
15:28 as like live I guess so to me it sounded
15:31 a little bit more listenable in a weird
15:34 way for me I do think it was close uh
15:37 however the reason why I I think we have
15:39 to do this at a time and give the name
15:42 like at least the same score is because
15:44 it just more it was just a lot more to
15:46 me a lot more live sounding the thing is
15:47 especially when you're listening to rock
15:50 and anything like that things are not
15:52 supposed to sound as pinpoint and they
15:54 purposely put in a lot of distortion and
15:56 stuff in there
15:57 um to make things sound a little bit
15:59 more diffuse than everything a little
16:01 bit everywhere so to me it just sounded
16:03 more more live for example like on the
16:06 snare when the snare comes in you know
16:08 usually that would if you're listening
16:10 to it and things sound more live instead
16:13 of sounding so pinpoint and that snap in
16:15 that snare uh it would it would just
16:16 kind of diffuse with the rest of the
16:18 music and I don't know that's why I had
16:21 a little bit of a trouble on this one
16:23 um however though you know what we'll
16:26 just we'll call this a tie it shows you
16:28 should always listen to it because
16:30 everybody's own preference is different
16:33 so for everybody out there just listen
16:34 for it for your for yourself
16:37 and so what we did we still gave the NAD
16:39 a four the thing the reason for that it
16:41 does sound very similar again to the
16:43 Cambridge however just with a little bit
16:45 less texturing especially on the Bay
16:47 Side so
16:52 so I don't know if you were keeping your
16:54 calculator handy during this whole
16:58 breakdown of all of our categories but
16:59 here's the overall winner
17:02 coming in at 36 and a half over 40
17:06 points was the Cambridge audio Evo 150.
17:09 the name came in at a close second at 36
17:14 and the NAD came in at 33 out of 40. you
17:15 may be wondering what makes the
17:18 Cambridge audio Evo 150 the overall
17:21 winner and when you consider all of our
17:25 categories so the design the specs
17:29 the interface and its features and its
17:31 musical performance the Cambridge audio
17:34 comes out ahead because it has so many
17:37 features to it and it's musical
17:40 performance is actually very good
17:41 although when it comes to points the
17:43 Cambridge did come out on top however
17:45 very close to the name only by half a
17:47 point difference there are some things
17:48 to consider you know I would say if
17:50 you're the type that puts music first
17:52 maybe doesn't need those kind of
17:54 features really audition uh the name
17:57 because overall across the board on a
17:59 lot on I see the most of the genres 200
18:01 2003 actually almost all of them I would
18:05 say the music really came out on on
18:07 pretty much came on top when it comes to
18:09 me and or both of us to musical performance
18:10 performance
18:14 and other than that scored the lowest we
18:16 also have to remember that it's also
18:20 priced the lowest by between 25 to 30
18:21 percent lower
18:24 but overall it really held its own and
18:27 one I think one big thing that it has it
18:30 has direct that the other ones don't and
18:32 I think this can be the single most
18:34 important feature you know so for
18:37 example say you know that your your
18:39 speaker setup your room conditions your
18:42 environment are not exactly the best you
18:44 know the thing is I would say that
18:46 little bit better than sound quality
18:49 that the Cambridge and the name has
18:56 in all honesty you really can't go wrong
18:58 with all three of these amplifiers they
19:01 all have their shining benefits thing
19:03 you always want to keep in mind is your
19:06 connectivity needs your usability needs
19:09 and also its musical performance so the
19:12 best way to choose as always is to just
19:14 give them a good listen out of local
19:17 dealer and see what you think and also
19:20 in the comments you know any any
19:23 constructive criticism is we'd be more
19:25 to happy to to hear from you
19:27 thanks for watching our video today and
19:28 we'll see you in the next one [Music]
