NAD Masters Series M50.2

Back in May 2014, I reviewed NAD’s Masters Series M50 Digital Music Player ($2499) and M52 Digital Music Vault ($1999 with 2TB storage). 1 At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, NAD announced the M50.2, which is almost identical to the original M50 but now incorporates two 2TB hard disks, arranged as a 2TB RAID array, to ensure data integrity, and adds TosLink and coaxial digital inputs, Bluetooth with aptX for streaming music from a smartphone or tablet, and two single-ended analog inputs—all for $3999, or $499 less than the combined cost of the two earlier products.

- John Atkinson

Like the M50, the M50.2 offers WiFi and Ethernet connectivity, and has a CD drive, accessible via a slot on the front panel under the color TFT touchscreen, that can be used to play CDs, or rip them as FLAC, WAV, or high-bit-rate MP3 files.

The M50.2 will play files with bit depths of 16 or 24, and with sample rates up to 192kHz. DSD playback is promised by the end of this year. There are no analog outputs, but the digital outputs include HDMI, AES/EBU, and optical and coaxial S/PDIF. Playback and control of the files stored on the M50.2’s hard drive can be either via the touchscreen, which displays the album cover and metadata, or via the BluOS app running on a tablet or PC. (Android and iOS devices are supported, and the app is available for Windows and OS X.) The M50.2 will integrate with third-party control systems—Control4, Crestron, RTI—to allow it to be integrated with smart homes. It can also be a Roon endpoint, as all BluOS devices are Roon Ready.

NAD called the M50 a “software-defined product,” and the same is true of the M50.2, which is also based on an ARM processor. According to an e-mail from Greg Stidsen, NAD’s director of technology and product planning:

Conceptually, the M50.2 is meant to replace a computer and NAS for what’s been known as “computer audio.” While computer audio can be made to play high-rez music well enough, it does not give the same attention to sonic detail as a dedicated device that integrates these functions and focuses solely on music storage and playback. And if you’re not a computer geek it can be very difficult and frustrating to setup and maintain a competent computer based system.