NAD CS1 Endpoint Bluetooth Network Streamer

Product Information

The WiiM Pro provides analog and digital outputs along with inputs to add sources to a multiroom audio setup. (Image credit: WiiM) Analysis: The WiiM Pro brings high-res audio streaming to the masses To be clear, the differences weren’t large, you had to listen for them. Once heard they couldn’t be unheard though. There are other standalone streaming boxes and amplifiers in NAD's product line already of course, but the CS1 doesn't rely on an integrated streaming platform to do its thing, instead supporting popular third-party streaming and casting protocols from the likes of Spotify, Tidal, Google and Apple. YOU AGREE NOT TO MODIFY, ADAPT, TRANSLATE, REVERSE ENGINEER, DECOMPILE, OR DISASSEMBLE THE PROGRAM OR ONLINE DOCUMENTATION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THIS AGREEMENT OR UPON NAD’S WRITTEN REQUEST. IN ADDITION YOU AGREE NOT TO TRANSFER OR DISCLOSE THE PROGRAM, ONLINE DOCUMENTATION OR ANY PROGRAM YOU DEVELOP FROM THEM IN WHOLE OR IN PART, TO ANY THIRD PARTY EXCEPT UPON NAD’S PRIOR WRITTEN APPROVAL. FINALLY YOU AGREE NOT TO USE THE PROGRAM IN WHOLE OR IN PART FOR ANY PURPOSE OTHER THAN AS OUTLINED IN THE ONLINE DOCUMENTATION.

Streaming has profoundly altered the way people discover and experience music,” said Cas Oostvogel, Product Manager of NAD Electronics. “The CS1 makes it easy to add streaming to a legacy stereo or home-theatre setup. Or someone could configure a low-footprint system for a den or home office by combining the CS1 with a pair of powered speakers. Streaming doesn’t get simpler than this.” Key Features of the NAD CS1 Endpoint Network Streamer: Accompanied by a 12V Trigger Out, Analog Out, Coaxial Out, Optical Out, and USB IN for flexible interfacing. In a nutshell, the results were the same. The WiiM Pro produced a more measured sound than the CS1; if anything the differences were easier to hear. Particularly on ‘Ai No Corrida’ where the WiiM tamed a slightly splashy treble; add greater refinement to the WiiM’s attributes. And so to listening. I started with CS1 and WiiM’s digital outputs playing via the coax input of the DAC in the ‘Big Rig*’ system . The aim being to really highlight any differences between the streamers.Founded in 1972 and now sold in over 80 countries, NAD Electronics is renowned for its award-winning line of high-quality components for audio, home theatre and custom installation applications. Since the beginning, NAD’s commitment to four core values – innovation, simplicity, performance, and value – have earned it a cult-like following that catapulted it to becoming a household name amongst audiophiles and music lovers alike. To this day, the brand continues to design and manufacture some of the most acclaimed and affordable hi-fi components that include modern features and technologies meant to appeal to a new generation of audiophiles. System 1: Totem Acoustic Kin Play powered speakers, Totem Acoustic Kin Sub, AudioQuest DragonFly Red, iPhone 12. The CS1 is a departure for Lenbrook Industries, the Canadian company that owns the NAD, PSB, and Bluesound brands. Before the NAD CS1 was released, all streaming audio components from Lenbrook’s brands used the company’s BluOS multiroom music platform. For setup and day-to-day operation, these products rely on the BluOS Controller app, which is available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. Nothing wrong with that—as I’ve stated many times in this space, BluOS is a rich, stable platform. In 2021, BluOS received a SoundStage! Network Product of the Year award in the Hall of Fame category. Genuine Audiophiles, Not Salesmen: We aren’t just in this for sales. We're in it for the love of sound, and to enhance your auditory experiences. Pro tip: If you’re an iOS user and you want to use the CS1 as a Chromecast audio device in addition to AirPlay 2, you can simply use the Google Home app and save yourself a step.

Supported 3rd party service providers: Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, DLNA, Roon. Finally, with its combination of features, flexibility and superior sound quality, the NAD CS1 Streamer ensures you stream your music - your way. The NAD CS1 is simple network streamer that will add streaming capability to most hi-fi amplifiers either via it’s analogue RCA or digital outputs. It offers great value for money and superb sound quality.NAD Electronics International, a division of Lenbrook Industries Limited (“NAD”) furnishes this software and/or program, and online documentation, licenses their use to you as provided in this Agreement. LICENSE I’m not a candidate for a component like the CS1. I use Roon for almost all of my listening at home. The KEF LS60 Wireless active speaker system in my living room and the Q Acoustics Q Active 200 system in my home office are both Roon Ready; and they also support AirPlay 2 and Chromecast. So for this review, I took a different approach. I listened to the CS1 through the systems of people I thought could benefit from such a product—specifically, my in-laws Paul and Petrea, and my brother and his wife, Ian and Roberta. With this methodology, I wasn’t going to be able to determine the CS1’s innate sonic characteristics—whatever they happen to be. What I was listening for were sonic differences between using the CS1 and other ways of playing audio through their systems. My next stop was Ian and Roberta’s lakeside home in central Ontario. In their living room, they have a rustic cabinet outfitted with a home entertainment system. The cabinet stays closed most of the time. Opening it reveals a pair of Paradigm Cinema 220 on-wall speakers fastened to the doors, and a Samsung 32″ HDTV that slides out from the interior. Introduced in 2006, the Cinema 220 is a two-way sealed design with two 5.5″ polypropylene midrage-woofers and a 1″ titanium-dome tweeter. The speakers are powered by a 20-year-old Sony STR-DV10 A/V receiver rated at 5 × 80W RMS. The receiver also feeds a Paradigm Cinema Sub subwoofer and two Paradigm in-wall speakers that reproduce the rear channels. A second-generation Chromecast media adapter is connected to one of the TV’s HDMI inputs. Audio from the TV flows to an optical input on the Sony receiver. And if your spouse is on Android, and not an iOS device? They have no control at all because even if the CS1 has been added to Google Home, that app thinks of the CS1 as a Chromecast device and it won’t understand that the CS1 is in the middle of playing an AirPlay 2 session. But even if Chromecast had been working as it should, it would still leave the very highest level of lossless audio on these services (24-bit/192kHz) out of reach.

Because of the great variety of PC-compatible, operating system versions, and peripherals currently in use, we do not guarantee that you will be able to use Upgrade Software and/or Program successfully on all such systems. OTHER Some ideas are vanishingly simple, this NAD CS1 Network Streamer is one of them. It is a network streamer, some might call it a transport with digital output. It offers a streaming platform for most of the leading 3rd Party audio providers, like Spotify and Tidal via Apple and Google casting platforms. Those already in possession of an external DAC – either fully outboard or located inside an integrated amplifier, home theatre receiver or a pair of powered loudspeakers – can make use of the CS1’s coaxial and TOSLINK outputs where PCM up to 24bit/192kHz is supported. Premium differential DAC design based on Texas Instruments PCM5142 DAC, with support for 24-bit/192kHz high-resolution audioIn my listening tests, I described two real-world use cases for the CS1. I can think of many others. For audiophiles who use Roon to stream music to a Roon Ready component in their primary systems, the CS1 is an easy way to add Roon capability to a secondary system in another room. You could combine the CS1 with a headphone amplifier and set of high-end cans to create a low-footprint system for private listening. If your music consumption has revolved around physical media, but you want to add streaming capability, the CS1 will let you do that easily and inexpensively. When I switched to Bluetooth, the piano sound was not as harmonically rich as it was with the Tidal Connect stream. The soundstage was more two-dimensional, and Mehldau’s touch on the piano was not as clearly conveyed. The differences weren’t as great as they had been when I streamed “Sweet Georgia Brown” via Bluetooth from my iPhone, but they were clearly audible. This makes my job really hard. You’d probably like to know what it’s like to use the CS1, but the truth is, it totally depends on what you’re trying to do with it, and the platform/app/streaming protocol you’ve chosen to use. End of the line for endpoints NAD CS1 Endpoint Network Streamer (top) and Wiim Pro Simon Cohen / Digital Trends