User Review: C 165BEE Stereo Preamplifier - A very good piece of HiFi

January 4, 2011

Products: C 165BEE Stereo Preamplifier

Two months ago I bought the C 165 BEE. The main reason I chose it is the MC phono input. It plays my vinyl brilliantly, never realized a pre amp could make that much difference. Very nice there are so many line inputs. For budget reasons, I bought it together with a second hand NAD 216 THX power amp. This combination together with my Synthese floating one speaker set turned out to be very good one. The amps can handle these high end speakers very well with a great sound in every volume and in any music style from light jazz to heavy metal as a result. I like the simple design - there are no things you do not need on this amp. There are two thing I do not like about this Amp: I can't use my timer anymore: With an external power switch the amp goes into standby mode. Too bad the main switch is on the backside. Another missed chance is the fact that Nad made the phono input switchable between MM and MC - why not put a separate Phono input for MM and another one for MC? This way I was able to connect two turntables. Anyway these are practical things - the sound quality is GREAT for this price and that is what it is all about at the end of the day. For me, this machine deserves an AAA+

Emiel van Duijnen Montijn - Zutphen, Netherlands