THE ABSOLUTE SOUND SAID:
The C356’s terrific sense of pace and ability to convey interlocking musical lines makes it a joy with jazz. From IMPEX’s recent reissue of Dave Brubeck’s Time Further Out: Miró Reflections to Music Matters’ knockout 45-rpm set of Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch, this amplifier allowed a range of unusual instrumental colors—including Dolphy’s unmistakable bass clarinet—recording venues, and, on both of these discs, all manner of unusual time signatures, to shine.
On gentler fare the C356 is simply a pleasure to listen to. And though it may not quite squeeze every nuance out of Stern’s violin in the Barber concerto [Sony CD], or Ella’s vocal in “Good Morning Heartache” (Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie! [Verve LP]), what it gets is what NAD integrated amplifiers have always been so good at—conveying the arc and essence of the music.
