NAD has announced details of an upmarket 5.1 multichannel DVD receiver due for launch in late February. The £1,200 Viso Five combines a CD and DVD drive with a 5x45-watt amplifier and an AM/FM tuner. There's also the nice surprise of DVD-Audio playback.
Versatile Viso
NAD says that the new Viso Five "delivers the performance associated with NAD's acclaimed full-size separate components" in a compact one-box solution. Indeed, it is well featured on the audio side: in addition to 24-bit/196kHz DVD-A the unit offers the latest surround formats as well as a 'Stereo Enhanced' mode for all-channel stereo.
There's also NAD's pseudo-surround mode, EARS, (Enhanced Ambience Retrieval System) which enhances two-channel audio sources played through surround sound systems and Dolby Headphone mode.
The FM/AM tuner includes a 30-station preset memory and RDS capability (showing broadcast information from RDS-compliant channel) including station IDs and song and artist information. An XM Ready input allows an XM Satellite module to be connected for XM Radio reception, plus the unit is also DAB-ready, for use with the optional NAD DB-1 Digital Audio Broadcast tuner module sold separately (£120).
The Viso is well featured on the video side, too and includes HDMI connectivity with support for 1080i resolution. NAD is quick to point out the easy to use interface and 'intuitive on-screen display'.
