1-on-1 Comparison

Side-by-Side Comparison

NAD T 778 (All version)

SCORE:
90
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Highlights

  • 9.2 channels
  • 11.2 channel processing
  • 140 W (8 Ω, 1% THD, 2 channel driven)
  • Dolby Atmos, DTS:X capable
  • HDR10, Dolby Vision, 4K Passthrough
  • AirPlay 2
  • Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
  • USB and Phono inputs

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Content

In The Box

  • Receiver
  • Quick Setup Guide
  • BluOS Kit containing USB Hub
  • Wi-Fi Dongle
  • Bluetooth USB Micro Adapter and USB to USB Cable Extender
  • HTR 8 remote control with 4 AA batteries
  • ZR 7 zone remote control with 3V CR2025 battery
  • Mic Assembly with Ferrite Base
  • USB MIC Sound Adaptor
  • Detachable mains power cord

Overview

NAD T 778 was introduced in 2020 and represents a current flagship model of a manufacturer. It is equipped with 9 channel amplifier with 140 W (8 Ω, 1% THD, 2 channel driven) power per channel and is capable of 11.2 maximum channel processing. It supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, passes 4K/60Hz video signal.

We evaluated the a/v receiver and gave 90 overall score out of 100. Our ranking system is based on the amplifier specifications, audio and video features, connectivity, multizone capabilities, radio and many other details.

AMPLIFIER
94
VIDEO FEATURES
94
AUDIO FEATURES
87
CONNECTIVITY
87
MULTIZONE
84
MISCELLANEOUS
90
RADIO
82
OVERALL
90

Pros and Cons

In this section we present pros and cons of NAD T 778.

PROS
  11.2 Channel Processing
  Dolby Atmos
  DTS:X
  MQA Decoding
  Auto Speaker Calibration System with Mic.
  eARC
  New HDCP Version
  HDR10
  Dolby Vision
  4K or 8K Video Passthrough
  BluOS
  Works with Amazon Alexa
  Google assistant
  Ethernet
  Wi-Fi
  Bluetooth
  USB Input
  Many Optical Inputs
  RCA Pre-Outs
  Zones
  Spotify
  Tidal
  Toroidal Transformer
CONS
  No Front Wide Channel Support
  No Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization
  No IMAX Enhanced
  No Auro 3D with Auro-Matic Upmixer
  No DSD via HDMI
  No HDR10+
  No 4K or 8K Video Upscaling
  No Chromecast Built-In
  Few 8K Inputs
  Few RCA Line Inputs
  No Composite Video Inputs
  No Analog Tuner
  No Pandora

Audio Section

9 channel Hybrid Digital Amplifier

NAD T 778 features 9 channel power amplifier. It is rated at 140 W (8 Ω, 1% THD, 2 channel driven) and is able to drive 4 ohm speakers.

  • Toroidal Transformer: NAD T 778 has a toroidal transformer which in general costs several times more than a regular C-core transformer and radiates less electromagnetic noise outside its donut shaped core.

Speaker Configurations

NAD T 778's 9 channel amplifier can be assigned for different speaker configurations.

  • Dolby Atmos Configurations: The following speaker configurations are supported for Dolby Atmos:
  • 5.2.2, 5.2.4, 7.2.2 with internal amplifier.
  • 7.2.4 with addition of external 2 channel amplifier.
  • DTS:X Configurations: The speaker configurations for DTS:X are the same as for Dolby Atmos:
  • 5.2.2, 5.2.4, 7.2.2 with internal amplifier.
  • 7.2.4 with addition of external 2 channel amplifier.
  • Configurations without height channels: There are also other speaker configurations available which do not include height channels:
  • 5.2, 7.2 with internal amplifier.
  • 2-ch Bi-Amp: NAD T 778 allows you to bi-amp up to 2 main channels simultaneously. During bi-amplification two amplifiers are used for one speaker. One amplifier powers the midrange and tweeter section of the speaker and another amplifier powers the low frequency woofers. Each amplifier is less loaded and performs better. In order to use this feature speakers must have 2 pairs of connectors.

Dolby Atmos

NAD T 778 supports Dolby Atmos. It is a cinematic audio format in which sounds exist as individual entities, called audio objects. In Dolby Atmos, any sound can exist as an independent audio object, free of channel restrictions. They can be precisely placed and moved anywhere in your room, including overhead, to flow above and around you in three-dimensional space. Through the use of audio objects, overhead sound, and all the richness, clarity, and power of Dolby sound, Dolby Atmos turns your room into an amazing place for entertainment. The format supports up to 128 simultaneous independent audio objects in a mix for rich, realistic, and breathtaking sound. It recreates the director's original concept through descriptive metadata to provide customized playback for home theater and delivers sounds above you through overhead speakers, special upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar.

  • Dolby Surround Upmixer: If the content is not mixed in Dolby Atmos then the Dolby surround upmixer will expand the audio to all channels including ceiling speakers. The upmixer has replaced the Dolby Pro Logic II family with improved upmixing algorithms.

DTS:X

NAD T 778 supports DTS:X. A technique used in DTS:X is similar to the one used in Dolby Atmos. Instead of a fixed number of channels, DTS:X defines object locations from the listener in polar coordinates. An a/v receiver then dynamically renders sound according to the current speaker configuration. The speaker layout employed by DTS:X is the sum of Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D. It has standard 7.1 channel base layer, a 5 channel height layer above the base layer on the front and side walls, and 3 rows of speakers on the ceiling.

  • DTS Neural:X: DTS Neural:X is an advanced upmixer that can take non DTS:X content and upmix it to the DTS:X speaker layout. It has replaced the DTS Neo family with improved flexibility.
  • DTS Dialog Control: This function adjusts the dialog levels during playback of the DTS:X stream. It allows you to separately increase the dialog levels in contrast with the background sound and hear dialog easily even under noisy circumstances.

Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC)

Audio Return Channel (ARC) feature allows the compatible TV to send audio signal to the a/v receiver through the same HDMI cable which is used to send audio and video signals to the TV. So one HDMI cable is used to transfer audio signal in both directions. New Enhanced ARC will support uncompressed audio formats such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio whereas the previous ARC could support only Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, DTS HD, and PCM.


Sound Processing

    Room Calibration

    NAD T 778 comes with Dirac Live™ room correction system and includes the calibration microphone.

    • Dirac Live: The interaction between your sound system and the physical layout of your room has a huge impact on sound quality. Dirac Live™ Room Correction applies state-of-the-art, patented algorithms to analyze and digitally reduce room impact and enhance speaker performance. Dirac Live delivers a larger sweet spot, accurate staging, clarity, voice intelligibility, and a deeper, tighter bass not otherwise possible. Fully tunable to your preference.

    Video Section

    HDMI

    NAD T 778 features 6 HDMI inputs. It has 2 outputs which work parallelly and output the same signal.

    • 4K/60Hz Passthrough: All inputs pass up to 4K 50/60Hz 4:4:4 video signal.
    • BT.2020 Color Space: BT.2020 or Rec. 2020 is a color standard which delivers a wider color gamut compared to Rec. 709. It covers approximately 75% of the total visual spectrum while the Rec. 709 covers only 35%.
    • HDCP 2.2 Copy Protection: All inputs and outputs are HDCP 2.2 compliant which is a requirement for 4K/HDR copy-protected content transmission.
    • 3D Ready: NAD T 778 is able to pass 3D video through HDMI.

    HDR (High Dynamic Range)

    NAD T 778 supports HDR (high dynamic range) video formats such as HDR10, Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log-Gamma. High dynamic range video has greater dynamic range than standard dynamic range (SDR) video with brighter whites and deeper blacks. The result is greater contrast and more details in dark and bright areas, better color and depth.

    • HDR10: HDR10 uses the wide-gamut Rec. 2020 color space. It sends static metadata via video stream to the TV which calibrates its screen brightness and color according to that. HDR10 supports 10-bit color which corresponds to 1024 shades of the primary RGB colors. It is technically limited to a maximum of 10,000 nits peak brightness, however common HDR10 contents are mastered with peak brightness from 1,000 to 4,000 nits.
    • Dolby Vision: Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. Like HDR10+, it includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the HDR video to the consumer display's capabilities in a way specified by the content creator. Dolby Vision allows for a maximum resolution of 8K up to 12-bit color depth, maximum peak brightness of 10,000 nits and a color gamut up to Rec. 2020. It uses Dolby's proprietary dynamic metadata defined in SMPTE ST 2094-10.
    • Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG): The Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) is a transfer function developed mainly for HDR live video feed and over-the-air broadcasts. It is an HDR format that uses BT.2020 color primaries and a bitdepth of 10-bit. It is backward compatible with the transfer function of SDR and is designed to be better-suited for television broadcasting, where the metadata required for other HDR formats is not backward compatible with non-HDR displays. HLG defines a non-linear optical-electro transfer function, in which the lower half of the signal values use a gamma curve and the upper half of the signal values use a logarithmic curve.

    Multi-zone Playback

    NAD T 778 offers multi-zone playback which allows you to play different input sources in 2 different rooms.


    Zone 2

    • Powered Zone 2: You can use the unit's 2 amplifier channels by connecting Zone 2 speakers directly to the speaker terminals. The remaining 7 channels will be left for main zone amplification.
    • Audio Pre Output: If you have a dedicated power amplifier for Zone 2 you can connect it to the a/v receiver via pre outs and control volume from the a/v receiver.

    Inputs and Outputs

    Audio

    • Analog Pre-Outs: NAD T 778 has 11.2 preamplifier outputs which allow you to connect the a/v receiver to the external power amplifier. You may want to use a high quality external amplifier for certain channels, usually for front L/R and center, and use the a/v receiver to power the rest. Also, NAD T 778 has 11 channel processing but has only 9 channel amplifier, so it needs the external amplifier connected to the analog pre-outs in order to reach the maximum speaker configuration.
    • Analog Line Inputs: There are 2 line inputs for analog audio connection.
    • Digital Inputs and Outputs: 1 optical input, 2 optical outputs and 2 coaxial inputs are available for digital audio connection.
    • Headphone Output: There is a 6.3 mm (1/4") headphone output jack on the front panel.

    Video

    • HDMI:
    • Inputs: 6 (1 front)   Outputs: 2 (simultaneous)
      8K Inputs: 0
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    Specifications

    Here we list all the available features and specifications of NAD T 778.

    BASICS
    BrandNAD
    ModelT 778
    TypeA/V Receiver
    CountryAll
    Release Year2020
    AMPLIFIER
    Channels9.2
    Front Wide Channel Support
    AmplifierHybrid Digital Amplifier Technology
    THX™ Certification
    Continuous 6 Ω Rated
    Certified 4 Ω Performance
    Bi-amp Capability
    AUDIO
    Maximum Channel Processing11.2
    Air Studios Monitor Certification
    Dolby Atmos up to 7.1.4
    Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization
    Dolby Atmos Music
    Dolby TrueHD
    Dolby Digital Plus
    Dolby Surround Upmixer
    Dolby Pro Logic
    DTS:X up to 7.1.4
    DTS Neural:X
    DTS Virtual:X
    DTS Neo
    DTS-HD Master Audio
    DTS-HD High Resolution Audio
    DTS 96/24
    IMAX Enhanced
    Auro 3D with Auro-Matic Upmixer
    MQA Decoding
    PCM 2-ch/Multi-ch Input
    Music Playback via USBMP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, FLAC, ALAC, WMA-L, MQA, WAV, AIFF
    High Resolution Music Playback via USB and/or Network up to 192 kHz
    High Resolution Audio Formats via USBFLAC, WAV, AIFF
    Gapless Playback
    DSD via HDMI
    DSD via USB
    USB DAC
    DTS Dialog Control
    Dialog Enhancement
    Dialog Level Adjustment
    Dialog Normalization
    Dialogue Lift
    Audyssey Dynamic EQ
    Audyssey Dynamic Volume
    Audyssey LFC
    Audyssey Sub EQ HT
    Audyssey DSX
    Direct Mode
    Independent Subwoofer Outputs
    CALIBRATION
    Auto Speaker Calibration System with Mic. Dirac Live™
    VIDEO
    Enhanced ARC
    HDCP Version2.2
    HDR10
    HDR10+
    Dynamic HDR
    Dolby Vision
    HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma)
    BT.2020 color space
    QMS (Quick Media Switching)
    ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode)
    VRR (Variable Refresh Rate)
    QFT (Quick Frame transport)
    DSC (Display Stream Compression)
    3-D Ready
    Video Signal Passthroughup to 4K 50/60Hz 4:4:4
    Video Signal Upscaling
    isf Certified Calibration Control
    CONNECTIVITY
    FireConnect
    FlareConnect
    BluOS
    Chromecast Built-In
    DTS Play-Fi
    Works with Amazon Alexa
    Google assistant
    Apple Siri
    Works with SONOS
    AirPlay AirPlay 2
    Apple Product Connection iPod, iPhone and iPad
    Remote App free BluOS controller app for iOS and Android devices
    Ethernet
    Ethernet Switch
    Wi-Fi via dongle
    Bluetooth via USB micro adapter
    HDMI Inputs6 (1 front)
    HDMI Outputs2 (simultaneous)
    8K Inputs
    USB Input2
    RCA Line Input2
    RCA Line Output
    XLR Line Inputs
    Phono Input
    Optical Inputs2
    Optical Outputs
    Coaxial Inputs2
    Composite Video Input
    Composite Video Output
    S-Video Input
    S-Video Output
    Component Video Input
    Component Video Output
    PC In
    Multi-Channel Input
    RCA Pre-Outs11.2
    XLR Pre-outs
    Front A/V InputsHDMI, USB
    Speaker A/B
    Headphone Out6.3 mm (1/4")
    ZONES
    Zones2
    Powered Zones 2
    Zone 2 OutsPre Out
    RS-232C Interface
    +12V Trigger Output3
    Remote (IR) Input/Output1 / 3
    MISC
    Control4 SDDP
    DisplayLCD touch panel
    Remote ControllerHTR 8
    Detachable Power Cord
    RADIO
    Analog Tuner
    Digital Radio
    Internet Radio TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Calm Radio, Radio Paradise, Slacker Radio
    Pandora
    Spotify
    Tidal
    Deezer
    Napster
    SiriusXM Internet Radio
    CONSTRUCTION
    Advanced Direct ConstructionModular Design
    Speaker Terminals9
    Large Speaker Terminals9
    Gold plated RCA terminals
    POWER
    Power SupplyAC 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz
    Toroidal Transformer
    Power Consumption700 W
    Standby Power0.5 W
    GENERAL
    Dimensions (W x H x D)435 mm x 140 mm x 430 mm
    17-3/16" x 5-9/16" x 16-15/16"
    Weight12.1 kg (26.7 lbs)
    Weight of Package15.5 kg (34.2 lbs)
    Warranty2 Years
    SPECS
    Power Output (8 Ω, 1 kHz, 2140 W (1% THD)
    Power Output (4 Ω, 1 kHz, 2170 W (1% THD)
    Multi Channel Simultaneous Drive (8 Ω, 1 kHz, 1.0%)9 x 85 W (19.3dBW) (20 Hz - 20 kHz, all channels driven, 4 Ω and 8 Ω)
    Dynamic Power per Channel (4 Ω, Front)280 W
    Dynamic Power per Channel (8 Ω, Front)165 W
    THD0.08% (20 Hz-20 kHz, rated power)
    0.03% (20 Hz-20 kHz, 1/3 power)
    Damping Factor300 (20 Hz - 1 kHz, 8 Ω)
    Input Sensitivity and Impedance (Line)Amplifier Section: 1.12 V (ref. 8 Ω, VOL at 0 dB for 85 W)
    Preamplifier Section: 245 mVrms (ref. 2V)
    Input Sensitivity and Impedance (Phono MM)6.2 mVrms (2V output)
    Maximum Input Sensitivity (Phono)90 mVrms (1 kHz)
    Maximum Preout Level and Impedance4.5 Vrms
    S/N Ratio (Line, IHF-A)Amplifier Section: 100 dB (ref. rated power at 8 Ω, A-WTD)
    Preamplifier Section: 100dB (ref. 2V, A-WTD)
    S/N Ratio (Line, EIA, at 1 W (1 kHz))Amplifier Section: 85 dB (ref. 1W at 8 Ω, A-WTD)
    S/N Ratio (Phono MM, IHF-A)80 dB (2Vrms, A-WTD)
    Frequency Response (Analog In)Amplifier Section: ±0.3 dB/-0.8 dB (ref. 1kHz, 20 Hz - 20 kHz)
    Preamplifier Section: ±0.5dB (ref. 20 Hz - 20 kHz)

    * - 480i/576i and 480p/576p only
    ** - 480i/576i only
    *** - no 1080p/24 upconversion
    **** - 1080p signal is not converted

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