Both are NAD, from different ranges - the engineering approach is shared and the differences are mostly in power, connectivity and price.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 100W against 100W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output barely increases (100W and 100W). |
| Noise floor | A | NAD C 3050 is the quieter design on paper - 95dB against 90dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Both decode on board, but only NAD Masters Series M10 V2 handles MQA. |
| Streaming | evenly matched | The same streaming platforms and services on both. |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (2). |
| Phono stage | depends | NAD C 3050 has a built-in phono stage (MM) and NAD Masters Series M10 V2 does not. Decisive if you own a turntable, completely irrelevant if you do not - and an outboard phono stage is easy to add later either way. |
| Room to grow | A | Only NAD C 3050 offers a pre-out/main-in loop - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Headphones | depends | Only NAD C 3050 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Shelf space | depends | NAD Masters Series M10 V2 takes up about 63% less shelf area (606cm² against 1638cm²), and it is 86mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | evenly matched | Priced within a few per cent of each other. |
A NAD C 3050 B NAD Masters Series M10 V2
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
NAD C 3050 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. If you play records, NAD C 3050 saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.