One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 80W against 80W 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 (80W and 80W). |
| Noise floor | B | NAD C 368 is the quieter design on paper - 98dB against 84dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Both decode on board, but only NAD C 700 handles MQA. |
| Streaming | A | Only NAD C 700 has AirPlay 2, Roon and BluOS. |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (2). |
| Phono stage | depends | NAD C 368 has a built-in phono stage (MM) and NAD C 700 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 | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Headphones | depends | Only NAD C 368 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Shelf space | depends | NAD C 700 takes up about 65% less shelf area (651cm² against 1840cm²), and it is 127mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | NAD C 368 costs less - $1,199 against $1,599 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | NAD C 368 is the cheaper watt - about $15 per watt against $20. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A NAD C 700 B NAD C 368
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?
Neither runs away with it - they trade advantages. Let the "depends" rows and the speakers you already own settle it. If you play records, NAD C 368 saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. Think about the whole system: the roughly $400 saved by taking the cheaper one would buy better speakers or a subwoofer, which does more for the sound than the difference between two competent amplifiers.
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.