Jaro Pirnat

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $70.00 from on net

Summary:
My NAD 502 looks like new...
I m always looking for test winners in audio equipment(an old Hi fi choice school) and surely, this is the one.
When i connected it with my Yamaha RXV550 on stereo direct mode, i was surprised with the deepness of its HiEnd like presence of the stage and the details in sound...
Slightly less dynamic and less deep bass the wonderful sounding Yamaha DVD510 i am also using for playing CDs, but in all other aspects-WOW...
But when i plugged my very politely sounding Tannoy Mercury 4s in combination with an pair of Mirage Omni OM-50ies, extremly fast and very natural and "open" sounding speakers, NAD 502 started sounding very much alive and very colorfull!!!

The combination of similar sounding components and cables in an audio system is Issential...
I listened a lot of HiEnd big bucks setups and a lot of them sounded mediocre or even worse for that reason...
My Mirage Omnis also sounded mediocre on my brothers Hafler DH-200 amp, DH-101 pre, Marantz 63KI CD and Transparent cables and interconnets costing over kilo bucks!
But positoned on a top of Mercurys 4, Omnis 50 on the 5cm spikes.... Mercury-Omni-NAD 502 combination sounds simply astonishing, big, alive spacious, details tingling from everywhere...
And my interconnets are just basic Transparents(selling by meter, you must solder cinch terminals for yourself on it!) , and speaker cables just ordinary Dietz silver-for in car use!!!...
Ok, i will share a little secret with you..
Basic Transparent interconnects performs wonderful compared to a lot of mid price Van Den hulls, Nordosts, etc!!!
And Dietz silver sounds even better than QED silver anniversary, which is a very good cable!
Even against top Transparent interconnects, cheap Transparents are possesing a lot of qualities of their much, much, more expensive brothers!
They are slightly inferrior in the most aspects, yes, but their sound character sounds in a way even more vibrant, than the charcter of the HiEnd Transparents and their stereo is just perfect!

In my system after repositioning and re combining the speakers(i have some oher speakers too), NAD 502 is a true cherry on the cake...

I tested it also with my two way old DIY legendary Wharferdale Laser 8inch driver combined with Mission Argosy Seas tweeter, with 12db oct Butterworth filter with polyprop capacitors and...Waste of time, NAD 502 fits perfect with nowadays fast speakers and amps!!!!
In the end, i connected it on a pair of my DIY 8 inch Jensen PRO subs and the bass sounded very articulate and deep, witha a very solid, yet not offensive body...

Strengths:
Well tuned up with the wright system, you ll get Hi End sound almost for free!!!
Beautiful laid back sound, all string instruments in classic music and bluegrass, sounds yummy..
Dont put on Mark Knopfler or Peter Green, you will stuck in the room for the rest of the day with a stupid smile on yur face..
A lot of true audio potential to explore!
Only 50 Euros...

Weaknesses:
I spent too much time listening it..

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha Cd 593, dvd 510, Marantz 63KI, Some Sony Esprit models...

Price Paid:  $300.00 from local dealer

Summary:
I cannot stand not to write the review for this product.

I own this player since 1994, so it's been 8 years with me now. It is not a perfect player. At the time I buy, the same dealer has Meridian player. Using both players with NAD amp (304) did not show a big difference. But auditioning both with a good amp (Metaxas integrated) and good speakers, show that this player is still far, far away from Meridian.

I have it one time got a drawer problem. Took it to a local electronic technician, he fixed it (although he firstly suspect that there maybe a problem with the chip controller on the transport, finally he found that the only adjustment he needed to make is the microswitch part of the transport).

For the display, I found it very easily got hot. In the very past time I put it on the rack with a bad airflow. The result is some back part of the display melted. After that I put it on the top part of my rack and it is never get burnt again (even if I turn it on 24 hours non-stop to burn in my interconnects or speaker).

So other than that cases above, my player has never had other fault.

Originally:

Sound wise, the best part of this player is, it is characterless. Means that it does not add any unneeded emphazises on any frequency spectrum. Not harsh, not also overblown. Forgiving with all materials (good or bad recorded).

But this is also make this player does not have enough energy. Guitar string pick not sound like as it should be.

Modified:

I replace the all four OPAMPS that is used on this player (Signetics NE5532) with a better ones (Burr Brown OPA2604).
The result is very positive. Guitar strings are now plugged with it's all resonance. A lot of music energy.

Now this modified player can show the difference between good and bad recorded materials.

It enters into a new region of music delivery.

Modified one, this player is very satisfying.

Next planned mod:

I'm wondering what's the result if I change it's DC blocking capacitors with good ones from Auricaps or even Jensen? Who know? If I have money and got a chance, I'll make it and update you all reader with the result.

Equipment: put on DIY TNT Flexy rack
(Mod) NAD 502 CD player ->
DIY Belden 89259 interconnects (I found it far superior to original QED Qnect 2) ->
Nakamichi IA-2 Integrated amp (with DIY main/power cable)->
DIY Belden 8259 speaker cable (John Risch recipe) ->
Dynaudio Audience 40 speaker on DIY TNT Acropolis stand

Strengths:
Cheap at the time I buy as a new box

Price Paid:  $100.00 from Second hand

Summary:
I just bought another NAD 502 (later reffered as NAD2) just for spare parts (price - 30 USD!). It is two years older than my first (later reffered as NAD1).
NAD 2 is a 1992 model (S/N:~15000). It has yellow display - slightly diferent transport. It has allready ?weak laser? (it has problems reading ALL CDs) and problems with opening CD tray.
NAD1 is a 1994 model (S/N:~45000). It has green display. Replaced laser.

You might imagine how surprised I was, when I compared sound of these two CDs, the OLD NAD - NAD2 sounded much better! (more natural, clear sound). What could be the reason? I am planing some research.

Strengths:
Good sound

Weaknesses:
Not so good mechanics

Similar Products Used:
Another NAD 502

Price Paid:  $300.00 from local dealer

Summary:
Well, first, this player gave me fits on a regular basis for years- the display would flicker and various discs skipped unpredictably. Despite this, I stuck with it because the sound was so detailed and realistic. At one point, I bought a Cambridge D300 and burned it in- a great sounding player, but no match for the NAD 502 (I know...) A chance meeting with a local audio-service type resulted in a completely stabilized display and a adjusted laser tracking mechanism("it's just badly adjusted at the factory"). Smooth sailing since then. My system:NAD C370 amp;NAD 502 cd player; Polk Monitor 10 speakers and Bettercable speaker wire and interconnects.

Strengths:
Stunning sound, especially for the price range.

Weaknesses:
Unreliable display, tracking should be revised from factory setting to avoid skipping.

Similar Products Used:
Cambridge, Yamaha

Summary:
One of my buddies had this unit sitting in his rack for a long time without using it. I disposed of my Marantz 6000OSE and brought this home. Due to non-use the moving parts were bit sluggish, so I opened up the unit and put minute amount of white petrolrum jelly in all the gears mechanisms and they became free again. Some of the CDs in my collection was not being detected, I guess moisture/fungus in the pickup lense were to blame. Another friend of mine, who is a genius with electronics took the pickup lense apart and thouroughly cleaned it and reinstalled it again and guess what, all the CDs are playing fine. But as said above the sound is very much neutral (to the extent of being un-involving).

Some of the reviewers have mentioned problem with the display; actually display usually is alright but the backlight illuminating bulbs go bonkers. These are very common type of filament bulbs, which should be available in any electronic spare part shop and any decent technician can fix it in a matter of minutes.

Strengths:
Neutral sound

Weaknesses:
Un-involving

Similar Products Used:
Marantz (CD63 Mk-II KI Sig, 6000 OSE), NAD (510, 541), Arcam 7.