energeezer

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
C542 This player is replacing a Panasonic RP 62 DVD player that has been doing double duty. Supporting Equip -Paradigm Studio 100 V3 Loudspeakers -Paradigm Servo 15 Subwoofer -Rotel RMB 1055 Receiver used as a pre-pro -Aragon 8008 ST 2 CH Amplifier (200 into 8 ohms, 400 into 2 ohms) The physical appearance of the player is quite attractive (at least for an NAD). The drawer operates smoothly and with reasonable authority. It has some nice programming features and the remote is decent. My unit has no issues playing CDRs but I have not yet tried any CDRWs. Inside the box is a large Torrodial power supply and a single circuit board which covers the majority of the insides of the unit. Upon initial installation of this player I have to say I was disappointed. It sounded OK but I was expecting a large upgrade over the cheap DVD player. Initially I got the impression that the RP62 actually sounded a little better. (for the record the RP62 uses a 24/192 audio Dac) After further listening and some A/B comparisons I came to the conclusion that the RP62 is in fact more detailed in the high end of the spectrum but also a little muddy and boomy in the bass. The NAD certainly is less fatiguing and OVERALL an improvement IMO. I can listen to my system at much higher volumes with the NAD than I could with the RP62 due to the laid back nature. I would describe the sound of the C542 as laid back in the higher freq and male vocals. This makes for a non-fatiguing sound but also gives the impression of less detail. The detail is there but just pushed back some. I think this can be corrected with some interconnect changes but I have not done so yet. I have tried a couple of HDCD disks and these are a significant improvement but I only have a couple of them so it’s a little hard to reach a solid conclusion with respect to the HDCD performance of the player. Perhaps I’m a little spoiled, as the last stand-alone CDP player to grace my audio rack was an Arcam FMJ CD23. That player outperformed the C542 in every way but then it should considering it is over 3X the price. The NAD was close to the performance of the FMJ in bass response.

Strengths:
-Bass response -Price/Value

Weaknesses:
-Upper freq detail

Similar Products Used:
Arcam FMJ CD23 Cambridge Audio D300 Panasonic RP 62 (DVD player)

Robert Seletsky

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $239.00 from Audio Studio

Summary:
This is for the latest version, the C521BEE. After extensive negative experiences with several Cambridge Audio Azurs, I got rid of them and bought an NAD C521BEE even though I wasn't impressed by the earlier NAD C521i. The BEE NAD revision, after play-in (it takes a while to reveal itself fully), extracts the genuine passion and drive of performances from CDs, creating really gripping musical experiences for the listener, not unlike good live music. It has depth, clarity, sweetness, detail, amazing speed of response, accuracy of vocal and instrumental color and placement: in all, that rare, indefinable "musicality." Unlike the competitors in this price range--the harsh, uneven, badly designed Cambridge Audio Azurs, the NAD C521BEE is a breath of fresh air. Moreover, it is built like a tank and the remote is fast, ergonomic, and instinctive. The NAD C521BEE just sounds and behaves *right.* After so many revisions of this design, it seems that NAD has found a sweet spot. One hopes they will now leave it alone. It's even hard to imagine that the more expensive NAD C542i is a lot better.

Strengths:
Glorious balanced, involving, detailed sound, with depth, great image, warmth, speed. Perfect remote. Great build.

Weaknesses:
None really. I suppose one could gripe that NAD doesn't believe in a time-remaining-per-track readout, probably because it can't be designed to work above about 30 tracks.

Similar Products Used:
Cambridge Audio 540C--avoid Cambridge Audio 640C--ditto Cambridge Audio 300SE--absurdly artificial Harman Kardon HD-710--lovely Harman Hardon HD-720--a disaster NAD 521i--solid but unimpressive Teac CDP-1250--garbage Toshiba SD-1800--surprisingly good

Price Paid:  $380.00

Summary:
This review is for a NAD C521BEE. Now in its 4th revision, the entry level player has seen some improvements to its transport and DAC to bring you an even better sounding unit. To be fair, this is not the be-all-end-all in High Fidelity music. However, it is one of the most competent players in its price range. It may not sound this way when you listen to it out of the box, but once it is given a chance to break in (like all proper Hi-Fi equipment), its sonic ability really excells. Expect to wait about 2 weeks before the player will perform to its best. The player produces a well detailed sound, with an open sound stage. It does its best to give every instrament a place of its own. Like all NAD's products, it tries not to colour music. A word about the bass, NAD have chosen detail over depth. While it goes low enough for most situations, it is NOT boom box material. Because of this, bass heavy songs may lack some of the impact they have on other players. Something that is worthy of a mention is the way the scanning on this player works. It instantly fast forwards or rewinds the moment you tell it to. In terms of features, NAD have included all that is needed. Theres only line level and coax digital outputs (optical would have been nice). A remote is included, with the ability to program the play order. The transport supports CD-R and CD-RW discs. I havent had any skipping problems that some people had with their C521i's Downsides? In all, a good CD player for a budget system.

Strengths:
+ Clean sound + Spacious soundstage + Instant scanning of music + Uncluttered design + Titanium finish (N\A in NA)

Weaknesses:
- No digital optical output - Slow to skip songs - Programming can only be done from the remote

Price Paid:  $209.00 from DMC Electronics

Summary:
This is the NAD 521i. It's a NAD. It looks like a NAD and sounds like one. If you like NAD, you'll love it. I've used many NAD products over the years and I've always been very happy with the sound. This is crisp, clean and does the job for me along with my NAD 314 amp. For the money, I don't think you can do better.

Strengths:
Excellent, uncluttered design. No cheese. Clear, detailed sound.

Weaknesses:
Small LED. No headphone jack.

Similar Products Used:
NAD Monitor Series Older NAD CDs. Onkyo

Price Paid:  $250.00 from eBay

Summary:
By the way, this is the review for NAD C521i Main Speakers - Pioneer Elite TZ-F700 Center Speaker - Pioneer Elite TZ-C700 Surround speakers - Pioneer Elite TZ-S700 Subwoofer - JBL PB10 Receiver - Pioneer Elite VSX-35TX 90Wx5 (20Hz - 20 kHz 0.09%, 8O all channels driven) Speaker setting - Front - Large Center - Small Surround - Large (Bass via JBL PB10 speak level in) Subwoofer - yes Actually, I can't say anything against this product. It gives very clear sound and wild sound stage. I brought this CD player to replace my Technics SLMC7 CD changers. My SLMC7 did serve me well for a while. Now it is used for MD recording only. I compared the sound of NAD C521i(Coaxial digital out) with my Toshiba SD5700(Coaxial digital out, PCM) and Panasonic DVD-A7 (Coaxial digital out) with all my receiver's stereo (24bit/96kHz up-sampling), Direct model(DAC up-sampling bypass), and 7 stereo surround sound. Although NAD 521i doesn't have the warmth of Toshiba SD5700, it gives more detail and clear sound then Toshiba. As my personal preference, I like NAD 521i better (NAD521i>Toshiba SD5700>Panasonic DVD-A7>Technics SLM7). During the test, NAD521i is the only one can pass test CD (A Taiwanese recording) while other 3 fail to reach the ok performance at the peak. I used to consider that is the problem of my receiver. Well, my receiver does involve with this problem; however, I do believe that is the problem from my CD transports. I can't say NAD 521i does the prefect job here; however, it does a very good job at this point. Although NAD521i doesn't have the warmth of Toshiba SD5700, it still sounds very good, The whole sound was clear and smooth, treble was sweet and bass was solid. The sound stage was live and joyful. I didn't compare the sound via analog out put- well, I was just to lazy to find the analog input on my receiver, you all know it was a horrible job to pull the receiver out off a cabinet and reconnect all the cables. So I simple connect those via digital cable, which I can reach without pull out my receiver) However, NAD521i doesn't support CD-Text and HDCD, which is nothing biggi. Also, NAD 521i doesn't have optical digital, which maybe a problem if your receiver runs out off coaxial digital input.

Strengths:
Build quality, Sound,

Weaknesses:
No CD text No HDCD No Opt digital out

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba SD5700, Panasonic DAD-A7 (I know, both of them are DVD-Audio player; however, they did serve as my CD transport for a long time.)