Sound quality, value

Nothing major

I received my CD500 a little over a week ago and have been
listening to it from 6:00 to 12:00 every night? I am
extremely happy with my $372 investment!!! Especially
when it blows away my Luxman that cost twice as much 10
years ago (technology helps though). The CD500 was a
great addition to my mid-fi system. I have Kimber Kable
Hero interconnects.

I am rediscovering many of my CD's. Unfortunately the D500
is good enough to point out some bad recordings I own.

As I learn more about audio equipment I will probably
trade up to a better CD player but, at this point in time,
I couldn't be happier with my selection.

Some people complained about the shuttle and display but
I don't take issue with either. The remote will skip you
farther than you like if you hold the button more than a
couple seconds but, after having no remote with the Luxman,
how can I complain. Also, my Luxman would skip with heavy
vibration and the D500 is rock steady.

If you are a mid-fi guy buy one of these puppies. With some
decent electronics and speakers (like my KEF 104/2's) you
will have a decent sounding system without having to live
on TV dinners!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Luxman

Sound/price ratio

Build quality, functions, dim display

My dealer highly recommended this player, which is the D500SE model with blue display and silver housing. After carefully listening this player with my Creek 5350 and self made speakers for about five weeks I'm beginning to agree with my dealer. The user manual suggest that the player should be driven in for 36 hours before critical listening and I have noticed major improvements since I first plugged it in. The weaknesses I described are mainly mentioned in other reviews on this player, but I'd like to say a word about build quality which doesn't quite stand up for my standards. All buttons are a bit quirky and display contrast is very poor when compared to my earlier Sony which costs 150$ less. I haven't noticed the power cord problem everybody seems to complain about. About the functions, mainly I am conserned about the number keypad in the remote. The key with you select numbers over 10 the function clearly assumes that there is no more tracks than 19 in your cds because it adds automatically 1 and you can then select the other number. This and other weaknesses are not however so disturbing that I won't recommend this player to anyone who regards sound as the most important and the only important factor in a piece of an audiosystem. Now, how does it sound. I agree with most of the reviews made here. The sound is warm with great depht, this is indeed a player which you can listen to hours and hours. It doesn't play music with harsness and in cold sterile way like my earlier cd did. I would say this is pretty much the exact opposite to my amplifier the cd doesn't have the sense of a good rhytm, accuracy and ability to almost make boundaries between single instruments to be pointed out and followed by every note to my Creek's extend, however they make a quite should I say a neutral couple. In comparison to my earlier cd player this is a huge improvement. And now I feel like I can get the most out of my amplifier and speakers. Despite the weaknesses the sound is so good that I must give it a five star rating. About my equipment: I have self-made and engineered my speakers. They use Peerless CSX-series bass/midrange driver of 5 1/4" and Vifa's aluminium tweeter of 1". They have advanced enclosures with great rigidy and functions like time alignment. Crossover units are made of quality parts. Frequensy range is +/- 6dB in range from 40Hz-35000Hz. My amplifier: Creek 5350R. Cables: speakers cable Supra ply 2.0, rca-cable is from Puresonic.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-XB720

sounds great, musically involving

devoid of any ergonomics, doesn't work with my universal remote

This CD Player does what it's supposed to: it plays exciting music. Imaging is airy and precise, bass is strong, sound is detailed and accurate.

That being said, as mentioned in other reviews, it is difficult to use. The play button on the unit doesn't close the CD drawer. The jog shuttle for skipping tracks is very inconvenient. The last straw for me was that Cambridge Audio components can't be operated with my universal remote.

Highly recommend this player in this price range for purists who need the highest quality sound. Those who need some modicum of convenience should look elsewhere.

Last but not least, Audio Advisor (audioadvisor.com) is a great place to buy equipment, unbeatable selection and service.

Sonus Faber Concertino speakers
Velodyne VA-1012 II subwoofer
NAD T750 receiver
DH Labs BL1 series II intereconnects

Similar Products Used:

Pansonic DVD player
Onkyo CD Player

Clarity, nuetrality, smooth sound quality

cosmetically challenged

Since most will be comparing these players at this price point, I'll try to be objective as possible and demonstrate what I found when auditioning: (1-10 rating, 10 is highest)

Player Sound Build Tracking Value
______________________________________________________
Arcam 7se 10 9.5 9.5 8.5
Cambridge D500se 9.5 9.5 9.5 10
NAD C540 9.0 9.5 9.0 9.0
Rotel CD951 9.0 10 9.5 9.0

For me the Cambridge was the best "bang for the buck" as the second highest rated--and LEAST expensive. As I had the money to buy any of the above, my ratings should be relatively objective. I couldn't justify another $200 for the Arcam when sound quality was just the slightest bit nicer; in other words, not $200 nicer. "Build" speaks only to the quality of construction, not appearance. Hope this helps.

Similar Products Used:

NAD, Rotel, Arcam

detail,ambience

all the things everybody already mentioned

Well lets start with the fact that the first one I received I hadda send back because it had a problem with sound cutting in & out.They graceously sent me a new one within days.They were all out of the black ones so I got a silver faced one.It looks pretty cool with the blue glow coming from its face(my son likes it).I didn't really need a new cd player.I have a marantz 67se that works just fine but;I was curious about the 24 bit dac.I burned it in for 36 hours like it suggested.It has now been about a month since I gotit.It is very detailed. I listen to alot of jazz & ambient music & it handles it extremely well.Its a great unit for the price.

Similar Products Used:

marantz,yamaha,philips,sony

Design, robustness, sound clarity

LCD screen, must be perfectly in front of the CD player to get the remote working, a bit noisy (you can hear within a 6-8 feet range it when music isn't loud)

Great CD player, look awesome, sounds great - the sound is pure - in fact it is so much that on certain album, like "Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World" you can hear the piano pedals... Well recorded albums will sounds better, poorly recorded albums will sounds awefull.

"Tom's" post below is right on target. Mine did the same thing. You've got to make sure the plug is pressed in well, or it will intermittently power up/down.

exceptional "out of the box" performance; great looks; consistently pleasing sound

dim florescent display; play button does not work when tray is open

I've been using this CD player for about a year now and I must say that I am totally pleased with my purchase. I originally bought this as a replacement for my god-awful Parasound CDP-1000 "transport".

My original intent was to use the Cambridge D500-SE as a transport with an external jitter filter and DAC, and that is exactly what I did. In this application, it worked exceptionally well and I was quite pleased.

I am always shuffling equipment around and finding new applications or combinations of equipment I want to use. At some point, I found a need for my external jitter filter and DAC elsewhere, so the D500-SE was stripped of these accouterments and left to perform on its own.

Holy Moses, I was totally blown away by the D500-SE's performance as a stand-alone transport/DAC! It totally performs beyond my wildest expectations! I have been holding off on reviewing this player because I keep thinking it must be too good to be true, and that I'm eventually going to find something wrong with its performance. It just ain't gonna happen!

The DAC in this thing is unbelievably musical, and at the risk of sounding like I'm beating a dead horse, is very analog sounding. I can listen to this player for hours on end and not have a single complaint with it. It is quite simply an astounding CD player!

Some reviewers here have complained about the jog shuttle controls in lieu of the standard button controls found on most players. Personally, I prefer the shuttle controls and think it is a very nice feature that adds a level of sophistication to the player.

However, I will join with other reviewers and complain about the florescent display. I love the green color, but it is way too dim and hard to read in a lit room.

My biggest complaint with this unit is that the play button will not work if the CD tray is open! You have to first press the close button and then press the play button. I have never seen a CD player where you had to do this. Even after all this time, I still find myself hitting play with the tray open only to find that nothing happens. This is very annoying yet totally forgivable given the outstanding musical performance.

I really cannot recommend this player enough, despite the two interface problems I've mentioned. Breathtaking musical performance as a stand-alone player make this player a supreme value.

Great Sound. Upgrade feature (Never tried it but Cambridge Says it works)

Display

From the outside, the D500 is a master of understatement, with some poor looking switchgear, a plasticky front panel and a very bad display. But once you stop paying attention to the looks and listen to the sound, wow what a difference. Before buying Cambridge, I tried, NAD, Marantz, ROTEL and Nakamichi. From all these I selected ROTEL and Cambridge as front-runners and bought Cambridge over ROTEL 971. Rotel is also good player, which gives HDCD, but it is pricey and limited numbers of CD’s are available in HDCD format

This unit delivers clear quality sound; mids and highs sound neutral and sweet without harshness and noticeable grain and reveal a lot of recording. Some of my CD's produced clear sound, which I had never heard on my old player.

Overall the value for the price is great. . I would recommend buying this player if you care about the sound. If you give importance to aesthetics then look for something else.

Similar Products Used:

SONY, AIWA

Detailed, open, with weighty bass, smooth and well timed

Fascia controls slightly awkward, but I use the remote

Well I'm amazed how well my CDs now sound compared with well pressed vinyl LPs played on the turntable, but better still with more detail and clarity. Certainly needs some time to break it in, but I can't say I have experienced any problems with the jumps and unreadable displays reported by some.

Arcam Alpha One amp
QED Qnect II interconnects
Mourdant Short MS20i Pearl speakers
Gale 320 cable

I recommend you try a few different interconnects if considering this player.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz CD40, Sony PXB930 auditioned