liquid mids and highs, controlled bass, no fatigue

none, for what i can afford this is the best i have heard

this cd player is great. i listen to a lot of 60's jazz and i have never been so involved in the music. the upper range on this player is so detailed it's amazing. it does take a second when you put in a new disc for the crystal dac's to kick in, but this is a small price to pay for great sound. i love it! there is probably something better, but for a lot more money.

Similar Products Used:

onkyo,nad,rotel

Post burn-in observations; After about 32 hrs of burn-in the unit sounds fantastic. Tight, controlled bass, smooth highs and detailed mid-range. Track access time and player start-up seems normal and the transport is quiet (some had complaints about these aspects). The good news is, this player looks much better in real life than in photos--its appearance in photos had me imagining a big piece of plastic, but it is in fact solid, heavy and well built. It's reminiscient of Nakamichi OMS series players; form follows function. My only complaint (and a minor one) is the display--as others had mentioned. It's difficult to see beyond 5 or 6 feet; but this is a minor quibble. I can see why HI-FI gave it "best player under $1000" accolades.

value, value, value

not many for the price

This review is for the SE edition of the D500. I use it with a Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amp and Paradigm Studio/20 V2 speakers. So the D500 is the cheapest part of my modest system. I took a gamble hoping that it would be able to hold its own (gotta love that 30-day return policy at audio advisor) and it paid off. This is a great player for its price. Very good tonal quality and imaging. It took a week or so to really come around, and even after a month I was still noticing subtle improvements.

I do have a few problems with it however. First, the jog dial is... not very ergonomic in my opinion. I use the remote 95% of the time, so this is not a big deal, but I'd still prefer buttons to a jog dial. Second, the reading mechanism is *loud*. I can hear the thing spin up from across the room, and occasionally I hear it during quiet passages. It also is a bit slow in accessing tracks, as some reviewers have mentioned. And yes, HDCD would be nice. To be fair, however, of the 400 or so CDs I own only like five of them are HDCD, so I am not missing much.

In the grand scheme of things, this CD player is of course nothing special. So I am giving a four star overall rating, but five for value.

sonic detail, looks (silver faceplate), simplicity of design

on the bright side of neutral, noisy transport, somewhat slow cue time

I think that "blank blank" sums up this player quite well. I initially purchased the D500SE model in order to save a few bucks, but wound up returning it a short time later. The slight emphasis on brightness in the high frequencies and "sibilance" in vocal reproduction was most likely due to the revealing characteristics of my amp/preamp. This would surely be cured by a high quality external DAC (Bel Canto, etc.) However, the omni-present noise of the transport (laser) mechanism while in play was very bothersome and noticeable from at least 6 feet away during quieter passages.

In sum, the D500SE was very detailed and forthright, but that damn transport noise was too much for me to live with.

Associated equipment:
YBA 2a HC amp
YBA 2a preamp w/upgraded power supply
Reference 3A Royal Master speakers
Kimber connects/cables
Wireworld Stratus power cords

Similar Products Used:

rotel, audio refinement, other budget players

Timbre, clarity, musical bass, undigital upper midrange, imaging

image not as holographic as $3000 players

Unquestionably best CDP under $1200. Somebody thinks it's slow? Check your speakers, they're the only things operating at less than lightspeed. What, electrons are driving down the wires in little quantum VW's. Come on. The DAC thing is for real. My first unit refused to play after I had it awhile; the lights were on but nobody home. I sent it back to audio advisor and had a replacement the next day. new one works flawlessly. Break in is more like 360 hours than 36. Teamed with tube pre and mains it's beyond analog. The overall 4 rating is because I hate so many reviewers defending there budget gear to the death.

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AR Complete, Classe' .5, NAD, Adcom 750, REGA 2000

Wonderful sound, in spite of the fact that music doesn't come in bites. None of the harshness that I hate about CD's. I like the design too: nothing extra to drive up the price.

this is an answer to the review above regarding the delay in sound. I bought a D500se and it got to a point where I'd put in a cd, take a shower, start dinner, and maybe by then the sound would come on. I didn't buy the story about it being deliberately designed that way, and returned it to the store for another one, which works ok. It was clearly a glitch in the machine, which is apparently not ususual. I love the player, but Cambridge Audio should be a bit more forthcoming about this issue and not respond with hocus pocus about how it has to reach 12db's before you hear anything.

the rest: Rogue Audio 66 pre-amp and 88 amp., Music Hall 2.1 turntable, Nakamichi Dr-1 tape deck and an old pair of Celestion speakers from the early 80's. The whole thing sounds great.

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I bought a cheap Panasonic CD player when they first came out and hated it so much that I rarely used it. Now that vinyl is hard to get, I realized I had little choice and heard that CD players sound better than they used to if you buy a good one. This snowballed into replacing my whole system.

price, sound quality

No HDCD

This is for the SE version.

What a great little CD player. The overall sound quality is
very neutral, clean, and balanced. Nothing seems louder or
quieter than it should be. The highs were a bit harsh at
first, but mellowed out after a couple days of break in. Overall I feel like I am really hearing the music and all of
its nuances. The imaging is very good.

Complaints? Sometimes it is a bit slow when starting up a CD or when jumping across a CD from one track to another (e.g. while on random play). The display is a bit dim; if my listening room were any larger I might have trouble reading it. I consider all of these to be minor, really.

The rest: NAD C340, Magnepan MMG, Vibrapods, MIT interconnects and speaker cables

Similar Products Used:

NAD, Rotel

Smooth, warm high end; great stereo imaging; silver SE version looks cool; incredible value

jog shuttle thingy, no time remain function on display

I auditioned this unit largely on the basis of reviews here and in various hifi mags. I was searching for a warm-ish sounding CD player to replace my 3-year-old Yamaha 5-disk changer, which I found particularly harsh in the upper registers. I had recently bought psb stratus bronze speakers and NAD c350 integrated amplifier, both of which were not known as having a bright sound, so I figured the most likely culprit was my CD player.

So, I ventured down to a hifi shop which carried both Yamaha and Cambridge to compare as I dared......and I couldn't believe the difference! No more harsh highs! Not only that, but the bass was more defined, the stereo imaging superior and the whole sound just way more natural and warm. I compared the D300 to the D500 and although I was impressed by both I though the D500 had a wider and deeper soundstage, as well as a superior low end.

Other brands I considered were the usual suspects: Arcam, Rotel, Rega, NAD, AMC.....but it quickly became apparent that if I wanted to stay at or below the $500 canadian level and have superior sound, Cambridge was my best bet. And I must say, I am definetly impressed. I haven't even broken in this baby and it already sounds light years above my old player. And at this price - 500 canadian or roughly 350 american......an absolute steal!

If you're in the market for an entry-level CD player and want a sniff of the audiophile world without being steeped in poverty, i heartily recommend this unit.

Unquestionably, 5 stars for value. I suppose that if I had listened to players 5 times the price I wouldn't also be giving it 5 stars overall, but I didn't make that mistake, so.......5 stars it is!

Current system:
Cambridge Audio D500SE
NAD C350 integrated amplifier
Monster M550i interconnects
PSB Stratus Bronze speakers
Ultralink biwire speaker cables

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Sony, NAD, AMC

This player can make you forget you're listening to digital. A real class act. This is what CD was meant to be.

Lack of time-remaining feature. Jog shuttle seems kind of pointless

The D500 hardly needs any more praise but I can't resist. I did an A/B comparison with my old CD4 (non-SE) and the difference was not subtle. The CD4's heart is in the right place and was great value for its time, but even right out of the box the D500 smokes it in every respect. Especially noteworthy are the D500's excellent reproduction of instrument timbre and its ability to make sense of complex mixes and dymamic passages. This player manages to sound open, detailed, musical and smooth all at once. Quite a feat. It reminds me of the "good ol' days" of vinyl. I've heard other players that try to pull this stunt off (some very expensive ones at that), but they end up sounding either "glossy" or "shut in". With the D500 there is no loss of detail or presence. In fact, there is more subtlety and inflection than most players I've heard. And the pseudo-detail that we're so used to with digital sources (over-emphasised transient attacks, for instance) is all but gone, allowing greater insight into the music and long-term listening without fatigue. This is an exceptional product and unbelievable value.

Equipment:
Panamax 1000+ power conditioner
Cambridge Audio D500
Audioquest Coral interconnects
Bryston B-60 integrated amp
Audioquest Slate speaker cable
Castle Eden loudspeakers

Great Sound, Understated looks, Upgradable

Lack of remote power on/off

As soon as I listened to first track, Absolutly amazed with the sound. I dident realy need another CD player but now that I have it I am very happy. None of my other CD players even come close to the d500, but they arnt supposed to I guess. I have them more for the convience. Other Components in my system Cambridge Audio C500, 3 P500's, V500 and the M1 enhanced remote.

Please excuse the poor spelling. :)

Similar Products Used:

None, but also own Sony cdp-cx300 and Pioneer PDR-509