Sound

Nothing

This is the best cd-player you can buy for the money.

Tremendous good sound for the money. No programming. Nice clean design. 24Bit converter.

I bought a NAD 524 in february 99 and it broke down 3 times in 6 months.The store gave me the C540 instead.
This CD-player has the same specs. as NAD 524. But they told me that NAD has rebuilt the components that gave me problems. The performance is still excellent.

sounds great, when it plays CD's, which isn't often...

tracking problems, skipping on CD-R, recently stopped working all together

Here's my story: I went to buy a stereo a few months ago, and I originally auditioned CD players in the $300 range. I settled on the NAD 522 CD player mated to their C340 integrated amp and some B&W speakers. I was happy with the setup, except the 522 skipped horribly on many commercial CD's that had little or no visible damage, and wouldn't play CD-R's for anything.

I decided to trade in the 522 for the C540. Better DAC's, supposedly better transport, etc. Well, it seemed a bit better, but the skipping was still very present. These are CD's that will play in EVERY other system that I've ever tried. Sometimes even "perfect" CD's, just out of the shrink wrap, would skip. Also, upon experimenting with about ten different types of CDR, I came to the conclusion that the NAD hates the cyanine type 0 dye (there's a program that lets you check dye type called cdrid), but most other CDR's would play. So I was (moderately) happy for a while.

Well, the latest development is this: I was listening to a CD the other night, and about five seconds into the song, the player skipped back to the beginning of the track and started over. "Odd," I thought. Then it stopped all together. I opened the tray to inspect the disc. Flawless. I put the disc back in an "No Disc" appeared on the display. Same for the four or five other discs I tried. I'm on my way back to the shop tomorrow. I'm going to take a closer look at the Rotel, the Marantz, and see if I can find an Arcam.

I think this CD player WOULD be a good buy if it worked, so I'll give it four stars for value. Unfortunately, the tracking problems and the fact that it stopped working earn it only a single star overall.

Similar Products Used:

auditioned Rotel, Marantz, also own cheap Sony stuff

Simply the best sound you can get for that price

* Can be sensitive to CDRs
* No optical output
* No programming

This unit supplies the best sound I could find for £300.
When I bought it, I found a serious difficulty to play CDR’s, I wrote to NAD that nowadays it is not too much to ask from a £300 CD player to play CDR’s. Unfortunately I haven't got any reply from them. I was really close to bring it back to the shop and to start the search again, and this is not an easy decision! I have decided to give it another chance and try and to find a burning “formula” that won’t make problems on my NAD. I’ve tried different speeds, different media brands including a special audio CDRs (don’t waste your money on this stuff) and different burning software’s. My conclusion is very simple: Never ever use a disk copy option! It copies the errors from the original plus the reading synchronisation error and adds some natural writing errors on the CDR, most of the current players are not so sensitive, but the NAD is. So the secret is to extract the original tracks to the hard disk, I use Audio Catalyst. Then to write the tracks using one of the writing programs, I personally prefer the Adaptec CD creator deluxe (don’t use the “spin doctor” for the writing phase) Don’t use disk at once, the NAD needs the 2 sec gaps between the tracks. That’s all. I currently use a CD writer Yamaha x4, Samsung CD media. My NAD is very happy to play perfectly my CDR’s. Until now I’ve copied more than a hounded.
As a conclusion I can tell you that If you’re looking for a machine that knows to play CD’s, and the sound quality is your top priority criteria, the NAD C540 will definitely give you a lot of pleasure. If your criteria is something else, don’t buy the NAD, it won’t do anything but to play CD’s.
Despite the little tweak that I had at the beginning with the CDR, I find this CD player as a superb and I give it 5 starts for the sound quality.

tight bass, great dynamics, friendly mids, clear highs

tough job to push buttons, small display characters

I use this player together with a NAD 114 pre-amp and a NAD 214 power-amp. I replaced it with an old, retarded Marantz CD38. The first thigh what appeared to me was it's great dynamics and stability. neither the highs mids or lows were exaggerated. after listening for a while I also found the imaging to be very satisfying.

The only bad sides of this unit are: the difficulty to press a button (you need to press hard to activate one) and the small display characters. (it's hard to see which track is playing from a distance).I have to say that this player is not state of the art in depth and warmth, but the great dynamics and its overall quality and stability make up a lot.

I'd say: for a 500$ unit you've got a really fine unit, better that many others in it's price range. (I tested it against a 200$ more expansive Marantz player and the Marantz faded away)

Similar Products Used:

Marantz CDMKII-SE

Good separation of all parts (i.e good soundstage), warm, natural, taut bass, excellent mid. Just right

No track program function.

I started off with the NAD520 and purchase it for $145. Bargain I thought. Plugged it to my Marantz PM54SE, QED silver Anniversary biwire cables, QNEX2 inerconnects and B&W 602 S2's. I felt that the mid was missing. I had to strain to listen to the vocals. The bass was great and treble OK. But, there was a massive spectrum of sound just missing.

So I let the player burn for a 7 days!!. No great change. Swapped the speakers with Tannoy Reaveals (Studio monitors), and the result was the same.

Retuned the 520 and got the 540 and what a difference. I am no audiophile, but the difference is amazing. Given a better amp (like the NAD 350/370) I could probably get a better sound. The vocals were just right and crisp. The hi hats not splashy. The subltle brush sounds on a jazz tracks sounded just right. Classical tracks seem like they are being played live!! Lots of energy. Also good to listen to at low volumes.

The only feature I wish for is a track program facility. I have my favourites on every CD.

With the NAD541 out in the shops, the 540 will drop in price and it's a bargain comparable to the ARCAM 7SE (better I think) and even the Arcam CD72!!

Similar Products Used:

NAD520 (It's no match for the 540!!), Arcam CD72 on test for 1 week), Arcam 7SE (on test for 1 week)

Deep image, great details

I can't see the the remaining time of the track that is bing played. (¡¿is that important?!)

When I installed the CD layer the sound was precise and natural, with some lack of detail. After some days of hard work, the C540 has developed many more details and a deep image sensing, specially with the medium vocals and the brass instruments.

I auditioned the MARANTZ 6000OSE, I heard it very less detailed than the NAD. The MARANTZ has all the functions that you could imagine, and of course, there is no free dinner, you have to pay for it. But the NAD has only the basic functions, so all you pay is for the engineering in sound quality.

Well, it’s hard to imagine another CD player with this natural, detail and image in the range of $400-$500. I didn’t had the opportunity to audition Cambridge and/or Rotel, in my Country there are no dealers for these brands.
I’ve had no problems with CD-R’s, I’ve used various and has been played perfectly.

I’ll give it 5 stars for quality/price criteria (I think that this is the goal NAD).

Similar Products Used:

NAD, Harman Kardon, MARANTZ

Outstanding sound. Tight bass. Sounds wonderful in all catagories of music. Buur-Brown 24 bit D/A converter. I guess I'm one of the very few who likes NAD's appearance.

Weak loading tray. Access buttons too small & not very responsive. Not programmable. Display too small. Remote is a non-issue for me because I simply don't use them, period.

First off I noticed what some people paid in the US & I bought this unit new (not B stock) for 299.00 with a 3 year extended warranty for $29.99 for a total of 5 years. The dealer is State Street Discount in Portsmouth, NH & they are a authorized NAD dealer. They have no website so maybe you can call them & they can ship one out. Their telephone # is 1-800-242-1519 or 603-436-7047. I just hate sometimes when I read a review & I see the price they paid & they *don't* leave any info. on where they bought it.


Anyway on with the review. I want to say upfront I'm *not* a full blown audiophile expert. What do I like? Well in general terms, the sound. I first purchased a Denon #DCD425 & it proformed very well given the music I play. I was happy with the Denon until I heard the NAD. I fell in love. I had a copy of Beach Boys (please..don't laugh) in my car & threw in "In My Room" & couldn't beleive the difference. The bass was super tight & the vocals simply came out & pulled me in. I never thought there was a difference when it came to CD player although I never bought into multiple loading units. So in short it's wonderful CD player & you'll be able hear it's a cut above from the rest. Also in my eyes for an extra $100.00 vs. the Denon #DCD425 at $199.00.

Some of my things I really don't like about the NAD is when I hit pause, then press play it seems for a micro second it's a bit distorted. This happens only sometimes. The buttons are small & you must press them with the more than normal force. It's not programmable! I didn't realize this & the salesperson didn't offer any insight in regard to the function or rather non-function. My fault for not asking. I was so caught-up the the sound. I guess I can live with this considering I usually listen to a CD all the way thru but for recording purposes it would have been nice. In general there's nothing here I can't overlook vs. the trade-off with the sound.

I have noticed some of the other reviews in regards to skipping, problems with CD-R's etc. I have *not* had any problems to date. Maybe an earlier production problems? I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I want this piece to be apart of my system & that's why I went with an extended warranty, usually I don't.

My system:

Philips (1981 model) AH7961 Receiver. Made in USA!
Sansui SE-510 EQ
NAD C540 CD Player
Sony TC-KA2ES Cassette Player
Acoustic Reasearch 226PS Bookshelf Speakers
Monster & AR cables. Monster XP speaker wire w/ plugs.

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCD425

Good sound, nice display, the remote control

It was broken wen I bought it

Good, but maybe a little bit week construction

Similar Products Used:

Denon Nad 522