This is a tough machine to get a handle on. I've read everything posted here, and others, and the reviews (mostly glowing) encouraged me to purchase the unit used for $200.

The unit produces good sound - especially in comparison to other $200 players (don't pay more), and provides significant upgrades in sound quality when compared to entry level players, or re-purposed DVD players etc.

Much was my story, upgrading a rag-tag bunch of consumer equipment (ie Panasonic DVD, Yamaha receiver, Athena speakers), but now that the rest of my system has evolved (AudioRefinement Pre5, VTL ST85, Quad 21 speakers with similar upgrade to cables and wires) the NAD, well, it's weaknesses are revealed and is truely, in the company of my other components, the far weakest link.

The source is the starting point in the creation of the music we listen to -- weakness here cannot be compensated by anything downstream in the system.

If you have a casual system, or are looking to spend $200 on a "better" player, I don't think you can do much better. In the longer term, with other investments made in decent quality components and the like, this player falls a long way short.

If you are hard up for a decent source and have limited funds, go for it.

If you are looking to upgrade your rig along the way, this would not be the player to benchmark your system with - spend your first money on a good source - stretch to the 700 to 1000 mark and you can get into Meridan 506 or 508 -- an infinitely better player that you can grow your system around. For about half - the Creek CD50 is available and is worth at least the upgrade in cost.

To each their own - I'm not knocking the unit - and by the way, it does have issues with reading CDs reliably - if your are looking for a great sounding $200 player, look no more, but let's face it, $200 players sound like, well, $200 players. That's what makes reviewing this unit difficult -- great value for the money, but not really a great player in the long run.

Have fun - tweak away!

B

I was lucky enough to get a chance to pick one of these up after selling my beloved C515BEE. I was unsure it would sound as good with the 515 being a newer model, but I have to say the 521 sounds better. It almost sounds modded. It is used and I know little about it's past. Some talk about burn in time. Maybe this unit is really burned in well, but I am hearing things I didn't with the newer model. Wow. Better detail, and smoother. The bass is just different. It may be a little richer or slower bass, but I like it. I think the DA converter in the 521 is the Burr Brown vs. the Sigma Delta in the 515. Also, the 521 is a little deeper chassis wise which may have allowed them a better layout or a bigger power supply. All I know is it is wonderful. I now have a favorite CD player as I have been monkeying around with many for months including CAL DX2, several Sony ES models, Magnavox CDB650, and some other nice vintage pieces and this one takes the cake. Bravo NAD. Keep on making affordable pack leading equipment and keep working on the durability. Many of these could be classics if they can stand up over time.

Good Price.... Good Audio Quality and Power relative to price....

See points 1 and 2 in the Summary above.....

Honestly, this is a difficult product for me to review..... I owned a NAD C352 Integrated Amp and C521Bee CD Player for almost 2 years and before I upgraded to Rotel seperates (which I absolutely love).....

For the price I think NAD delivers good audio quality and an overall decent performance..... but Unfortunately from what I've experienced with theses two NAD products they suffer from at least 2 real issues:

1) They are Ugly and look cheap (which is not necessarily a major concern to everyone)....

2) They seem to always suffer from some type of really annoying electrical problems..... My Amp has the crappiest volume control via remote ever (it basically switches from low voliume to too high with just one touch of the volume button)... it also showed some issues when I started hooking up all my HT components to it and tried to switch audio signals..... My CD player takes a ridiculously long time to read a ot of my CDs and can't read many of them.... my old cheap Technics CD player had no such difficulties.... I recently returned to the store where I bought the NADs to check for speakers and was told that they no longer sell the NAD AV Receiver line becuase of problems with Video Switching....

My overall assesment is that NAD creates good products but I believe that they cut too many corners in order to try and cram as much 'quality sound' in for the minimal cost..... which can lead to glaring and frustrating flaws in what would otherwise be amazing equipment (for the price)....

So, my advice is to thoroughly tryout any NAD product you're considering buying and ensure that you can live with any potential shortcomings before purchasing one.....

Similar Products Used:

Techniics Receiver, Rotel Amp & Pre-amp, Musical Fidelity XT100

The C521bee sound great at this price with excellent build quality and sonic abilitys to shame players costing much more.

At this price none really some might not like the styling of the Nad but in its titanium form i think it looks stylish and gives no clues of its budget price

I recently purchased the C521bee from my local Audio X. I got this player to replace my marantz cd player. My sstem is a marantz pm4400 amp with Mission M33i speakers, im using black rodium interconnects with black rodium ast400 bi-wire. Im Very pleased With the C521bee sounds Exciting no matter what music you play the detail is Excellent and the bass is warm with good timing. Theres plenty of warmth and Scale no matter what music you like The bass maybe Big but is well controlled. If like Me you love hifi But are on a tight budget Yo wont go far wrong with the nad. You will probably have noticed there are savings to be had if you buy online but beware it does affect your warranty with nad. I payed full price for the c521bee but my local audio X also included A black rodium interconnect worth £30 so its not always cheaper to buy online.

Customer Service

Customer service with audio X is second to none you may pay a bit more than online hifi dealers but you wont get the service and advise they gave....

Similar Products Used:

marantz Cd5400
Cambridge audio azur540c

Sound (rumors say)

Reliability

Very disappointed! Bought this CD player brand new less than two weeks go. From the very first day I noticed that it makes occasional tiny skips when playing CDs. The issue seemed to have reslved after 1-2 days. However, after 7 days of usage, it just stopped recognizing CDs and playing all together. I still cannot believe it: one would think that they could have learnt by now how to manufacture a reliable basic CD player. Apparently, NAD has not! It doesn't matter what the sound is, if it the player doesn't last!

Very good low investment with High Quality result

none

This is a follow up of my previous review....
Recently, I've tweaked this unit with blu-tack and the result is superb!
Tweaked the CD mechanism and also put the tacks on top of the capacitors.
The unit became more alive, soundstage magically improved!! More detailed!!
I believe the good quality of the unit before tweaked is already THAAT GOOD!!
After tweaked....Superb!
Highly recommended unit....

Similar Products Used:

none

clean detailed sound

no HDCD

great cd player. the only other "high end" cd player i've owned was a harmon kardon. and that thing sucked. this cd player is fantastic. clean, detailed sound. its beging used with a adcom gfa-6002 amp, rotel 980 pre-amp, and phase tech tatro 7.5 speakers.

Similar Products Used:

harmon kardon 5 disc changer. various dvd players

Good in Details, be it on High Freq, Mid or Low Frequency,

Sometime the unit cannot read any CD popped on to it, when the unit is totally in OFF position, but the problem will vanish if put on STANDBY Mode instead of OFF position. Other than that... NONE.....

Produces VERY GOOD reproduction of Sound at very affordable price.... It was a huge leap from me from previously listening CD on DVD Player then move to dedicated CD Player.... System used: NAD CD Player C521BEE Denon AVR 1603 A/V Receiver JBL Northridge E-30 Bookshelf speaker I'm planning to buy dedicated stereo int.amp, of which NAD 320 BEE is on the top of my list now....

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV 370 DVD Player

Free, open sound.

Unreliable.

I bought this CD player from Richer Sounds when my old Sony player started skipping. When it plays, the sound is amazing, very clear and open, and yet with good bass and plenty of speed. The remote is well designed, and I like the fuss-free looks. Unfortunately it is unreliable. Some of my CD's do not play properly in it, mainly nasty scratching sounds but a few won't read at all. All in all I'm quite disappointed.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP303ES, Marantz CD46 & CD63SE, Nad 502, Rotel.

does not color the music. Balanced accurate sound and open dynamic sound stage. A steal at this price.

none at this price

I bought this unit because of the reviews. my 17 year old Nakamichi cdp died a month after i hooked it up to a jolida 302b. At first i thought that i had made a mistake as the unit sounded a bit thin. Other reviewers said that it took time to open up so i played it as much as possible for week and 1/2. Once this baby burned in the sound was dynamic, balanced,good sound stage for a player of this price. I find that this player does not color the sound at all. Bad cd's will sound bad and good quality cd's will amaze you. I have this hooked up to a jolida 302b with silver serpents, svs woofer and infinity rs5 speakers. I was going to buy a jolida 100 cdp but I feel the NAD was more bang for the buck and every bit as good sonically. I don't know how this player will sound with solid state gear but I can tell you it's a great match with tube gear.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi, Yamaha, rotel, sony. Demoed Jolida (very good cdp, hk, denon, onkyo