the NAD 333 is what got me started into vinyl & i have loved every second with it. The vinyl sound is just reminiscing of good old days. I have now about 50+ LPs since.It is basically an OEM Rega 2 with a RB250 tonearm, MDF plate. In stock form, it is a good turntable with a lots of potential It sound very warm especially with vocals. I paired this table to a Bellari VP130 tube preamp. I bought mine used off Ebay and started upgrading it, first it was the tonearm wires which were somewhat frayed anyway. I got the Incognito wiring & improved the sound quite a bit. Then the goldring elektra cartridge which was decent was changed to Grado green & that made it the sound much more detailed. I also upgraded the stub end & weight to rega stainless steel normally on RB300, that improved the impact & bass. I also improved the isolation which were the rubber feet that were no good anyway to Mapleshade Heavyfeet. That made the table so much more quiet. I may eventually get an acrylic platter and ceramic bearing for it. I love how each step got me into better sound.
I definitely recommend this excellent table for somebody starting out into the great world of vinyl. Happy Listening

Simple design, good image, full manual operation, Rega's RB250 tonearm with Goldring Elektra cartridge, sounds very good.

interconnect should be upgraded

NAD 533 really opens my eyes to analog playback. Ever since I tried the 533, I sold all my cds and began collecting LPs instead. The 533 sounds so smooth and warm, something cd players don't offer. I could notice improvement to the rest of my audio equipments, power amp & preamp through the music. The 533 comes full manual operation, simple sleek design, Rega’s RB250 tonarm, Goldring Electra cartridge, MDF platter. This combination is perfect for overall sonic reproduction. I would definitely recommend this turntable to anyone who wants to try or get back to vinyl.

Similar Products Used:

NONE

the OEM RB250 tonearm,it comes with a GOLDRING ELEKTRA cartridge.

The first thing i noticed about this deck is that it is small,skinny and light. to me it seemed that it was bigger when viewing it online at NAD. i would prefer a little more weight. also the look of the deck is drab grey formica covered partical board. Now for the money one could agree that these observations are right on course but given that other budget turntable companies like project's "debut" give you the option of several colors to choose from NAD could try a little harder in the design department, however, the NAD 533 is not actually made by NAD. it is actually made by REGA and sourced out to NAD who just puts their badge on it. The second thing i noticed is how light the platter is. it is MDF and just sits on the spindle shelf below it. this is another area i would like to see some extra weight but any heavier a platter or adding a record weight may affect the motors ability to keep consistent speed. the platter is covered by a piece of felt that is not attached and becomes stuck to every record by way of static. The third thing is the relation of the tonearm and the platter. perhaps with a larger/taller cartridge the tonearm may sit more level across the platter ,but, with the goldring elektra cartridge the arm sits to low on the platter causing the Vertical Tracking Angle to be way off. you have to add something extra to the top of the platter to correct this until you reach a level plane. the arm is already high enough the platter seems to low. THE tonearm is an OEM RB250 with nothing fancy about it other than there are several items on the market to buy in the upgrade department. the one thing i would suggest,besides adjusting/correcting the VTA,is to replace the counter weight and arm stubb. go online and enter into the search engine "rega modifications" and check out what comes back. beware.....the more you upgrade the arm the more the table shows its limitations. Earlier i mentioned the motors ability to to maintain correct speed. to check this i have not done anything more scientific than put the NAD up against my classic PIONEER wich uses a rock solid DC motor. the album i used is Book of Dreams by Steve Miller on the second side track two there is a sustained introduction for about 30 seconds and on the NAD it very audibly wavers up and down instead of one continuous steady sound. i found this to be true of other albums where the notes are sustained or decay. i find this very distracting and a disapointment. I know that because we are talking about a budget deck that you end up with a cheap AC motor but i still expect something that relays the music without such obvious problems. the same can be said about the rest of this turntable. With all the uprades and there are MANY available,including a better motor offered by rega,it is real easy to get yourself into debt(read:money pit) over this deck and money being hard to come by you could do better. Some of the smaller things i noticed are cheesy feet that are non adjustable.plastic bendy type hinges for the lid which by the way will cost you 20-25.00 to replace and an on/off switch that causes a harsh clicking sound thru the system when used.watch out for your speakers! I would suggest the consumer look to some other companies like: 1.PRO-JECT by SUMIKO - range/400-1000+ 2.MUSIC HALL - same as above 3.CLAERAUDIO starting at 1000.00 with arm 4.VPI SCOUT about 1500.00 with arm 5.an older table with an s-shaped tonearm , a heavy plater,belt or direct drive and an arm thats adjustable. one thats been well cared for will have many features that at the time were and still are better than the NAD 533 and many other budget turntables. One last word on the OEM RB250 TONEARM. You can see this arm being used by many companies where the deck can cost upwards of a 1000.00 easy. it still needs the modifications to bring it up to speed with those decks. the companies i suggested have given some good thought into the design of the turntable as a WHOLE UNIT working together to bring out the best in your vinyl. A SINGLE TONEARM ALONE DOES NOT MAKE A GOOD DECK. LONG LIVE VINYL!!!!!!!!!!

Rega arm. Lots of upgrade potential

At this price none at all.

This is just an amazing deal. I don't know how to describe the pleasure of using this turntable. All I know is my feet were tapping and I REALLY enjoyed playing my old vinyl.After hearing this baby I wondered if my CD player was broken. My wife said that the sound that was once compressed in a ball was now completely expanded.I chose the NAD for its upgrade potential but I have to say I will enjoy it as is for quite some time.

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Dual 505

Clean, understated look. LOW noise floor, and $369 for a real turntable? Unbeatable. A Rega 250 arm for less $. Think Acura at a Honda price.

No auto-return, awkward to change speeds-(but who really listens to 45s anyway?)

This is my 2nd 'table, it replaced a Garrard that was tweaked to it's limits. The most impressive thing about the 533 is the complete silence. No rumble or motor noise at all. The bass response is deep and clean with the overall tone very pleasing. I did replace the stock cartridge with an Ortofon X-3 based on the store's advice. I'm an novice when it comes to analog gear but I can certainly appreciate the 533 low noise floor and excellent sound.

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Only a Garrard.

Simplicity, build, silence except for the music.

No VTA adjustment. If you upgrade the cart to something deeper, you'll either have to get a VTA adjustor or add shims.

It's the same old story: The allure of vinyl called...a siren song. I had nothing more than a not-much-played cheapie Technics, then bought two vintage Duals off ePray. Finally decided to get a good entry-level table. Settled on the MMF-5 but couldn't find one in town. Scouring turned up a "factory refurbished" NAD 533 (there seem to be lots of these). The guy at the store, bless him, knew from nothing about turntables due to his age (he was honest enough to admit it), but as we were unpacking it he did remark that there appeared to be nothing refurbished about it. It seemed all new. After the very minimal setup I started spinning licorice pizzas. The first two things you notice are the profound simplicity of the machine itself, no frills, no bells, no whistles, it's a REAL TURNTABLE. And the utter silence of the motor. Not even a whisper. The supplied Goldring Elektra cartridge isn't the greatest in the world, or so they say, but it opened up new vistas for me, even on albums I had played many, many times. The little guy also seems like a good tracker on the few warped records I threw at it. Overall, the 533 seems highly musical to me (whatever that means, ha ha), and does exactly what it's supposed to to. Plus, it just looks cool, very understated. I am currently awaiting an acrylic platter that will add a touch of white to the picture and perhaps improve the sound. We shall see. Hope to run into you at the thrift stores.

Similar Products Used:

cheapie technics, Dual 1245, numerous others over lo these many years.

Build quality RB250 tonearm Upgradable components Excellent sound quality for the $

Some may not like the stock arm's lack of VTA adjustment. However, aftermarket VTA adjusters are available, if needed. The interconnects could be of higher quality.

There isn't alot to add to the previous reviews. The 533 is a high-quality, no-nonsense, musical deck for very little money, new or used. I might be in the minority, but I prefer the NAD's MDF platter to the glass platters on the older planar 2 and current P3 decks. Glass, to my ears, tends to sound overly bright and hard. MDF is less resonant and more sonically "neutral" in comparasson. I have also heard good things about acrylic platters and am considering ordering one for the NAD. The stock Goldring Electra cartridge is a nice bonus and great if you need to "make due" until funds allow for an upgrade. I am using a Shure V15 VxMR cartridge and absolutely love how it sounds with the 533; clarity, detail and smoothness. I HIGHLY recommend the V15. The previous posters have suggested a number of good upgrades/tweaks that can be performed on the NAD to enhance its sound quality. I have done two modifications to the 533 that I feel have significantly improved its sound. The first thing I did was replace the RB250's end stub and counterweight with a stainless steel RB300 stub and weight ($54 shipped from www.britaudio.com). This mod essentially upgrades any RB250 to a RB300. I noticed deeper, tighter bass and clearer mids and highs. I also removed the stock rubber feet and replaced them with Michell "tall" Tenderfeet cones. They needed to be screwed into the plinth using the existing holes drilled for the stock rubber feet. Otherwise, the plinth easily shifted on top of the cones. This mod further enhanced overall clarity and imaging. It is important to note that while these mods did improve the sound quality of the NAD, this turntable as a stock unit with a quality cartridge sounds excellent as-is. You get alot for your money!

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Older Dual's, Techniques D.D. 'tables, B&O (no contest, the NAD smokes 'em all!) Music Hall MMF 5 (briefly)

good stable rotation speeds.

Cannot easily change speed.

Rather than give my opinion on the sound of the player (as there are already numerous good ones below!) I thought I give a few mesurements from my NAD 533 for rotation speed and flutter. btw. I think this is an excellent turntable. I measured the interval between rotations for about 10 minutes, by timing the occurance of a scratch on the inner groove on an old record. Each measurement has an error of about 0.03 secs. My measured rotation speed is 33.70 rev/min - so about a 1% error (as it should be 33 1/3). I also found that over 232 cycles the turntable goes through a cyclic change of 0.02 sec. Hence, while the speed is a tad fast, the rotation rate is very stable with a steady change of 0.000086 sec / rotation. I should note that the player is plugged into a normal powerbar - so the power is not regulated.

Excellent sound and build for first time vinyler

Included cartidge

Excellent price/performance/build ratio for the first time vinyl user. Replace cart as soon as funds allow. I replaced my MMF after 3 months with this table and have been happy ever since.

Similar Products Used:

Music Hall MMF

VALUE VALUE VALUE
It leaves you *plenty* of room to grow

Crapola construction, see my previous post below

This is just an update of the status of my NAD 533 and my feelings of its capabilities after a couple years of ownership. I've explored almost all avenues of improvement and I can say that this $450 table can be elevated to the status of something around the Rega P25 ($1250). The mods include rewiring, Origin Live style tonearm rigidity fixes, platter replacement, motor and plinth isolation improvements, record weight/clamp addition, and addition of VTA capabilities. The cost of all these was somewhere around $275-$350 (including new interconnect), the overhead required to go to a Rega P3, though I did machine the platter and record weight myself.

See details here:

http://csown.dhs.org/music/rega_mod.html

The RB250 tracks all good cartridges on the market today up into stratospheric price ranges. As long as you make sure the rumble and stability of the machine is up to task, it can track >$1000 cartridges without difficulty and give you most of what those carridges have to offer. I have used a Benz H2O and Lyra Lydian Beta in this table with stellar results. The Benz tracks like a champion and the Lyra is the statement in detail retrieval.

Since Rega has gone to MDF platter with the P2, the NAD is probably the better value nowadays if you don't care about custom finish. The P3 is probably a better value than the NAD if you just want to do plug-n-play with the player, but it also has the potential to be marginally better than the NAD with all the mods if it also has the mods. A minimal modification of adding a Ringmat makes a great improvement, though an acrylic platter will be much improved over this.

My table has come a long way from the original Planar 2 design, and I am exceedingly happy with it. I will be moving to a Michell Gyrodec/SME IV in the next months, but this machine marked my start into serious vinyl and will always have a place in my heart (as well as in my house, since I will probably never be able to sell such a hacked piece of art on the used market!).