price, sound stage, details focus.

none for the price I paid

After three months of listening, I think I am ready to give it a quick review. I purchased this unit from ebay about 3 months ago. After reading all the reviews here, I was unsure about getting it at first. It sounds much better than the mass produce CD players that one can get at from local electronic store. Sure it doesn't sound like my proceed CD/DA combination but use it in my second system which consist mainly NADs it really sounds beautiful. The nad 512 sounds excellent with deep and wide sound stage, image is excellent. For the money I paid I have no complains.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

rotel, adcom, parasound, procee cd/da

Has a good bit of bass punch. However, soundstage is not so great, and there is less depth than might be desired. Things sound a little bit compressed in terms of imaging, and also a little bit forward, but not too much so. The sound is very warm, perhaps to tbe point of being unrealistic. However, for the price it is a good deal. I personally spent a bit more and got the Parasound C/DP-1000.

Great sound at a really nice price. Nice and simple front design.

Little display

A very nice player at a great price. I had the outstanding experience to listen to a Mark Levinson system (No 37 cd transport and No 36 digital audio processor), a setup simply oriented only to the lucky ones, but in any case my point is that after listening to that $15000 system, the 512 is very good for just $300. There is a nice balance between the low and high frecuencies, good imaging and definition. I´ve had the 512 now for almost 2 years and never had the display problem all people report (must be lucky), nevertheless I do agree that is not a good design at all, hard to see from a distance. NAD´s approach to sound is excellent, my setup also includes a T770 receiver(which has I think no rival at its price). Using the digital output of the 512 into the T770 sounds similar, eventhough I got to say that the DA converters on the T770 are smoother.
Also the 512 plays all my CDRs with no problem at all, once experienced skipping but it was a damaged disk.
I am upgrading in the next days to the C540 cd player from NAD, I havent listened to it yet but I definitely know that a cd player from NAD its worth every penny...
Since the only perfect thing is the No 37 from Madrigal, I give 4 stars to the 512.

Similar Products Used:

sony, jvc all toys compared to any nad product...

I purchased the 512 about a week ago and am loving it. Havent had any problems with long cd's, my buttons work great, or slow track access. Compared it to a rotel, rotel didnt come close so i took it back. My dealer said if i found any problems whatsoever just bring it back a nd get a new one. Best Bang for the Buck!

Surprising performance for the price

Bass extension, dynamics; build quality, HORRIBLE display

The NAD 512 certainly shows you how good budget-audiophile components have gotten in recent years. No, it does not have the extension, transparency, detail, or dynamics of much more expensive CD players, but at $320, you have to expect this. It sounds good for what it is, though.

The display, however, is a disappointing drawback... Mine burned out after a year and a half. Mayber newer units have this problem fixed, but it's something to consider.

If you are on an extremely tight budget but want to start to build a very basic high sound-quality system, I would recommend this player. Personally, I bought this player only because I wanted a cheap audiophile CD player until I could afford something better. I was happy for a while, but I've just upgraded to a Naim and there is just simply no comparison.

Well my 512 works good overall, and sounds good. The quality of the music is quite detailed and pleasant. It has good features like simple controls and coax digital output. There's just one problem. These are notorious for their displays going out. They use a stupid LCD display which is hard to read from a distance, and I've heard lots of stories of the backlight bulb burning out. Well I can add one more story becuase mine just burned out after 6 months of owning the 512. For $300 it has good sound and is something I recommend, but COUNT on the display bulb going out and add $20 to the price for shipping it in to have the display bulb replaced. Why the bonehead who designed the display on this thing didnt use an easy to read, reliable LED display I will never know. I don't mean to harp on the display, but it is dissapointing. Overall everything else works prefectly well. This unit is a 4 or 5 star unit sonically, but since so many displays burned out including mine, I can only give it a 3 star overall rating. In hindsight I might have bought a Marantz or Rotel instead and sacrificed the digital output for the same amount of money. Shop for yourself and decide..

Amazing sound quality, great design, alpha numeric display

slow direct track access, large power supply create electromagnetic interference with Television sets

This is a great CD player for any mid to high level system. I greatly implore you to consider the NAD line of CD players if you at all interested in upgrading. Many articles were published in late '97 claiming this is argueably the best CD value under $1000. My only reason to ever stop using this product is SACD.

Similar Products Used:

Sony

Enters "Hi-Fidelity" level... has fairly natural, real, and involving musicallity...

Bright, harsh top-end on poorly recorded/transferred CD's...

Sound quality is better than most players under $350.00... built quality is good also. The top-end is not rolled off, as many so-called "hi-end" CD players are, so, with trashy CD's [75% of what's on the market] the sound is rather bright... although, with well recorded music, the treble is fairly enjoyable.
A problem for me is; this player has low impedence output... which doesn't work well with my older [70's] pre-amp...
On the negitive; the "scan" is basicly useless [slow as death], the display is useless [unless you use a telescope], and the disc drawer sounds like "heavy machinery" when opening and closing.

But, for $229.00, the NAD was better than anything else I knew of, except older Denon [or other HQ used] CD players... and since I wanted something new, the 512 was my best choice...

Similar Products Used:

Crap; Sony... looking to buy older Denon

Oh man......
four big steps from my beginner sony cd. passes several of my most rigorous cd tests. for the money it is it. no bells and whistles...like the marantz 67se which i was considering buying. for an inexpensive introduction to the world of higher end cd players...nad 512 is it. dont get the 510 since it doesnt have a digital output just incase you get a preamp with a better d/a converter. spend the extra money.

I do not have a NAD player, however my friend has had one for about 8 years. His display burnt out also (about 1 year after he got it). Come on NAD, for a company that makes such great equipment, why can't you catch up to an age old Quality problem?? How hard is it to fix?? Hire me and I'll solve yer problem My 10 year old Technics' display still works fine. (But will be replaced soon by something nicer)