I use 512 with the NAD 314 integrated, Acoustic Profiles(Audiosphere) PSL 88-6 as the main speakers, Acoustic Profiles Mystere as the second pair wired in "ambience" mode, unexpensive Esoteric Audio interconnection cables/wires.Being on budget, I found this system perfectly suited with my recent musical preferences (Eno, Sylvian, Brook, Budd, Enya etc.) Sound is pretty warm,smooth and "liquid", with the deep enough soundstage and clear detail. The highs could be a bit too bright with the bright speakers. I would definetely recommend it for the money.

My Arcam Alpha 5 plus was getting fixed so the dealer lent me the NAD 512 as a replacement--sorry, this CD player is just not worth the money.
I found it harsh sounding for some Jazz recordings and just down right boring for many classical and alternative/pop CDs. I know I am somewhat spoiled by my Arcam's sound but non the less I think there may be other alternatives out there to this CD player. I would consider a base Arcam at a slightly higher price as a much better choice.

Most lesser expensive players sound quite bright and nasty. NAD attempts here to put out a player without the nastiness. They rolled off the high end and the bass. This player comes off sounding relatively mellow and pleasant, but not exciting. There's not much detail to be had here, nor much in the way of dynamics. Soundstage is not that deep and imaging is not solid. For the money, however, it may make its compromises in the right places. Unfortunately, an awful lot of compromising has to be done at this price range, and you're either going to miss alot of the information on the disc in exchange for pleasant sound, or you're going to get alot of detail and dynamics along with brash highs and tubby lows.
This player gets pretty high marks for what it does and doesn't try to do; however, if you can scrape up the dough, the Arcam 7 is a far more musical player, exhibiting more detail, better dynamics, faster transients, much better imaging, and less rolled off highs without sounding harsh. There is a considerable jump in enjoyment, but you are talking an almost $300 difference. It might just be the difference between enjoying your CDs as background music and sitting up and noticing the performance, tapping your toes in the process.

In the meantime, I'll give the NAD 4 stars for execution in this price range. (NAD seems to excel at 'value.')

I have had the 512 for about 3 months now. I really like it a lot. I am running it with the NAD 312 integrated amp but I am upgrading to ethier the NAD 316 or a Carver CM2002. This CD player is very smooth. I also heard the that the LCD display goes out but the place that I bought it from said that they are authorized to fix it and would do it for free *if* it did happen. This is my first *hifi* player so I do not have a lot to go from. I am giving it five stars though.

I bought the 512 for $250 and it impressed me right out of the box. I am not one to go critiquing sonic characteristics of CD Players but I liked the 512 because it did everything I asked of it, did it smoothly, competently, without fuss, flash, or gimmicks. I loved its feel which was, to a large extent, responsible for my liking of it. It doesn't look or feel like something you'd pick up at Circuit City. It has personality, if you will.
But I was less than impressed with the build quality. Its cheaply made, not as well as a Sony I have thats half the price. The display failed a few months after I bought it. I replaced the bulbs myself and two years later they burnt out again. And the remote is so crappily made, I'm amazed! If it wasn't for the cheap build, I'd give it a 5. As it is, a 4 is what it gets from me.

Just purchased the NAD 522 (I know this is the 512 forum) and talked to thesales guy. I mentioned that there seem to be a lot of complaints re the LCD,
but he said NAD used one bulb without any cooling and the display always
burnt out.

He said that NAD redesigned the LCD by using two bulbs that are bit cooler.

Btw, What HIFI gave the 522 5 stars, but Hi Fi Choice gave the 522 the absolute
worst rating.

I make up my mind a few weeks. For now 3/5 just to be neutral.

I brought a NAD 512 for HK$1600 for 5 months.I think it is very worth $1600.

I connect it to the AMP using a TARA lab Prism33.
At first I try to audit it by playing some Jazz music. And it sound great in details.
However, I found the treble of NAD512 was quite harsh, especially the female vocal.
The treble is too sharp.

Generally, I satified it in playing Pop music and JAZZ.

I have been generally happy with my 512 from a sound perspective, especially considering the price. I did have the display burn out problem, which was fixed for me gratis by the shop i purchased it from. The new problem I have is that it occasionally does not cue up cd's. After closing the drawer, cueing does not happen and 10 seconds later the drawer opens. After a few tries most discs will play, but it is sort of frustrating. Seems to be more likely to do this in hot humid weather. Reading reviews, it seems I am the only one who has had this problem, so it is hard to say if I got a lemon or what. Based on problems, I'd give it a 3.5 (only allowed even numbered increments tho!)

Awesome sound. Killer price.

That damn display. (PooF!) Quality control.

1st off... I love it. Call me crazy but I like the exterior. Clean simple, easy to use (except for the baffling programming, which I use once a year roughly.) Like the 314 amp (which first bought for use only for the phono stage, but will now be paired with the 512 and a set of Polk S4s for a really nice mini-system) it's with NAD's K.I.S.S. philosophy. Oh, and it sound great, to my ears at least. There are some gripes though. This actually my 3rd 512. 1st one was defective out of the box... dead channel. Second had some kind of strange D/A converter problem. If you played certain kinds of music or musical passages through it, the damn thing would sound like it's farting! And it just blew the display out again. I called the store, who directed me to a repair shop, who directed me to NAD, who sent me 4 replacement bulbs for free. I'll post the phone number here when/if I ever find it again. :P I still love it, and at the current rate of blown bulbs I *should* get another 4-8 years of useful service out of it! =)

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCD-520

I bought the 512 and used this CD player in connection with NAD 314 integrated amp and a pair of NHT super one. Most of recordings sound better than I've heard them before. It's very simple, clean, and good sounding affordable CD player. I strongly recommand it to low-budget audio lovers like me.