Price, clarity

Soundstage (there's a hole in the middle), hi-mid brightness

Don't listen to other CD players after you buy one!!!

I made the mistake of buying the NAD C541... and A/B'ing it against my friends Arcam CD72. The NAD sounded tinny, thin, and had a huge hole in the middle of the soundstage. It pushes sounds wide and doesn't have much depth. I don't know if phase relansionships have been 'tweaked' to try and get a 'wide' effect, but it is the players major weakness. Also some sounds, particulary electric guitar, can be a bit overbearing in terms of brightness. On the other hand, the Arcam has a full, bold, warm, refined sound and an awsome soundstage. The depth and space it creates it truely amazing, and its sonic reporduction seems flawless. It may cost twice as much, but if you want good CD reply keep saving and get the Arcam. I truely wish I had.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha CDC656, Rotel 971, Marantz CD9000SE & Arcam CD72 (after I bought the NAD - doht!)

Detail, clarity.

Skipping & remote

I've noticed the skipping many people have mentioned but nothing too extreme. The remote is awful (just like all NAD remotes) and the build quality is a bit suspect..... but, the sound is superb. Some people say it's base light, others that the treble is too soft. It seems to me it will depend on your whole set up. I am really pleased with the detail and openess of the sound produced by the unit. If I were to pick a fault with my system it would be the treble is a touch sharp on certain recordings. For info I use the NAD C540 with a NAD C370 amp via an LAT IC-100Mk2 interconnect and PMC FB-1 speakers with Audioquest Indigo+ cable.

Similar Products Used:

Denon & technics players

lovely sound with lots of inner details; nice nad-design

the IR light on remote control seems to be too weak

when i was considering about buying nice cdplayer i was thinking about the c521 from nad. but -you know that situation:) -in the shop i have tried also the c541 (to hear what could be better on c521) and i was stunned and decided.
the c541 can use a benefit of 24bit HDCD decoders (also on nonHDCD discs) so the sound becomes nice inner clarity and details. it has not the fastest/hardest but the finest sound. to describe it -you don't hear the massive chord sound but the 6 concurrently sounding strings. i like it this way /but it's a question of my taste.
now i have this player about 6months and it is playing everyday all night long. i didn't experience any technical problems and i didn't find any unreadable cds (i've got also burned ones).
i just don't like the remote control. imho it has too weak IR light -i allways have to turn the remote control towards the player. but it's smiling at me with the cool cyberpunk nad design so i don't hate it so much:)
to make some summary -cool cdplayer with HDCD feature. i guess -if you like clear fine sound you may also think about rotel but nad has a better price.

Similar Products Used:

rotel, nad c521

EVERYTHING

NOTTA ONE

Update to my review from a while back--My 540 is now almost 7 months old and it operates perfectly.Well, it did stick on one tune but that one cd is badly scratched and it's my wife's--she does not take care of her cd's--anyway,I FINALLY GOT RID OF THE ADCOM CRAP(i gave the rest away) and got a new NAD amp and a wonderful LUXMAN preamp--this combined with the 540 cd player is a match made in heaven.I still have not encountered any problems other folks have listed fortunately with the exception of the badly scratched cd I mentioned earlier.As for myself I still highly recommend this player if still available ! It really does produce quality sound.No, my stereo equipment is not MCINTOSH(GOD I WISH)--However,it sounds clean and clear to me and that's all that counts ! great price for it at $300 dollars--excellent midfi player.

neutral warm solid sound

none

Mine has not even had enough time to burn in and it sounds wonderful.In my sysytem :adcom 5300/gtp450,paradigm model 11 v.2--- it gives a solid flat sort of sound that is very tight--the mids are excellent,highs are not harsh,just filtered sort of..another words just done properly without them sounding so harsh and the bass is controlled very well.Fortunately,I have not yet experienced any of the problems other reviewers have thank god ! It plays all sorts of cd's with no problems--has not tracked improperly at all--I dont know if this happened immediately or later on for some folks and I have not tried any cd-r's yet but if it does not work then the sony dvd player will that I have and dont laugh but the dvd player for some reason has an excellent sound to it all it's own--I dont know what kind of electronics are inside though.If you are in the market for a great sounding cd player then i recommend this one with honors hands down--especially for the price now that it is an older model! I hate to hear others had terrible issues with theirs---such a shame that sometimes nad could allow that to happen with their quality control dept..i will not complain one bit since i have no reason too ,but I sure could about adcom...that's another story...i give it 5 stars all the way around for performance and value

Similar Products Used:

denon(pure crap),sony dvd player

Addition to my review

Just wanted to mention that vocals are incredible. Smooth, warm, full, tight, and tangible. Again, a great CD player for the money (and a good one at any price).

Great sound for little money

remote isn't very responsive

Great sound warm and easy to follow, makes me forget about hifi and brings music. Extremely audiophile player. The Soundstage compared to other players in this class is quite elaborate. Compared with the Arcam, the NAD has better bass and sounds a little more natural in the highs. The design is a matter of taste, but who needs sophisticated state-of-the-art programming functions? The NAD just comes as a CD player, and it does a very good job.
Obviously, there has been some improvement concerning CD-Rs which don't make any trouble anymore (maybe because the player uses an invisible laser now which uses a different light spectrum) the C540 is certainly a bargain.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam Alpha 7

Suberb sound for that low price!

no XLR original output :(

for this low costs, there is not one cd player that makes better sounds! :)

Similar Products Used:

NAD 520, SONY(sorry) CDX ???

Great reproduction of music without coloration

None that i found of YET

One of the best CD player made in this price range of $500-1200 that i've heard of.... and i really like simplicity of this system. During the burn time, it sounds a li'l bit harsh, but giving it 20-25 hours of listening time, it changes dramatically..... warm, detail and casual NAD sound..
listened with B&W Matrix 1, NAD C340, use Kimber Kable interconnects and speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

Rotel CD Player,
MB10-Nakamichi
CDP1000 Parasound

Nice design, excellent sound, digital out (coaxial)

no optical digital output

Has a very good sound, feels nice to listen to