Cd mechanism and changer. Very good midrange in its own right. Fantastic as transport

treble needs greater refinement and runs hot (loaded CDs can come out warm to the touch)

I bought the MB10 second hand on ebay paying £200 pounds, for a pristine sample. After run in, the sound was very good. Refined, quite detailed, rich midrange. I found the top end a little sharp and edgy at times, though. The player promised, but didn't quite deliver on that promise.

The cd change mechanism is wonderful. It copes with most CDs I've thrown at it, even home written ones, and flawlessly (though a little noisily) jumps between loaded CDs and their tracks. This made me wonder about its use as a transport. So, I added a DAC (tried various ones) and this CD player performed brilliantly. I strongly recommend it as a CD transport. As a transport it would get 5* (it is as good as my Roksan Kandy MkIII in this respect) and betters other transports I've tried IMO.

It does run hot, since it uses the bottom panel as a heatsink, so I'm careful not to leave it on all the time

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qute a few

It changes 5CDs.Beutiful design.Practical use.

Can't turn off the power with the remote controller.

I bought it for 430,000 Korean won. It's about 400 US dollars. Pretty cheap. It has a great sound with tight bass. Compared to other more expensive units of Denon or Onkyo its sound is clear and not that much far from them, or even better.
If you have a Really Hi-end Audio system I would not recommend this MB10. Cause in the mid range the sounds are not that clear. Can't tell chello from violin and contra bass. They all come together.
For me it is good enough. Can't expect from a $400 unit a sound from a $2000 unit.
My only concern is when the MB-10 break down, how can I get my CD's out of the machine.

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TEAC Cd-5

Very good sound quality

very fussy about CD surface

The Nakamichi was choosen on the basis of extended listening tests using a range of clasical CDs from my own collection - I knew what they could sound like. After a while I noted that one CD repeatedly played on my prior unit without error would jump backwards and forwards at repeatable locations on the CD. After careful listening tests I fond several more CDs that gave the same effect. The subject disks were tested at my dealers - only Nakamichi performed this way all other CD players were fine. Nakamichi had no answer other than that the CDs were faulty. In the end the dealer refunded the price of the player & I took a lower cost Onkyo. The sound is possibly not as clear but I can now at least here the music as written.
The musik bank changer worked fine but I do wonder what happens if there is an electronic glitch.

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Panasonic then the Nakamichi and now Onkyo DX C540

Neutral sound, not harsh or shrill; great design, ease of use; two-year warranty

not a very well-designed remote, but that's not important (and neither, to me, is the fact that you can't change discs while it's playing)

A salesman at a local high-end place said this was one of only two changers he'd countenance selling to anyone (the other being an Arcam, for a few hundred dollars more), as it's one of the only changers they carry that hasn't compromised sound in order to make possible the playing of multiple discs. And he's right; it sounds great -- not a bit of the harsh high end that's typical of, well, a great many CD players. And the stacking mechanism's brilliant, making possible a really elegant little machine. (Connected to Marantz PM-57 amp with Audioquest Copperhead interconnects; amp to B&W DM601's with Audioquest F-14 wire.)

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Denon, Philips

very good sound - clear and naturel

very fussy about reading CDs. Local Nakamishi tech shop did not fix problem.

The MB-10 was originally compared with Onkyo, Denon and the like and gave the clearest truest sound over a range of voice, orchestra and solo instrument.
I approve of the high sampling rate.
There is one major drawback and that is jumping on a number of CDs that a range of other CD players have no trouble with. The unit was returned to Nakamichi who pronounced it within specification but did not fix the problem. I have since found other CDs in my colelction that misbehave in the same way. On return to the dealer today we tested the CD on a new MB-10 and got virtually the same problems at the same timing mark. No other make of CD player in the shop gave the same problem. I await the result of the investigation but if it is not fixed and with a very sound engineering explanation I will be seeking replacement with a differnt make (I am an electrical consulting engineer).

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Had an early Pioneer for sseveral years

Simplicity, looks, good feel mechanically. And it sounds wonderful.

Limitations with disc-switching - mainly that you cannot eject a disc while one is playing.

Well, so far I really love this machine. I have Tori Amos on right now, doing a breathless version of Led Zepplin's Thank You, and it's wonderful, even as background music, set low. An earlier reviewer complained that you cannot play just one disc. Well, I find that, with a click or two you can put an entire CD into the memory, and there you go. The drawback here is, in doing that, you cannot skip ahead to the next song, as the machine sees the album as one complete entry, if that makes any sense. Or, you can, as he does, just put it into slot five, eliminating that hassle. One thing that I've found IMMENSELY helpful, is that I had a furniture-maker friend create a five-disc CD holder for me. My new rack holds the empty jewel boxes in the correct order, making it much easier to remember which CD is in where. Without it, it's very aggravating trying to remember which CD is in which slot, and if you're like me, with a mess of jewel boxes on the floor, it's a pain to dig around.I'm trying to talk him into marketing them, so if you're interested, let me know. There is a numeric keypad on the remote (But not on the RE-10 remote..) which makes entering tracks easy. Entering tracks from different discs into memory is a tad slow, as the unit wants to put each disc into the play slot in order to enter tracks. But it's still a wonderful machine, and it'll be fun entering in a slew of songs and just letting it play for a while. I paid US$400 for it, and I'll tell you where if you e-mail me. I'm quite happy with my purchase.

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Nak RE-10 receiver

good sound; sleek design

poor "play mode" features

I recently traded up from my old Yamaha RX-550 receiver and Sony C69 ES CD Player/Changer (each purchased in 1993) to a Nak RE-10 receiver and this MB-10. I admit the receiver drove my purchase; the CD player's compatability with the RE-10's remote control and the matching design helped give it the nod over other players in the $400-700 range (note I paid $450 for this, on sale, at Harvey Electronics).

I am very happy with the sound of the Nak at this price range; it's a noticeable step up from my Sony with the 1 bit D/A converter. I have tried the player with everything from my more delicate jazz and vocals stuff, to opera, to hip-hop, to the Stones, and I think performance is solid overall (of course, my poorly mastered cd's sound worse than they did before).

Furthermore, the MusicBank mechanism inspires confidence with use. Your CDs are subject to much less potential trauma with this system than with a carousel. And it just feels solid and precise when operating. Compactness of this mechanism is also a bonus, but "play-and-change" would be nice.

My complaints are only with the "play mode" features (although I'm not saying an Adcom or NAD would be any better). Compared to my old Sony, (1)programming takes longer and involves more steps, (2) you can't start playing a CD, say, on track 1 and program more tracks while the first track is playing, (3) there is no "single disk" play mode, so you basically have to put a disk in slot 5 if you don't want another disk to play right after it, (4) there is no direct track play access from the remote control and (5) a few other smaller things. There is one thing that Sony knows how to do best, and one way that their ES line has benefitted from what they have learned by being mostly a mass-market company: it's features. Higher-end brands like Nak and NAD are simply late-comers to the features game and don't do it as well. That being said, other people perhaps won't use these features as much as me, but I like to program music to fall asleep to, and so programming features are very important. Second, although I like the convenience of a multi-disk player, I like to hear one disk at a time; I don't want to be listening to some quiet folk disk and all the sudden have Jay-Z come on right after.

With those complaints about the features (only relative to the Sony) out of the way, let me say that I plan to keep this player and am very happy with the sound and the mechanics. And it's a real looker, with a good display.

Note I use Monster 550i interconnects, a 1993 pair of PhaseTech large bookshelf speakers (don't remember the model), and some not-too-expensive AudioQuest speaker cables from '93.

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Sony ES 5-Disk Changer

Sound!

Long break in, Cable sensitive.

This is an absolutely wonderful CD player. The soundstage is wide and in 3D. There is NO grain to the sound. Bass is deep and the highs have a very natural and not edgy sound.

I am running B&W 602 Series 2 speakers and the Titanium tweeters are very detailed, but sensitive to harsh components upstream. The Nak sounds very good through them.

My Denon reciever has built in decoders, so I hooked up the digital Coax to it to do A/B comparisons of the sound of the Nak's chips vs. the Burr-Brown chips in the reciever. At first there was little difference, but after leaving the Nak on repeat for about two days, there was a difference in the highs. The Denon was now noticeably more edgy and the soundstage shrank. This conitnued for about two weeks and the Nak's sound in comparison became more and more refined, very tube-like, very vinyl like. To some this would be called laid back, but the details are still there in the highs, just not fatigueing.

For the best sound, leave the MB-10 on all of the time, I know that some people may not believe that it changes the sound, but after it is warmed up, there is a difference.

The choice of audio cables also changes the sound of the Nak. I have used Audioquest Jade and Quartz with the unit as well as the supplied RCA's. The supplied cables lack deep bass, and the Jade sounds quite nice, but not as much detail. I settled on the Quartz for the neutral tone and wonderful soundstage. I will soon try some kimber cable to see if it makes any difference. If you don't believe that cable makes a difference, try it, you will be suprised.

I had auditioned an NAD 540, but it did not like some of my CDR's. The Nak has been very good about playing everything I present to it. Even my old scratchy copy of Magical Mystery Tour. I also listened to a Rega Planet and just didn't "get it". I know that every audio magaizine raves about it, but in the end the sound was not worth the money. To be honest, the sound of the Nak is very close to the Rega for 300+ less. The Nak is a little less laid back.

I recommend a listen if you are in the market for a 400+ CD player. Just make sure that the store sample is broken in and that you give yours about a week of use to break in.

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NAD 540, Rega Planet

I recently compared this cd changer to the adcom gcd-700. While the adcom definitely outperformed the Nakamichi, where I live it is almost twice as expensive CAN$1200 versus CAN$750.
To my ears, the adcom had very good soundstage and fairly good detail. This seemed to be a very well balanced player. The Nakamichi, by contrast, is definitely a brighter player and not quite as well balanced as the gcd 700. Soundstage is good, but does not have as much depth as the adcom, nor is it as strong with the bass as the adcom. But in comparison to the comparably priced HK FL 8550, I found the nakamichi to be a much stronger overall player (I found the HK a little flat and not very exciting).

The only thing which makes me uneasy about purchasing this player is the changer mechanism which I am unfamiliar with (there are details on this at the nakamichi website).

I auditioned an adcom gcd 700 and the nakamichi mb-10 at bay area audio. I used sennheiser 580's and a headroom little more power headphone amp with dimarzio interconnects.
In contrast to the previous reviewer, I found the adcom to be too bright. sibilants and cymbals were too much. An example is the title track on lyle lovett's 'step inside this house' CD. Also cymbals on a led zeppelin track.

The nakamichi is laid back to me, maybe too much, very relaxing but almost boring compared to the adcom which is fun in small doses. I tried to buy the nakamichi, but they didn't have any. I later decided it was perhaps too laid back and the time to switch between disks was long. I currently want to buy the NAD 515 which is somewhere between the two in terms of being forward/laid-back and it seems to switch between CD's quickly which is good if one is using the
shuffle feature.

One thing that is great about the nakamichi is the size, it is nice and small,
good for a headphones setup that doesn't have much space.

The stacker mechanism makes me a little nervous, but my alpine car changer
uses a 6 CD cartridge mechanism and it works flawlessly, so this mechanism
is probably fine.

I could own it pretty happily.