Advice on CD player

[russm535il]

Guys also - did I make a mistake buying the NAD C525BEE for $349 ? I found the Cambridge 540C v2 for $425- My wife thinks I should of sprung for the Cambridge for the small price difference..
I dont mean to obssess about this but I hate buying something sight and sound unseen. I have been dependent on only reviews that I could find .
The player would be paired with a new Cambridge 640A V2 integrated amp.
THANKS !
Russ

[blackraven]

You will be ok with the NAD. I would have gotten the 640c for around $600 or the Music Hall 25.2 CDP for $$550. The marantz 5001 is also a bargain at $250-300 and has been compared to $600 players. Many people on this forum have and really enjoy this player.
I dont think the 540c will offer any great advantage over the NAD. CDP's all have different sound and its just finding the right one for your system. NAD has a warmer sound and would be good for bright sounding speakers and receiver. The MH and 640c have a more neutral sound and are less forward sounding.

www.hcmaudio.com has the Music Hall for $540 including shipping. Check out the review at stereophile magazine.

[russm535il]

Blackraven

Thanks for your input - I will let the order stand and should get the NAD later this week.

As you can tell I am doing allot of catching up on new equiptment available.

My wife and I just returned from visiting family for Christmas and I hooked up my new Cambridge 640 integrated amp with my current Magnavox cd player WOW it sounds fantastic !!!

I still have the owners manual and I pulled up the specs' on my old player. Its a Magnavox CDB 614 with a D/A conversion :Bitstream conversion 256X oversampling, 1 bit, dynamic range 92db, channel seperation95db and a signal to noise ratio of 100db (A weighted).

I have no idea what that technical data means but at the time aprox 15 yrs ago it was a good player. From what everyone has said the new NAD should sound MUCH better- hard to imagine though - I really am enjoying the Cambridge 640 its a big step up from my 16 year old NAD receiver !
I am hearing things on tracks that I never heard before !!

Happy New Year !

Russ DeJulio
Pittsburgh