Just bought a NAD C521 BEE

[Sweet Spot]

While net surfing, I came accross an ad for a sale at Harvey Electronics on all audio gear, and decided to walk (well train) on over to their store near my house to see what was what. They had both the NAD C542 and the C521BEE next to one another, and I took them both for a test drive, through a (forgot which) NAD receiver and some Sonus Faber Auditor speakers.

The first thing which annoyed me unfortunately, was when the salesman (who obviously was living up to his title and doing his job) told me what I should be looking for comparitively in the presentation between the two. This right away F's with my head because the seed is planted, and I have to try and pretend he didn't say anything, so that I can make my OWN decisions, without any mental nudges from an outside party. (That old gag)

Of course he's laying it on with the whole, " you should have good cables too" schpiel, which to me was an open invitation to debate, or just plain tell em' "sorry, I'm not a believer in myths", and continued to credit the scientific portion of what may be told to be true in association with what makes a good cable...yada.

To make a long story short, I enjoyed listening to Peter Gabriel, (wound up buying the 2 CD best of set after I left) on both players, and resigned myself to the fact that I personally couldn't hear much of a difference, enough to cough up another $200 for the 542. Yes, I brought home the 521 BEE, and hope to test it soon, with the Outlaw Audio RR 2150 later on this month.

Harvey had a %15 off sale, so the total was $276.36 Good damn deal if you asked me.

Well, that's one down, and two to go. Next up.. Turntable.

[anamorphic96]

The C521BEE is probably the best budget player on the market. There are a few others. But this one in particular is amazing at its price point. I have found the differences between the two players to be subtle as well.

Happy Listening !!!! You made a great choice in players. You also made a great choice in receivers. The Outlaw looks stellar as well. Especially with the bass management it offers for hooking up a sub.

On a side note im using the NAD C521. The original version of your player and its still going strong after almost 5 years.

[Sweet Spot]

That's great to hear ! I always worry about reliability problems with products which may cost a bit to fix after the warranty is done. I'm really looking foward to getting my RR2150, but unfortunately, the thing is currently out of stock !!! Hell, wife is standing at the door with coat on, wanting me to leave....Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Doug.

[emorphien]

Have you noticed any kind of noises coming directly from your C521 BEE itself? Specifically a whirring noise that sounds like the CD spinning. I don't just mean if your ear is right up next to it, but if you sit a few feet away.

Hit pause so the disc continues to spin, I'm curious if you hear anything.

[Sweet Spot]

Well, I won't be hooking the unit up until I get my Outlaw receiver, which is currently out of stock *goes to check site*.

I still have to get cables as well. I'll let you know as soon as it's hooked up. Why ? Do you have this model, and problem with it ? Is it a known problem ?

Doug.

Edit:

Aaaaargh ! From the Outlaw Audio Admin:

I expect to know more in the next few days, but as of right now it looks like it may be a few weeks still.

Great. Just great. Now I have more time to writhe in agony, as my CD player sits in its box, all alone.

[emorphien]

As far as I know it's not a known problem, I haven't seen it mentioned but I wanted to "compare figures" with someone else as it were.

The actual sound output from the units connections is great, but it's a bit frustrating that sitting in my chair a few feet away or even when I sit across the room to relax and enjoy music I can hear a whirr during the quiet spots.

I compared the sound this unit makes to everything in our apartment: my house-mates Cambridge Audio DVD player, my Pioneer Elite DV-45A SACD/DVD-A player and my 4 year old Panasonic 5 disc DVD changer ($200 unit) and they were all quieter than it. The only sound you could hear when putting your ear next to those was the usual soft tick of the stepper motor. On my C521BEE this whirring noise overpowers that.

I suspect my unit is defective so I'm going to attempt an exchange tomorrow (Wednesday).

I admit my hearing for sounds like this is pretty good, I can hear stardard CRT TVs in another room that were left on due to their characteristic 15750Hz whine. But to hear this from across the room is just too much.