AH NJOE TJOEB vs NAD 542 for rock

THere are lots of good budget players.
THe NAD is very good for $500.
Cambridge Audio has just upgraded their CDP's with dual DAC's and improved DAC's.
The VR-1's sound very good with lots of equipment.

Good luck!

I don't know the 542 but my Njoe Tjoeb is far better than the NAD S500 that I owned previously.

If you get the base version, I think you might find it a bit too forgiving overall. I have one and I really like it for the more harsh sounding cd's but I've got a different cd source for most listening. Can't comment on how the NJOE sounds with the upgrades in place.

If you can find a used AH! (upgraded) unit. Buy it.
I like mine.

The NAD is an extremely nice player for the money with the added HDCD feature. If you go with the NAD you'll soon realize the advantage HDCD can provide. I own a 542i and to my ears has bested a couple of highly regarded players that listed for double the price. I haven't heard the Njoe so can't compare. I can garuntee either player will make a noticeable difference. Good luck.

I am running my Von Schweikert VR-1s with a Njoe Tjoeb with the upsampler and a Creek 5350SE. I love this system. I have swapped the Tjoeb in and out of my main system and found the Classe was better with the Dynaudios and the Tjoeb was better with the VR-1s. Very detailed and life-like to my ears. Good luck!

I have the Ah! 4000 w upsampler. The upsampler definitely brings out more detail up top. If you have a lot of rock CDs that tend to be bright to begin with, it can be a rough combo. The Ah! without the upsampler is more foregiving in this area. However, with decent mastered discs, I think it makes a decent combo. Can't give you relative merits vs the NAD, though.

Doug

With your system the Ah will do just fine,make sure
try the siemens 7308 tubes.The NAD 542 is not on the
same league compare to the AH.The AH is a versatile
player.

Apples and oranges here, for what your going to pay for a new NAD 542 you can get a better Player used here. I also contemplated the 542 to go with my NAD/Pargigm setup but some good advise steered me towards doing just what I suggested here and I went with a used Music Hall 25 w/mods, much better player then the NAD and since I went for the 25 vs. the 25.2 it's HDCD ready. Not knocking NAD at all, love their stuff for amps and receivers they are hard to beat for the money but for Players if you can afford it there are better ones for the money used,(I keep saying used for if buying new it's hard to beat the NAD 542 for $400 delivered)..