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Anyone heard the NAD S-500 CD player?

I saw an ad on this site(at a local dealer) for the new NAD Silver Series S-500 CD player. It looks intriguing, and seems to be a step up from the typical buyer NAD aims for. 24bit/96kHz, a lot of features of upscale CDPs, appears to be of solid build, etc. Price is around $1400. That puts it in line with some heady competition from Musical Fidelity, Linn, Arcam, and Rotel. My question is, can it hold its own against such competition? I have always been a big fan of NAD, and have voted for some of their products with my wallet over the years. I think they are maybe the best products for someone not yet an audiophile. I will be looking for a nice CD player in the next 6 months, and am wondering if this one deserves a spot on my audition list. Budget will be $1000 - $1600. Anyone heard it? Thank you for your consideration.
trelja
3 responses Add your response
dinos
36 posts
 
Maybe You should check the new (will be out in October, I think) Sony SCD-555ES player,I believe it to do well as a CDP, with the bonus of SACD-capacity.I´ve heard the SCD-777ES, and thought that it was rather convincing as a CD-player.
jeffloistarca
1,004 posts
 
I took home a NAD S-500 and a YBA CD Integre for a week, took the NAD back and paid for the YBA. The NAD did nothing wrong, just didn't really involve me at all. If you like a well balanced, analog sound, go for the YBA. Oh, my system is an AR SP14 pre, Classe DR-8's, ML Quest Z's
ohlala
1,235 posts
 
I heard the player at a dealers with the silver line integrated amp and a pair of Hales. I also heard the hales with a classe amp and a wadia player which was much better in every way that i noticed. Was the amp or the player, both...who knows? The s-500 is real piece of eye candy, but the controls are annoyingly slow. I own the hales speakers now and use a rotel rcd-971 and a classe 70 amp. My combo sounds at least as good and that one, so i can't say i found the player particularly good for the price. But it was particularly cool looking. I know good is more than a vague description, but there were too many differences in the setups to say much about the cd player itself. I do know specifically that my system is more detailed, and cleaner sounding than the nad system. good luck
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