The NAD C541i (and its successor) the 542 has a number of good things going for it:
- It's in your price range, esp. used ;^)
- It plays CD-R and CD-RW no sweat.
- NAD's Redbook error correction is a complete implementation of the spec.
- These players decode HDCD correctly to their analog outputs.
To my ears, HDCD sounds better properly decoded by the C541i than through the DAC2, though it's different and you lose some soundstage. So I happily switch back and forth depending on the disk. One thing for sure is I'm not hearing error artifacts.
- It's in your price range, esp. used ;^)
- It plays CD-R and CD-RW no sweat.
- NAD's Redbook error correction is a complete implementation of the spec.
- These players decode HDCD correctly to their analog outputs.
To my ears, HDCD sounds better properly decoded by the C541i than through the DAC2, though it's different and you lose some soundstage. So I happily switch back and forth depending on the disk. One thing for sure is I'm not hearing error artifacts.