I have two old single CD players, a Technics and an RCA. They work well but I'd like to step up to NAD or Cambridge Audio for supposed better sound. I have Athena AS-F2s and a NAD C370 integrated amp and I don't think I need to go into the price stratosphere. Anyway, what exactly has been improved to this product in the last 10-15 years for better sound and what makes lesser brands...well, lesser?
DAC's and so much more!. My friend who owns an audio store in Corvallis (the city I work in) replaced his 8 yr old 8k DAC and transport with an NAD C542 and is pleased. That should speak volumes.
I was thinking of the Cambridge Azur 340c or NAD C521BEE. I see praise heeped on the NAD but the Cambridge has the price advantage. Is there really a noticeable difference in sound between the two?
I purchased the NAD C521BEE. Weird but the sound is bright and thin. What's up with that?!! My 10 year old RCA 1050M-F sounds fuller and more balanced! Can someone shed some light on this?? Is there a break-in time for CD players?
NAD's are pretty revealing. I have only heard the C521BEE at a store but I can speak for the C542 which is an outstanding value. It appears that you are using a Rotel receiver, is that correct? If that is so then you need to switch to a Rotel CD player. That may sound ridiculous but it's true. I had the same experience last year when I bought my C542 while I still had Rotel electronics. It was a match made in hell. Fearsomely bright and shrill.
Jim Ott at Northwest Audio Labs explained to me why the 2 don't work well together. I'm not a technophile so I would probably screw up an explanation but it had to do with amplifier bandwidth and slew rate. NAD's work better with amps that are closer to the real thing (high end). He stated that Rotel uses a few tricks to make there amplifiers sound as good as it does but it doesn't but because of those tricks their amplifiers don't mate well with alot of other gear.
Jim would know as he sold both products and has provided professional modifications to both for many years.
No Art...It sounded fairly OK with the Rotel...I have the BEE hooked up to the NAD C370 now and it's kind of nasty. Could it be my connectons? I have low level wires with gold plated plugs.
More likely that the NAD gear is at a different level than the Athena speakers. You should try better cables but I doubt that's it. It's worth a try though.
Also Rich let the CD player play in for awhile. what I thought was a bit thin at first was actually just a different sound. Lastly perhaps the BEE isn't the player for you you could try the C542, I believe that it is a considerable step up. The C542 is a better match for your amp anyway.
nout
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Art is right: get used to the sound and that means: listen to music instead of the sound.
I know for a fact that even the smoothest set you can think of can sound hard and aggressive if you focus your attention mainly on how crap some cd's sound...obsessively analyzing its weaknesses. It once drove me nuts finding out that every single cd I own sounded harsh, whether played on a cheap set or expensive one, I wasn't listening to the big picture, but isolating the sss's and ttt's from vocals. Then later I listened to some friends voices with the same obsession: every single voice sounded hard and aggressive and things got clear: I was giving myself a hard time by exaggerating "harsh" sounds.
You are right about lousy CDs...Meanwhile, I'll run the BEE in for a while. I've got a CD running on repeat with the volume off. I'll let it go for a few hours...see what happens.