Thoughts on the NAD C541i cd player!!

carvalhot · « **on:** 15 Aug 2004, 10:21 pm »

Are there any thoughts on the NAD C541i cd player? I'm thinking of purchasing one to replace an old Sony.

Dan Driscoll · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Aug 2004, 05:14 pm »

Quote from: carvalhot

Are there any thoughts on the NAD C541i cd player? I'm thinking of purchasing one to replace an old Sony.

I've heard it with a couple different amps and speakers. I thought it sounded pretty good in all of them. It or the 542 are on my short list.

carvalhot · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 12:22 am »

Thanks, Dan.

djbnh · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 01:10 am »

For what the NAD costs, why not go for the Jolida JD-100, and swap/upgrade tubes to a nice NOS pair?

bhd812 · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 03:15 am »

well headphone speaking I have listened to a stock 521,541,modded 541, and I have the 542. also heard the musichall cd25, and the jolida mentioned above.

to me what stands out with the NAD is there way of bass, they do bass like no other to me. I am not saying the boom boom but just the lows in general are amazing. the highs are there and so are the mids but not as rounded as the cd25's are. the nad's are very forward with there sound, while the jolidas seem to be more laid back.

I am having a electrical chasis thing with my nad now, I guess all of them have it..not a probelm on the sound or the quality/safety.

over all A great player for the price, and yes you can have them modded

djbnh · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 11:04 am »

I agree the Jolida, w/stock PC, may not be the best bass. I opted for a cryoed Chris VenHaus Flavor 1 PC (see http://venhaus1.com/VH_Audio_Test.html), and quickly removed any insufficient bass issue, while improving the sound across all frequencies. Gave it around 100150 hrs of burn-in time. FYI - Chris is great to talk with on this or other issues. Happy shopping!

Dan Driscoll · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 05:05 pm »

Quote from: djbnh

For what the NAD costs, why not go for the Jolida JD-100, and swap/upgrade tubes to a nice NOS pair?

Huh? A new NAD 541i will run about $300, maybe less. A new 542 will run around $450. The Jolida JD-100 is actually out of production and has been replaced by the JD-100A, which has a list price of $899 and can be found for about $750. The used JD-100's I've seen were about $600, with the stock tubes, IIRC. NOS tubes tend to drive the price up.

Perhaps it would be a little more accurate to say that for twice the price of a 541i he could get a used JD-100 with stock tubes.

jym · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 06:03 pm »

I've owned a NAD 541i. It's a very good cdp especially for the current price of around $300. Build quality is very good. Sonically it's smooth at the expense of some detail. Overall it's a very enjoyable cdp in it's price range.

djbnh · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 Aug 2004, 09:13 pm »

Must have misread the NAD's price. Mea culpa.

bixby · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Aug 2004, 04:19 am »

Try to hear the MF. With my Grado amp and phones in hand I compared it to Arcam 73t and Music Hall 25. It crushed them for overall balance. Bass was particularly better, Music Hall was pretty rounded as one has noted. As for the NAD, I have a C321bee and I like it, but not as well as the MF. The list price was just reduced on it from around $1500 to $999 so if you can find one used?? Sorry don't know your budget.

Or you can always do a 180 and order an Ack Dack like I did today and use your existing CD player as a transport.

Take my comments with a grain of salt, but do try to give the MF a listen.

cheers
Bixby

creativepart · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 Aug 2004, 06:30 pm »

I bought a factory refurbished C541i for $275 just a few months ago and I like it a lot. It had a great layed back sound and suited me as I'm more a vinyl guy. However, I got a chance to buy an Ack! dAck! used for a good price and now I use the C541i as a transport for the Ack! DAC. With this non-oversampling, non-filtering, battery powered DAC the C541i sounds other worldly good.

I should mention, that before buying the C541i I also audtioned a NAD C521BEE CD player and it was a great sounding CD player for cheaper. It was only $175 used and $299 new. I was really impressed with the lower priced NAD. The C541i was marginally better, but not light years better. (Don't mistake the C521BEE with the older C521i and C521)

Paul Green

Eduardo AAVM · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 Aug 2004, 08:15 pm »

With NAD you can improve sound changing the OPAMPS and adding some filtering, that's what a good friend of mine does here.

The Jolida is a nice unit too, thanks for the tips about it.

guest1632 · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Aug 2004, 03:03 am »

Quote from: Dan Driscoll

Quote from: djbnh
For what the NAD costs, why not go for the Jolida JD-100, and swap/upgrade tubes to a nice NOS pair?

:scratch:

Huh? A new NAD 541i will run about $300, maybe less. A new 542 will run around $450. The Jolida JD-100 is actually out of production and has been replaced by the JD-100A, which has a list price of $899 and can be found for about $750. The used JD-100's I've seen were about $600, with the stock tubes, IIRC. NOS tubes tend to drive the price up.

Perhaps it would be a ...

Tbadder1 · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Aug 2004, 11:50 am »

Had an earlier version, not the 541i, but it broke down so many times I stopped counting--that was it for NAD gear for me.

Carlman · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 Aug 2004, 02:02 pm »

Has anyone compared the Shengya cdp to the NAD or some of the other budget players out there? It seems like the big Shengya wave is already over, though... I haven't heard much about it lately. Is it still a giant killer? What about the Toshiba 3960 DVD? How do these compare with the $300 cdp's on the market from NAD or Cambridge?

Basically, has anyone done a budget digital comparison?

Colin^ · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 Aug 2005, 07:25 am »

I own NAD C541i and ShengYa S10. The shengya wins hands down in build quality, parts and sound.