Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners NAD Cd Players

Thinking about buying a new NAD Cd player to go with my M60s.Has anyone of you Axiom owners ever own one before?and is there actually a sound difference in Cd players?Thanks!

Sound quality differences would be very minor. One thing that could affect sound quality is the quality of the digital to analog converter or DAC inside the player. Under double blind listening tests the differences between DACS is almost indistinguishable. Under non-controlled subjective listening tests, many people claim sound differences. Now if you are using a digital connection from your CD player to receiver than the DAC inside the C.D player is not even used and takes place at the receiver. So in that case it will not make any difference at all.

I would put money towards a Blu-ray player over a C.D player if you do not have one and just use the Blu-ray player to play cd's.

Thanks Dr.house

Also are the NAD Players known for their quality?I currently use a Sony,and had issues after only 2 years.

Sony's are known for quality issues. My Samsung is 5 years old and going strong(knocks on wood), it also had much better output than the Sony it replaced which I found out was due to the DAC's. The Sony had a cheap old DAC, the Samsung had the latest DAC at the time in it. I have done some rudimentary searching on DACs for the more common players out there and they all appear to be of the same quality as the one in my older Samsung, but the other parts are still suspect, ie. motors etc.

Personally I think I would look for an older Oppo 980 or 981.

Thanks Jakewash.

I've had my Sony ES cd player for 6 years or better, no problems at all. My older Sony player is in my sons room and still working good. I've had good luck with Sony players.

So Dr. House would you suggest using a digital connection to the receiver rather than the cable that comes with the receiver? Does it change the quality of the sound?

I always use a digital audio cable either coaxial or optical (toslink). I have never experimented between analog and digital connections with a cd player

Just get a Blu-ray player if you don't have and that will uprgrade you for the future of home theatre and it also makes for a great cd player.

Thanks

NAD makes quality audio gear.

But if I were you, I would consider this divine lil' box to play yer fuzzy warbles with.

http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-BDP-83-Blu-ra...d=1ZK3A8D7E89JE

I'm hoping to get one of these from Santa this X-Mas.

The ES series is awhole different build quality, much more like other good consumer electronics not the cheap knock off stuff. Even the ES series receivers are pretty well rated.

I know of many people that have had decent luck with Sony but I also know many that have had issues of one type or another. The 2 I have tried couldn't read a marginally scratched disc that I was able to play on the 2 other players I own.

I have and found the analog to sound slightly less 'bright' than the digital connection. I felt the highs and sibilance were less with the analog connection but it could have been psychosomatic, I have no way of proving nor disproving and certainly no way to measure the FR.

thank you jakewash.

I had a NAD at one time. I owned it before digital connections existed so it had analogue outs only. I thought it was a fine player with a really a good sounding DAC. It had a really smooth and solid sound.

As the others have pointed out, the CD player makes less of a difference with modern gear because the digital to analogue conversion usually happens in your receiver if you connect with spidf, coax or hdmi.

I agree with audiosavant that the Oppo is a better solution than a dedicated CD player. It plays CD's, SACD's, Blu-rays and DVD's and does it all well for not much more money than a NAD.

I purchased an NAD CD player, and receiver in 1989, and they are both still working fine - hooked to my Axiom AX3's