NAD 502 CD Player Question
Glenn Michael Polin
NAD 502 CD player. Recently I called up an NAD dealer in the
Philadelphia area to ask about the availability of this player, and he
said that despite the great price ($299) and competitive sound which the
player offered, many of his customers who bought the player ended up
having to return it to the manufacturer because of various technical
problems they were having with it. My question is: Has anyone heard
about this CD player having a reputation of being unreliable, poorly
made, etc.? In addition, I would like to hear what anyone who owns this
player has to say about it. (By the way, the salesman ultimately
recommended the California Audio Labs DX1 player--"somewhat more
expensive but worth it" he explained to me". Any comments?)
Thanks -- Glenn
Gil Guerrero
Halberstadt) wrote:
[cut by djd]
I have heard (so take it for what it's worth) that there have been many
manufacturing problems with the later models of the NAD player, especially
as they were rushing to meet demand after it had been "anointed" by
Stereophile, etc... The run on these things was phenomenal, people were
calling all over the country trying to find them (I have a friend who
own's hifi shop in Texas who told me this.) There have been problems with
the units.
It's a question of whether you like to roll the dice in your life or not.
Sometimes it's lucky seven, sometimes it's snake eyes...
CAL (to my humble ears) makes some of the sweetest sounding CD players I
have heard, and I'm one of those vinyl geeks who keeps pumping money into
his Linn turntable, and buying used records-waiting for CD players to get
it right.
Listen to 'em at home. Buy the one that sounds best, A/B 'em if you can,
and don't believe that throwing money at the problem is always the
solution. If you want to chat more, e-mail me as I don't get through here
that often.
Good luck,
Gil Guerrero
ggue...@earthlink.net
Alex Halberstadt
In response tou your query reprinted below:
[quoted text surgically removed by RD]
@problems they were having with it. My question is: Has anyone heard
@about this CD player having a reputation of being unreliable, poorly
@made, etc.? In addition, I would like to hear what anyone who owns this
@player has to say about it. (By the way, the salesman ultimately
@recommended the California Audio Labs DX1 player--"somewhat more
@expensive but worth it" he explained to me". Any comments?)
Glenn--
I own a NAD 502, and have been extremely happy with it. I have heard almost
every high-end CD player under $1000, and I have to say that I liked the
NAD more than any player with the possible exceptions of the CAL Icon
(@$900), the Arcam Alpha 5 Plus (@$900), and the Marantz cd63se (@$500).
The DX-1, in my humble opinion, sounds dull and closed in, not nearly as
sweet and transparent as the NAD.
Admittedly, the NAD's build quality is really crappy. Dealer after dealer
have told me that it will break in a couple of months, but it has been OK
so far. Here are my theories: first, NAD spent their money on circuitry and
not on the transport side of the player, which, incidentally, is fine with
me. Secondly, I suspect that dealers are more than forthcoming about the
unit's past defects because they are not that excited about the profit to
be made on a sub-$300 CD player. Besides, it comes with a two year parts
and labor guarantee. The bottom line is, I guess, that if you will
eventually want to use your CD player as a transport, the other players are
probably a better choice. But if you're interested in having a $300 player
that sounds like it costs 3-4 times that, go for it.
Alex Halberstadt
Thomas Y. Rhee
>player offered, many of his customers who bought the player ended up
>having to return it to the manufacturer because of various technical
the absence of a transport lock. This has been fixed sometime ago and they
now come with the transport lock screws.
For the money, the NAD is the unit to beat. It stomps all over other under
$300 players in the areas of dynamics, bass quality, midrange smoothness,
hi end purity, soundstaging and imaging. The DX-1 is $200 more (these can
be found for $500) and well worth it. Midrange is much smoother as is the
high end and therefore less listener fatigue than the 502. The DX-1 is one
of my favourite under $1000 CD players. Well worth your time in audtioning
it.
Thomas Y. Rhee
Chief Executive Officer
Lunar Engineering
"A Progressive Engineering & Newton Software Development Firm."
Michael E Snavely
dealer (can I give the name?) told me that five or six, I forget
which, NAD CD player models had problems sufficient for the new NAD
distributor to offer a warranty player even beyond the warranty
period. The upshot: I'm getting a new 513 changer at no cost.
The service manager told me that within a specific time window (the
duration of which he did NOT tell me) NAD will give in effect a
no-fault replacement on the bum players. If you live in the midwest
and want the dealer's name, you can e-mail me.
Alex Sokoloff
>@about this CD player having a reputation of being unreliable, poorly
>@made, etc.? In addition, I would like to hear what anyone who owns this
[quoted text cut by dsb]
Tales of NAD 502 failures are legion, and were all over the net about half
a year ago. Apparently, the margins on NAD equipment are pretty generous.
It's possible when a (NAD) dealer warns you away from this player, that
dealer is being ethical, or is tired of facing disgusted customers returning
their units. Mine failed after a year, and took three months to repair
under warranty (presumably because the NAD repair center is backed up from
all the work the 502 gave them?) Some changes were made to more recent versions
of the 502; I don't know whether this reduced the failure rate (from something
near 100%?) to acceptable levels.
NADs new relationship with Onkyo might improve their quality control problems,
which will be wonderful so far as I'm concerned. The world needs more companies
that make cheap, decent hi fi gear. The flimsyness of NAD components doesn't
really bother me, and I kinda like the euro styling as well. They just
break to much to be worthwhile products (at least certan models).
Chris...@hp-vancouver-om2.om.hp.com
In article <3pd5rt$k...@netnews.upenn.edu>,
gpo...@sas.upenn.edu (Glenn Michael Polin) wrote:
>problems they were having with it. My question is: Has anyone heard
I auditioned (took one home for a while) a NAD 502 right after the
Stereophile review was published. I thought it sounded better than the
player I had at the time. However, I had _NO_confidence in its build
quality and it went right back to the dealer.
>player has to say about it. (By the way, the salesman ultimately
>recommended the California Audio Labs DX1 player--"somewhat more
>expensive but worth it" he explained to me". Any comments?)
Funny, my NAD 502 money went to CAL. I saved-up and bought an
Alpha/Delta combo (before their Stereophile review) and have been very
happy with it.
Chris
Tony Fafoglia
In my opinion it would be better to scrape up another $200
and buy the DX1 at $500.The build and sound quality are above the Nad
502.The DX1 is more detailed and has a smoother mid and trble than the
the NAD, which while nice for $300 has been kind of overated IMHO. In
fact I think the DX1 may be the best buy CD player under a grand.
Granted playes like the Cal Icon, ArcamAlpha5+ and Pioneer PD65
may better the DX1 in a few areas but none of the improvements to me
are great enough gains to pay the extra $300-400 each of these players
cost.Esecially since for most folks shopping in this price category
price is an issue overall and money saved can be spread to other parts
of the system or spent on music(you know the stuff we supposedly like
when were not talking gear).I think the DX1 spreads the compromises
around the best.Pair it with a good sensible cable like the Kimber PBJ,
AQ Ruby or XLO150 and enjoy the music. Hey I don't even own a DX1 yet
maybe soon!
Later Tony
Ljubo
properly. After few articles in thread I'm a little
bit worry.
I'm interesting what is a 'bug' in NAD 502 precisely,
what are the symptoms. I have a model with the transport
lock screws.
Ljubo
Dr. David Mathie, Professor of Trombone, Boise State University, Boise, ID
>From: Alex.S...@efi.com (Alex Sokoloff)
>>@problems they were having with it. My question is: Has anyone heard
>>@about this CD player having a reputation of being unreliable, poorly
>>@made, etc.? In addition, I would like to hear what anyone who owns this
>[quoted text cut by dsb]
>Tales of NAD 502 failures are legion, and were all over the net about half
>a year ago. Apparently, the margins on NAD equipment are pretty generous.
>It's possible when a (NAD) dealer warns you away from this player, that
>dealer is being ethical, or is tired of facing disgusted customers returning
>their units. Mine failed after a year, and took three months to repair
>under warranty (presumably because the NAD repair center is backed up from
>all the work the 502 gave them?) Some changes were made to more recent versions
>of the 502; I don't know whether this reduced the failure rate (from something
>near 100%?) to acceptable levels.
My understanding was: 1. (the Stereophile response) that the lack of a transit
screw caused the problems; or 2. (my local dealer's response) that drunken
workers at the factory (!) were the culprits. Either way, I have had the 502
for almost a year and am very happy with it - no problems, and a significant
step up from the Magnovox 650 it replaced. Frankly, given that digital audio
is still years behind analogue sonically, you've got to be crazy to spend more
than $500 on a CD player - they're essentially disposible items. I'll wait
until the technology is mature before I buy an expensive player.