NAD C545BEE

Extremely unreliable player. Turned out faulty after 3 months of use, went for repair to armour home electronics (UK) twice, and both times it came back faulty. Needless to say anything more.

To be fair, I liked the sound of the player when it used to work.

As a 545 owner, I am still undecided between the NAD 545 and Denon 2910 which I also own. Classical music on 545 sounds simply great. Love the analogue filter and the effect it has on sound stage ( incredibly more detaild at the edges with less presence at the center) Bass are decent and stage is very good. On the other hand DENON 2910 has a bassline and stage which are both more robust and well rounded compared to 545 - both from analogue and coax outputs. Instruments sound less alive on denon when compared to 545 though. I tell you, I am still undecided and swapping once in a while between the two.. ( Amp: Marantz SR7200, Spk: BW602D)

Dear snastase,

This afternoon I recieved the following e-mail from NAD Electronics regarding the audio dropout you did mention:

"re: NAD C545BEE C565BEE

Thank you for your recent request via the nAD Electronics website.

I am so sorry about this issue.

The audio dropout at the last two tracks can be fixed with a new software.

Please contact your local dealer to update your unit.

Best regards (..)"

With kind regards.

I just returned to the store the recently purchased NAD C545BEE and not for the quality of the sound but simply because this unit fails to read the cd's as they are; it just inserts a one second gap between the last two songs on the album and really it's quite annoying to have that on Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' for example where there are no gaps between songs whatsoever (I even tried the cd on a display model in the store and guess what it did the same, although it worked fine on a different display model); is it because a bad firmware or just because it's made in China? I don't know, I do know for sure this NAD started it's life with a disappointment... too bad

to mgsamps:-it is the player,it happens on all cds, originals included but only between the last two tracks ,regardless of how many tracks are on the cd

Update on the returned NAD C545bee.

Returned the awful sounding NAD and got the £100 cheaper Cambridge Azure 640C V2. As far as I'm concerned just after 15 minutes listening it was obvious to my ears that the cambridge was a much superior player in all departments, the music is now multi dimentional, a smoother cleaner sound with even a bit more detail tnan the NAD and the timing is back, making the music come alive -I couldn't stop myself tapping along with the music. Don't get put off by the Cambridge name as I did at first. I think What HiFi should actually dock a star from the NAD and give it back to the Cambridge azure 640c v2. Only criticism with the 640 is that the bass is a little loose at the very bottom & it might sound a little too lively in the treble region if partnered with the wrong system, but it's still a mind-blowingly good cd player for the money.

To STWEEVE: It's not the CD Player causing the 1 second pause gap, you need to go to properties of the track in Nero and remove the 2 second pause gap for the tracks that are continuous before you burn them.

I spent my £350.00 on this hyped up player yesterday, connected it up to my Yamaha AX863SE amp and Monitor Audio speakers.. and what a complete shock. The sound from this player was all I hate about digital music, rough harsh scratchy treble, no bass extension whatsoever, no spatial presence (in fact it sounded very closed in like a constipated pig) no musicality, no timing, I could go on. I was totally shocked at how bad this player sounded after reading all the praise that What HIFI had given it. As an act of desperation I plugged my Samsung mobile phone in to my amp to play some mp3's and it actually sounded BETTER! than the NAD. My previous Sony CDP-XB920E sounded a 100 times better, superb imagery, powerful deep tuneful punchy bass, silky smooth airy treble and purely toe tapping timing & musicality. How on earth could this happen? a 13 year old player completely out classing a brand new model in every way -including Build quality. To make sure I wasn't going completely insane I got 3 audiofile friends to blind listen and the result was exactly as I predited, they ALL hated the sound of the NAD and had nothing but praise for the old failing sony player while it lasted: as it was on it's last legs! If I had known how bad the Nad was I would have had my Sony repaired instead of wasting £350.00 on this peice of junk. WHAT HIFI PLEASE EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

It's going back to the shop pronto, but I still have no idea what other player to swap it for, HELP PLEASE ANYONE.

The reviewer should know that NAD Electronics hasn't been British in a quite a while. It is a Canadian company now.

I took delivery of my C545BEE on monday march 23rd and whilst running it in I noticed that on a cd where the music is continuous from start to finish,there was a 1 second gap appearing in the music between the last two tracks.At first I thought there was a problem with the cd so I tried some more cds that were mixed(I have quite a few dance music cds) and the problem was consistant on every one.I have contacted my supplier and reported the problem who in turn have contacted NAD UK to find out if this problem is confined to this one unit or is a more common fault before a course of action can be taken ,that was wednesday 25th march ,I haven't heard anything yet so I was wondering if anybody else has the same fault

T.LUNNON

       ANY ONE KNOW THE BEST ONE TO BUY

OUT OF NAD C545BEE OR MARANTZ CD6002

OR CAMBRIDGE AZUR 540C V2 ALL 5 STAR

ANY HELP PLEASE.

I have recently purchased the new C545BEE and can tell you that it gives what I expected! It has superb performance irrespectively of listening to either jazz or electronic music. It provides highly sophisticated, natural and detailed sound which can be enjoyed for a long long time... I added C545 to my NAD T754 AV receiver and Monitor Audio BR6 Reference speakers connected with QED cables. The result is outstanding. Outstanding value and product!