While CD players are fewer and further between than ever - with the trajectory of the disc only going one way - NAD is sticking by those who like a hard copy.
Its latest CD player is the NAD C 538, a £249 spinner that sits beneath the company’s C 568 and C546BEE models - it comes armed with both analogue and digital outputs.
Its Wolfson 24bit/192kHz DAC feeds coaxial and optical outputs for connecting the C 538 to, say, a stereo amplifier’s digital input or an external DAC.
In addition to playing CDs, it is also compatible with CD-R/CD-RW discs and supports MP3 and WMA playback. A ‘high-precision’ clock has been used to reduce digital jitter, too.
In the box is an IR remote, and some of the playback controls – play, pause, skip and scan, for example – are mirrored on the player’s front panel.
The NAD C 538 is available now.
MORE:
How to get the best sound from your CD player
How to build the perfect hi-fi system
The What Hi-Fi? guide(s) to the best music to test your system
