'Five Star' Player Now a Bigger Star Than Ever

The C521BEE was one of the best selling CD Players in NAD’s history with several 'Five Star' reviews and awards adding to its fame. So it is understandable that NAD didn’t want to make major changes to such a successful design. But the engineers at NAD are always looking to add that last little bit of performance.

To this end NAD made a few subtle but important improvements. Significantly, the C525BEE is lead-free in its construction and meets the strictest environmental standards in effect around the world. NAD’s engineers have also fine-tuned the circuit that reads and tracks the CD to improve performance with the latest copy-protected and hybrid CDs. Finally, NAD improved the audio performance by upgrading the OP Amp to lower distortion and improve musicality and detail.

"One of the Best Bargains in Audio Today"

"NAD's C 325BEE / C 525BEE combo is one of the best bargains in audio today," reports Barry Willis in The Absolute Sound for February 2007. "The pair offers superb detail, tremendous dynamics, excellent soundstaging, and a simply amazing amount of musicality at a ridiculously low price. I found them not only easy to listen to for many hours at a stretch, but also downright compelling."

"There is no question about it, the NAD duo created a sophisticated two-channel music system that was all about the music," raves a joint review of the C525BEE CD player and C325BEE integrated amplifier forCanada HiFi.com. "Its musical ability aspires only to higher price separate audio components - for this, it shines above many similarly priced components."

It Offers the Value 'Sweet Spot'

While some people will gladly spend to get that last gram of musical pleasure, for the vast majority of music lovers, the C525BEE offers that sweet spot where spending less gets a lot less, and spending more gets only a small incremental improvement.

As always, sonic performance is the first priority at NAD. Even the most critical music listeners will appreciate the fluid dynamics, spacious sound, and refined harmonic textures the C525BEE is able to extract. Whether your musical taste leans toward the expansive majesty of a full symphony orchestra, the driving beat and raw energy of rock, or the warm intimacy of the a cappella voice, the C525BEE never gets in the way of the musical expression.

Full Comfort with Recordable CDs

Not all CD players are comfortable with CD-R and CD-RW discs. The NAD C525BEE will easily play them, making this the perfect playback machine if you like to make your own homebrew compilation CDs.

Digital outputs in lower cost CD players often incorporate compromises. Unusually at this price point, the NAD's coaxial output is buffered and isolated by a transformer from the converter itself, and the output impedance has been carefully tailored to produce a precise 75 ohms impedance to ensure perfect matching. This attention to detail reduces the timing errors (jitter) that could otherwise distort the digital data stream.

Separate Power Regulators

Separate power regulators for the digital and analog sections isolate the two electrically, reducing interference. Careful layout of the PCB tracks around the DAC helps to contain RF radiation and interference. Metal film resistors and polypropylene capacitors are used in key areas to ensure a highly accurate frequency response. Apart from the single output capacitor, no other capacitors are used in the signal path. The output impedance is very low at 300 ohms, making the NAD C525BEE less sensitive to cables or the ancillary equipment it is partnered with.

The 20-bit high resolution Burr-Brown S-D Digital-to-Analog converter chip was chosen for its excellent low-level linearity and detail retrieving capabilities. High quality Burr Brown op-amps are used instead of the much lower grade and type normally found at this price level.

Direct Track Access Wireless Remote

The Model C521BEE comes supplied with the new NAD CD-6 full function remote control, offering all of the features described above from the comfort of your listening chair. On top of that, the remote control gives you direct track access and programming facilities, too. Up to 20 tracks can be programmed. It is possible to delete tracks without using the program function by simply using the delete key.

The vacuum fluorescent display provides clear and understated, yet comprehensive information to the listener. The track number is displayed, and for those who regularly transfer CDs to cassette, MiniDisc, or CD-R, the button displays the current time elapsed or remaining. A calendar' type display gives immediate visual information of how many tracks in total there are on the CD.