Topic: NAD CD Player

[dr. jekyll]

sorry to hear about your problem.  btw any warning signs before it stopped reading cds?  i myself got a NAD C542 for almost a year now and it still plays and sounds great.   

Thank for the info! nope, no warning signs at all.  Just stopped playing one time.  I figured it was the cd.  Around two weeks after, I tried to play a disc and it stopped.  It showed signs of life a few days later when I tried to use it again but it was only good for half a song... :'(  I'm glad for you. I hope your unit performs better than mine.   

[taggart]

Thank for the info! nope, no warning signs at all.  Just stopped playing one time.  I figured it was the cd.  Around two weeks after, I tried to play a disc and it stopped.  It showed signs of life a few days later when I tried to use it again but it was only good for half a song... :'(  I'm glad for you. I hope your unit performs better than mine.   

that's sad...hope the shop i mentioned can fix it.  good luck! 

[docsialu]

good day sir, its me again, just have a few questions

1. would a regular cd player be able to play an hdcd format cd?
  (im asking this because my teac dvd player can read a cd-r i bought
    which is a copy of an hdcd)

2. if an hdcd disc is to be copied into a cd-rewritable disc, would
the copied cd-r still sound like the original hdcd

  (im asking this because the cd-r i bought was detected by my teac dvd

player to be an hdcd, when in fact its just a cd-r}

3. is the nad c542 a good hdcd, or are there other hdcd players in the price
range, or should i just purchase the c521 bee?

[bumblebee]

good day sir, its me again, just have a few questions

1. would a regular cd player be able to play an hdcd format cd?
  (im asking this because my teac dvd player can read a cd-r i bought
    which is a copy of an hdcd)

Yes. But you won't hear the extra 4 bits of data.

2. if an hdcd disc is to be copied into a cd-rewritable disc, would
the copied cd-r still sound like the original hdcd

  (im asking this because the cd-r i bought was detected by my teac dvd

player to be an hdcd, when in fact its just a cd-r}

Yes.

3. is the nad c542 a good hdcd, or are there other hdcd players in the price
range, or should i just purchase the c521 bee?

The C542 is the cheapest HDCD player from a known brand available locally (pls tell me I'm wrong). There aren't that many HDCD's around.

[taggart]

Yes. But you won't hear the extra 4 bits of data.

Yes.

The C542 is the cheapest HDCD player from a known brand available locally (pls tell me I'm wrong). There aren't that many HDCD's around.

just wanna add, IMHO the C542 plays HDCD well.  there's a noticeable benefit with HDCD-encoded discs compared to regular cds.  yep it's also the cheapest that i know. 

[redkoji]

I hope this is not OT but I brought my defective CD player (NAD 521BEE) to Studio Systems, distributor of NAD products in the Philippines on 29 October 2005.

The unit was accepted and a lady named Sherry promised to call me on Nov. 2, the next working day.

I have provided her with my contact numbers and she was able to reply to me only yesterday, 8 November.

They are charging me P3000 to replace the lens of my CD player, a CD player which, and I this I have to stress, was only used sparingly during its useful life.

I have only been using the CD player for approximately 19 months. It appears these units are inherently defective as I noticed that there were around three other units (of NAD 321BEE) with the same problem.  Sherry even acknowledged that it was a common complaint with this CD player model.

The CD player has refused to play any audio discs and shows a "no disc" display.  The unit was bought from Spectra last March 2004.

I understand that the unit is no longer covered by a warranty.  But I feel that it is only reasonable for a customer to expect that the lens of the cd player should last longer than 19 months.  I may be wrong.

The NAD Customer Service Center, which can be accessed online, has not replied to any of my concerns.  I placed a comment on the NAD guestbook but it was quickly brought down by the webmaster.

Is this a fact of life that we have to face?

Sorry for the inconvenience in the delay in giving you the evaluation report of your CD  player. Under normal circumtances we give evaluation of defective units within 2 to 6 working days. We believed Ms. Cherry has a fault here by promising to you that she will be calling you up, on November 02.  As our document, we received your unit on a Saturday, the usual proceedure is that we shall forward such item on Monday. However, Monday and Tuesday is already a Holiday and then another round of holiday (Friday) after that. We did try to used realignment tools and cleaning of lenses but still the problem was not been solved.  Again we are very sorry for such incident.

As for other matters you mentioned we would like to clarify the following :

*Lens life -  under proper usage and maintenance, the lens of NAD equipment should last more than 5 years. If such equipment has a factory defect, it will show sign within 90 days.

*Charges - All items we are selling have 1 year warranty from the date of invoice. Non-warranty items, we charge P350.00 for evaluation. This will not be refunded if after giving the person our diagnosis and won't let the units be repaired. However, if the repair work shall push through, this will be part of their payment of their total bill. Our standard charging rate estimate is P3,000.00-5,000 whatever the damage of the product since we  subsidize most of the repair cost.

*Inherent defect of the C521 BEE - I believe Ms. Cherry was misquoted on this issue. Yes there was 3 other units of the same model during your visit for repair. One for realignment, one for cleaning and the other one for replacement of lens. Her real intention in that statement, if your complaint was displaying "No Disc" or would not play, generally the lens is the suspected problem. 

We hope you find everything in order and again if there was delay in giving you the evaluation we apologize

[dr. jekyll]

As for other matters you mentioned we would like to clarify the following :

*Lens life -  under proper usage and maintenance, the lens of NAD equipment should last more than 5 years. If such equipment has a factory defect, it will show sign within 90 days.

The implication of that statement is that assuming the lens of the NAD cd player lasts for less than 5 years,  and showed no signs of malfunction/defect during the first 90 days of use, then the only conclusion you can come up with is that the owner used it improperly? Or that the unit was not properly maintained? 

Are you therefore saying it would be impossible for the lens to malfunction during the first five years?

In which case, shouldn't your warranty for the lens be good for 5 years? Considering that your so willing to stand by the quality of your products?  At any rate, the standard warranty already excludes improper use of the product by the owner, doesn't it? So no additional assumption of risk on your part.

*Inherent defect of the C521 BEE - I believe Ms. Cherry was misquoted on this issue. Yes there was 3 other units of the same model during your visit for repair. One for realignment, one for cleaning and the other one for replacement of lens. Her real intention in that statement, if your complaint was displaying "No Disc" or would not play, generally the lens is the suspected problem. 

I believe it was you who misquoted what I said.  I was the one who said that "it appears that these units are inherently defective as I noticed that there were around three other units xxx with the same problem." 

I then went on to say, "Sherry even acknowledged that it was a common complaint with this CD player model."  Meaning, that the "no disc" problem is common to the NAD 521 BEE, not that the CD player was "inherently defective."  My complaint, when I brought the unit to your office, was that it would not play CDs, not that it was "inherently defective."  Therefore, when I refer to "common complaints", I would be referring to what I observed, which was the failure of the CD player to play CDs.

I'd imagine since the 3 other units were for (1) realignment, (2) cleaning and (3) replacement of lens, all of them do not play CDs as well.  Which probably makes my earlier statement fairly accurate.

You know I was already willing to let this one go and chalk it up to experience, except that an apology, by itself, and without qualification (even via PM), would have been better.  I noticed Ronald, from your post and your earlier posts, that you may need to improve the way you handle these things.

[iceman90a]

The implication of that statement is that assuming the lens of the NAD cd player lasts for less than 5 years,  and showed no signs of malfunction/defect during the first 90 days of use, then the only conclusion you can come up with is that the owner used it improperly? Or that the unit was not properly maintained? 

come on! my Kebao 3089 has been with me for 2 years, fed with nothing but p** dvd's and its still working!

i wonder how a person can deliberately abuse his CD player? or why anyone who would save up for a decent one would knowingly abuse his player? 

[av_phile1]

i wonder how a person can deliberately abuse his CD player? or why anyone who would save up for a decent one would knowingly abuse his player? 

Very true.  That seems to be conviniently overlooked by distributors when trying to save on warranty expenses and hide invoking the warranty clause on abuse and misuse.   This incident seems familiar. 

[Garp]

I have a nad c521bee. I used to tweak this a lot and I think I took the chassis cover off at least a dozen times. I've removed the entire pcb at least 6 times. At some point I started to get a "no disc" display. There are two reasons for this in my case. One is that the disc is not properly aligned in the tray. The other is when the ribbon cable gets loose. The ribbon cable is the white laminted plastic cable that's about 3/4 inch connected between the pcb and the cd transport. If this gets misaligned or dirty as in my case I get a "no disc" display.

[dr. jekyll]

I have a nad c521bee. I used to tweak this a lot and I think I took the chassis cover off at least a dozen times. I've removed the entire pcb at least 6 times. At some point I started to get a "no disc" display. There are two reasons for this in my case. One is that the disc is not properly aligned in the tray. The other is when the ribbon cable gets loose. The ribbon cable is the white laminted plastic cable that's about 3/4 inch connected between the pcb and the cd transport. If this gets misaligned or dirty as in my case I get a "no disc" display.

Hey thanks for the tip Garp.  I might as well try it as I have nothing to lose.   

[mYKi]

Has anyone tried using isolation devices with a NAD player, especially with the C542? What are the results?

[ZEPHYR]

The implication of that statement is that assuming the lens of the NAD cd player lasts for less than 5 years,  and showed no signs of malfunction/defect during the first 90 days of use, then the only conclusion you can come up with is that the owner used it improperly? Or that the unit was not properly maintained? 

Are you therefore saying it would be impossible for the lens to malfunction during the first five years?

In which case, shouldn't your warranty for the lens be good for 5 years? Considering that your so willing to stand by the quality of your products?  At any rate, the standard warranty already excludes improper use of the product by the owner, doesn't it? So no additional assumption of risk on your part.


I believe it was you who misquoted what I said.  I was the one who said that "it appears that these units are inherently defective as I noticed that there were around three other units xxx with the same problem." 

I then went on to say, "Sherry even acknowledged that it was a common complaint with this CD player model."  Meaning, that the "no disc" problem is common to the NAD 521 BEE, not that the CD player was "inherently defective."  My complaint, when I brought the unit to your office, was that it would not play CDs, not that it was "inherently defective."  Therefore, when I refer to "common complaints", I would be referring to what I observed, which was the failure of the CD player to play CDs.

I'd imagine since the 3 other units were for (1) realignment, (2) cleaning and (3) replacement of lens, all of them do not play CDs as well.  Which probably makes my earlier statement fairly accurate.

You know I was already willing to let this one go and chalk it up to experience, except that an apology, by itself, and without qualification (even via PM), would have been better.  I noticed Ronald, from your post and your earlier posts, that you may need to improve the way you handle these things.

Any update on this concern.

Hate to bring this up. My NAD 521BEE cdp just stop playing . Similar to others, mine is also bought new, it's more than a year old but less than 2 year.

Just yesterday my 521bee cdp's tray will not open anymore   , although it exhibited having power it does not complete the tray open command whether done by remote control or by pressing the open/close button in the unit itself.

This is very bad as this is Christmas time. I was hoping to spend the whole day listening to my fav cds but it seems i'll be without music for an extended period as I will have to get my unit repaired first. 

dr. jekyll bro kindly post whether your unit was repaired by whom and how.

TIA

A Merry Christmas to all

[audioslave]

I had a NAD C521i before and i abused it one time by playing CDs into it for 14 hours non stop. it didn't falter a bit and the only reason i sold it was to get myself the newer NAD C542. i was the first one to own this model (together with Aeris 30) here in the Philippines. we acquired our unit March 12, 2004 and had it one time playing for 12 hours straight and it never faltered. mine is my primary source and i had been abusing it for over a year now or over 21 months and it never conks out on me nor have i seen that "No Disc" display.

the NADs are perhaps the sturdiest player one can have and my bet still stands. read my previous posts on this thread and you know what i mean!! 

[classicman]

I had a NAD C521i before and i abused it one time by playing CDs into it for 14 hours non stop. it didn't falter a bit and the only reason i sold it was to get myself the newer NAD C542. i was the first one to own this model (together with Aeris 30) here in the Philippines. we acquired our unit March 12, 2004 and had it one time playing for 12 hours straight and it never faltered. mine is my primary source and i had been abusing it for over a year now or over 21 months and it never conks out on me nor have i seen that "No Disc" display.

the NADs are perhaps the sturdiest player one can have and my bet still stands. read my previous posts on this thread and you know what i mean!! 

brod, this is an 'admission against interest' & might lower its resale value, hehehe

[audioslave]

no plans of selling at all, brod!  pag may new NAD HDCD equipped CD Player na cguro superceding the C542 model, i might rethink my position! 

[dr. jekyll]

Any update on this concern.

Hate to bring this up. My NAD 521BEE cdp just stop playing . Similar to others, mine is also bought new, it's more than a year old but less than 2 year.

Just yesterday my 521bee cdp's tray will not open anymore   , although it exhibited having power it does not complete the tray open command whether done by remote control or by pressing the open/close button in the unit itself.

This is very bad as this is Christmas time. I was hoping to spend the whole day listening to my fav cds but it seems i'll be without music for an extended period as I will have to get my unit repaired first. 

dr. jekyll bro kindly post whether your unit was repaired by whom and how.

TIA

A Merry Christmas to all

Zephyr,

Considering that Studio wanted to charge me 3K to replace the lens, I thought I had nothing to lose bringing it somewhere else.  I brought it to a repair shop near our place and they fixed it for approx. 1K without replacing the lens.  They told me that the lens was apparently misaligned.  PM'd you the name of the shop.

Hope you'll be able to resolve your problem soon.

Happy holidays!

[ZEPHYR]

Zephyr,

Considering that Studio wanted to charge me 3K to replace the lens, I thought I had nothing to lose bringing it somewhere else.  I brought it to a repair shop near our place and they fixed it for approx. 1K without replacing the lens.  They told me that the lens was apparently misaligned.  PM'd you the name of the shop.

Hope you'll be able to resolve your problem soon.

Happy holidays!

Hope so too bro. Thanks for the info although I would try to look also for a shop hear my place, perhaps I may find one that can do the job on my unit.

Would also appreciate if you can give their number. Thank you.

A Happy holidays to y'all

[ZEPHYR]

Any update on this concern.

Hate to bring this up. My NAD 521BEE cdp just stop playing . Similar to others, mine is also bought new, it's more than a year old but less than 2 year.

Just yesterday my 521bee cdp's tray will not open anymore   , although it exhibited having power it does not complete the tray open command whether done by remote control or by pressing the open/close button in the unit itself.

This is very bad as this is Christmas time. I was hoping to spend the whole day listening to my fav cds but it seems i'll be without music for an extended period as I will have to get my unit repaired first. 

dr. jekyll bro kindly post whether your unit was repaired by whom and how.

TIA

A Merry Christmas to all

Just like to note that my 521BEE cdp is now back in service Have a friend whos into electronics got a look on it and found that my cd tray motor somewhat locked or had difficulty in operating. He said that he just cleaned it a bit and applied fresh lubrications and walla my cdp is back to life 

Happy to be back to listening again.

[juvinyl]

Hello guys,

This is my first post, so pls bear with me.  For many years, I'd been watching and  listening to everyone giving his ideas in this particular table, and as I sit here, I can no longer contain my silence, when I also experience the same problem with my NAD C542 I bought 5 months ago.

The problem started after a month of my purchase when I put my disc on the tray and the player displayed "no disc".  Sometimes, the player had a hard time recognizing the disc.  This happened early in the morning or after the player is not used for a long time.  I thought then, it must be the player sensitive lens and keep it for many months since it is not easy for me to transport my unit in manila while I am in Cebu.

Lately, the problem is already alarming, when it won't play any kind of disc--cd or cdrl.  And when a disc is ejected, you can see the disc still spinning while the tray is opening.  Then it recovers after an hour, so I decided to contact Studio systems and have it transported to them last week.

I'm now worried after reading some of the members here who have encountered problem with studio systems for the warranty.  I bought mine at Premier sights and sound at shangrila and was directed to studio systems.

At the time I was looking for a cd player, I was warned by a dealer in Cebu (not a NAD dealer) not to get NAD 542 because of its inherent defect on the lens.  But I still insisted to get it. 

AS of this writing, I still don't have feedback from SS.  I just hope everything will be in order.

Thanks and more power to this forum.

[av_phile1]

Welcome to this forum. 

So we have another complaint about the C542.  Hope in your case that Studio Systems  has learned some lessons from the flak it got handling previous complaints.  And do what's good for the customer this time around.   Good luck.

[jeckjeck]

hi all, I am not a NAD owner but my British boss is... he knows that I'm into HT so he asked me if I could help him out with his CDP which wasn't working... I went to his place and saw his unit was a NAD 542... when a CD was loaded, the tray made a whirring sound when retracting then "no disc" would appear...  He mentioned that the unit was about 6 months old BUT it's been busted for the past 5 months! AND it was already a replacement unit... the first unit he got became defective after a week of use (problem was "no disc" also) so he returned it and the dealer replaced it right away... this second unit became defective after a month of use -- he admits to being a heavy CD listener as he has thousands of CDs... but even then...

Here's the back story of his problem... when his current (second) unit became defective, he brought it back to the dealer for repairs... they contacted him a few days later and said repairs would cost upwards of 8k saying that the lens was busted along with other parts... he refused to pay and demanded that they fix it either for free or he will just pay for labor but he will absolutely not pay for any parts... He referred to his warranty to justify his request & the fact that it was only a month old...

Here's the bomb... the dealer said that he has no warranty because the receipt he presented was for a different unit!  The receipt and warranty he held was for the FIRST unit he got... meaning what was on paper was the serial number of the first unit... he was not given a new receipt or warranty card for the second replacement and it did not occur to him to ask for a new one... when he went ballistic, the dealer said that they were only relaying what the distributor/service center told them AND apparently the dealer also developed amnesia about my boss's purchase history with them...  So, he refused to pay anything and pulled out the unit thus it has remained unrepaired.. He's been using a Bose system ever since for his CD listening sessions (a very nice Bose system also just don't know what model)

The help that he wanted was for me to bring the unit to a reputable place which can fix it for him at a reasonable price... He's leaving for Hong Kong permanently already by mid February and he wants to have it fixed here before he flies... he said that it may be more expensive to have it fixed in HK

Can anyone refer a place?? TIA...

By the way... he forgot the name of the audio shop where he got the CDP, he just remembers that it's located at Festival Mall...  hmmm...

[juvinyl]

Welcome to this forum. 

So we have another complaint about the C542.  Hope in your case that Studio Systems  has learned some lessons from the flak it got handling previous complaints.  And do what's good for the customer this time around.   Good luck.

Thanks for welcoming me to this forum.

I'll keep you posted in every development with studio systems.  I just hope for the better handling of my unit.  Yesterday they told me that my complain is still under evaluation.

juvinyl

[taggart]

this is really getting scary...am a C542 owner myself for a little more than a year now.  one thing's for sure though...despite all the problems mentioned here, every owner still thinks the C542 a keeper.    

[mYKi]

Hi juvinyl,

I suggest that you keep following up with Studio Systems. I had the same problem and they replaced my unit (after PinoyDVD people helped me out in pushing them and after I wrote directly to NAD Asia).

My player has been flawless since that time and I have no plans of replacing this awesome player.

Maybe Sights and Sounds Shangri-La re-sold you the player that I returned to them. I should have listed down the serial number.

Myki

[av_phile1]

hi all, I am not a NAD owner but my British boss is... he knows that I'm into HT so he asked me if I could help him out with his CDP which wasn't working... I went to his place and saw his unit was a NAD 542... when a CD was loaded, the tray made a whirring sound when retracting then "no disc" would appear...  He mentioned that the unit was about 6 months old BUT it's been busted for the past 5 months! AND it was already a replacement unit... the first unit he got became defective after a week of use (problem was "no disc" also) so he returned it and the dealer replaced it right away... this second unit became defective after a month of use -- he admits to being a heavy CD listener as he has thousands of CDs... but even then...

Here's the back story of his problem... when his current (second) unit became defective, he brought it back to the dealer for repairs... they contacted him a few days later and said repairs would cost upwards of 8k saying that the lens was busted along with other parts... he refused to pay and demanded that they fix it either for free or he will just pay for labor but he will absolutely not pay for any parts... He referred to his warranty to justify his request & the fact that it was only a month old...

Here's the bomb... the dealer said that he has no warranty because the receipt he presented was for a different unit!  The receipt and warranty he held was for the FIRST unit he got... meaning what was on paper was the serial number of the first unit... he was not given a new receipt or warranty card for the second replacement and it did not occur to him to ask for a new one... when he went ballistic, the dealer said that they were only relaying what the distributor/service center told them AND apparently the dealer also developed amnesia about my boss's purchase history with them...  So, he refused to pay anything and pulled out the unit thus it has remained unrepaired.. He's been using a Bose system ever since for his CD listening sessions (a very nice Bose system also just don't know what model)

The help that he wanted was for me to bring the unit to a reputable place which can fix it for him at a reasonable price... He's leaving for Hong Kong permanently already by mid February and he wants to have it fixed here before he flies... he said that it may be more expensive to have it fixed in HK

Can anyone refer a place?? TIA...

By the way... he forgot the name of the audio shop where he got the CDP, he just remembers that it's located at Festival Mall...  hmmm...

He should have emailed the headoffice of NAD to sound off this obvious customer mishandling.  If I got it right, the dealer replaced a defective unit with another defective unit and would no longer replace that because the replacement's serial numbers no longer conformed with what is contained in the warranty.  OFcourse, my goodness, pinalitan na eh.  The dealer should have made the proper adjustments with the warranty.  The customer is not expected to be aware of this. 

[classicman]

Hello guys,

This is my first post, so pls bear with me.  For many years, I'd been watching and  listening to everyone giving his ideas in this particular table, and as I sit here, I can no longer contain my silence, when I also experience the same problem with my NAD C542 I bought 5 months ago.

The problem started after a month of my purchase when I put my disc on the tray and the player displayed "no disc".  Sometimes, the player had a hard time recognizing the disc.  This happened early in the morning or after the player is not used for a long time.  I thought then, it must be the player sensitive lens and keep it for many months since it is not easy for me to transport my unit in manila while I am in Cebu.

Lately, the problem is already alarming, when it won't play any kind of disc--cd or cdrl.  And when a disc is ejected, you can see the disc still spinning while the tray is opening.  Then it recovers after an hour, so I decided to contact Studio systems and have it transported to them last week.

I'm now worried after reading some of the members here who have encountered problem with studio systems for the warranty.  I bought mine at Premier sights and sound at shangrila and was directed to studio systems.

At the time I was looking for a cd player, I was warned by a dealer in Cebu (not a NAD dealer) not to get NAD 542 because of its inherent defect on the lens.  But I still insisted to get it. 

AS of this writing, I still don't have feedback from SS.  I just hope everything will be in order.

Thanks and more power to this forum.

bai juvinyl, welcome to pinoydvd, i think i know you very well, hehehe .......sorry to hear that your NAD broke down, how's your B&W 705, fully broken in na ba

[jeckjeck]

He should have emailed the headoffice of NAD to sound off this obvious customer mishandling.  If I got it right, the dealer replaced a defective unit with another defective unit and would no longer replace that because the replacement's serial numbers no longer conformed with what is contained in the warranty.  OFcourse, my goodness, pinalitan na eh.  The dealer should have made the proper adjustments with the warranty.  The customer is not expected to be aware of this. 

I'm guessing they took advantage because he's a foreigner... someone already PM'd me to refer someone who could fix it but my boss is having 2nd thoughts about having it repaired by a 3rd party... I think he may just take it back with him to HK and have it repaired there...

I'll advise him to e-mail NAD... that option hasn't crossed his mind...

[juvinyl]

bai juvinyl, welcome to pinoydvd, i think i know you very well, hehehe .......sorry to hear that your NAD broke down, how's your B&W 705, fully broken in na ba

Classicman,

You sound familiar, lemme think, I see...now I know..yeah, you're the one...hehe.  Yes, my 705 sounds amazing.  Although its not yet fully broken in.  How's your new babies?  your cdm se?  pls post your review also.  thanks and regards.

Anyway, thank you guys for your guidance and insights.  BTW, I just contacted studio systems yesterday and my unit is already ready for shipment.   They said, they replaced the lens.  I just hope its true, coz I wouldn't know.  I just can't wait for the day of my NAD reunion and play back my cds.

[juvinyl]

Hi juvinyl,

Maybe Sights and Sounds Shangri-La re-sold you the player that I returned to them. I should have listed down the serial number.

Myki

Myki,

Oo nga, posible no?  Sana natatandaan mo pa yong SN.  But, the unit was given to me in sealed box!  Are they used to "reseal" the box in a way that I wouldn't notice?  For me, I have purchased audio gears for several times already, and I am meticulous about the box when it comes to sealed deals.  I normally check the whole box and see if there is an evidence that it had been opened.  But, how would i know? 

Anyway, I hope you can recall for the serial numbers so that i can lodge a complain to them or to the DTI if I found magkapreha.  thanks.