NAd c 538 cd PlAyeR

NAD Electronics has released a new, high-performance, low-cost CD player, the NAD C538, that uses the latest generation Wolfson 24/192 DAC. NAD says its C538 has been engineered for musicality, simplicity and value. ‘ Though music downloads and streaming continue to grow in popularity, many consumers have a vast collection of CDs and need a quality player to enjoy them,’ said Geoff Matthews, of Convoy, which distributes NAD in Australia. ‘ The arrival of the C 538 is particularly welcome because many manufacturers have stopped building CD players, which has meant that demand amongst existing manufacturers has increased, and since NAD has been at the forefront of digital technology for several decades, it’s in an ideal position to satisfy this demand.’

In addition to playing back ordinary CDs, the NAD C 538 can also play back CD-R/CD-RW discs with home-burned MP3 and WMA files, so those who want to use these formats can fit up to ten hours of music on a single disc. ‘ This is perfect for party mixes or for ambient listening,’ Matthews told Australian Hi-Fi Magazine. ‘ And when you play back CDs, you can be guaranteed of superior audio performance thanks to the high-precision clock delivering the lowest possible digital jitter performance and the latest-generation high-spec Wolfson 24/192 DAC.’

Playback features on the NAD C 538 include random play and programmed play, and well as repeat track, program, disc, and A–B functions. In addition to the standard stereo analogue outputs, the NAD C 538 also has coaxial digital and optical digital outputs.