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NAD - M5 - Master Series - Cd/sacd Player | 
 enlarge | Brand: Nad
Category: CE
Buy New: $1,799.00
New (1) Refurbished (1) from $1,199.00
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 64976
Shipping Weight (lbs): 20.3
Dimensions (in): 17.1 x 11.8 x 3.9
MPN: M5
Model: M5
EAN: 5703120253336
ASIN: B00123ORK8
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Plays SACD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW | | • | AES/EBU balanced digital out for PCM sources | | • | Coax and TosLink PCM digital audio outputs | | • | Separate 2 channel and 5.1 channel analog outputs | | • | HDCD, MP3, and WMA decoding |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Many of us still have extensive CD collections, however, and luckily the M5 has sophisticated circuitry designed to also get the best possible sound quality from your existing CD recordings. In addition, the M5 includes an HDCD decoder which can increase the dynamic range of CD by 6dB with specially encoded and widely available CDs. CDR and CDRW recordable discs are fully supported, and even MP3 and WMA can be played on the M5 CD/SACD Player offering many hours of playback from a single disc. But the SACD format also offers the possibility of 5.1 surround sound playback, and the M5 is equipped to take full advantage of these exciting new multi-channel recordings. We have even included comprehensive bass management (redirection) for the 5.1 output. Several popular speaker configurations can be easily accessed from the front panel controls and navigated via the VFD display. A higher level of fine tuning is available via the Composite Video output using the M5s On Screen Display. This video output is also useful for managing MP3 playback. Since we expect most M5s to be used in music only systems, the video circuit can be switched off to afford the cleanest possible audio performance.
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| Customer Reviews:
 not my cup of tea September 9, 2008
tim-bobby (Austin, TX United States)
I don't actually own this CD player. I have a more than 10 year old California Audio Labs Icon Mk II and although I like it quite a bit, it is starting to have problems with the left channel going out off and on. Most annoying! So I'm in the market for a new CD player. After reading the relatively few reviews of the NAD M5 player on the internet, I learned that my local audio dealer had one. So I took my trusty Grado-SR325i headphone to the audio store and did some listening.
I listened to the NAD M5 first with a variety of CDs from my collection - jazz,rock,blues,vocal, etc. I had read in one review on the internet by some audio magazine how it did amazing things with regular CDs (what Lawrence refers to as "red book"). So I'd listen to a few tracks from a CD, then switch to another CD, thinking, "well maybe that wasn't the best recorded CD in the world". Well after having gone through quite a few CDs, my overall opinion was that it sounded, to me, like other, less expensive, NAD CD players. To my ears, it sounded rather flat, dull, and uninteresting and I was definitely disappointed.
I then listened to an Arcam player or two and they left me cold too. I listened to a $3000 Lyngdorf player they had and was left feeling the same way - dead, cold, boring. Finally, I listened to a Rega Apollo CD player with this same set of CDs and it sounded much more "alive", to me, than any of the others. I could hear what seemed like fairly obvious details in the music that had been passed up by the other players. I listened to a blues CD by Kim Wilson (local Texas blues/harmonica guy and, at one point in his career, the lungs for the "Fabulous Thunderbirds") and it really came to life! Plenty of separation of instruments, good dynamics, good detail, etc. I didn't go back to the NAD M5.
At another audio store in town I listened to a Cryus Audio CD8x and was greatly and truly stunned! This player had more detail than any player I have ever heard so far! The soundstaging was great. and the music just seemed to come out of the blackness. I was kind of scared off by the price (~$2000 US!). I haven't listened to it again since then, but am considering buying a "store demo" for a more reasonable price. The only thing I'm not sure of yet is whether the CD8x has nice solid bass or is light in the bass. I was so stunned by everything the CD8x could do I was too thunderstruck to listen for bass and other important things - I was just kind of drooling over it.
Perhaps the NAD "sound" is one that that is preferred by people who like the "Linn" sound. Myself, I've listened to Linn CD players and they seemed really cold and dry - no enjoyment whatsoever.
It sounds like the NAD suits Lawrence's tastes very well and I'm glad he is happy with it, but it did not suit my tastes. Everyone likes different things, different characteristics in their music. The NAD left me cold, but I HIGHLY recommend you read more reviews about it (if you can find any!) and then, most importantly, get thyself down to the local audio store and listen for yourself.
 Great Sound and Great Value May 21, 2008
Lawrence A. Schenbeck (Atlanta, GA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Hey, I own this! (I was Googling for it this morning and was surprised to see it pop up on Amazon.)
Maybe the reason the NAD M5 has gotten so little attention in the U.S. is that it just doesn't have the right combination of features for this market. The "failure" of SACD on these shores has been widely trumpeted in the audio and home theatre press -- never mind that it's doing very well with classical boutique labels and a significant number of audiophiles. Personally, I love the sound of good SACD recordings, especially multichannel releases. There's a fullness and depth, not to mention the sound of the hall, that you just don't get otherwise. But a lot of recent high-end SACD players are stereo-only, apparently because that's what a diehard two-channel enthusiast is more likely to purchase. Everyone else gets the cheapest "universal" player they can find.
So here's this honey of a player, virtually ignored by North America and underpromoted by NAD itself. Folks, it's a great machine. I have had mine for a year and a half. It plays three formats extremely well: CD, SACD (both stereo and multichannel), and HDCD. Built like a tank. Easy to set up, with digital bass management and distance compensation available for SACD. Looks nice. Reasonably priced. You should get one!
The CD sound was, for me, the biggest shock. What this baby pulls off a Redbook (i.e., standard) disc is just astonishing. Probably the extremely fine 24-bit/192 kHz digital-to-analog converters, plus the care they take with power supply, circuitry, etc. Now I actually enjoy listening to CDs again; much of the harshness has been scrubbed away, replaced by realism, dynamics, impact, beautiful true tone.
I had been playing SACDs with a Marantz SA8260, which may have had a slightly more luscious (i.e., warm-colored?) tone quality, but lacked the dynamics of this unit -- plus no bass management, and mediocre CD reproduction. So I am very happy now. Am playing the CDs through the balanced (XLR) outputs to my Anthem AVM20, w/ Parasound Halo A51 power amp and Von Schweikert VR-4jr, LCR-15 speakers. (I'm just throwing this in so you will have some idea of how this integrates in a nice but affordable system.)
Check the NAD Website for more information. Highly recommended.
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