NAD C 538

A solid CD player worthy of serious consideration

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The arrival of a new CD player is no longer a regular occurrence at What Hi-Fi? towers. What was once a torrent of shiny new disc spinners has now slowed to a sporadic trickle, thanks firstly to download sites and then the subsequent rise of streaming services. Ironically, the revival of interest in vinyl hasn’t helped either.

NAD is no stranger to making CD players. The company’s history is littered with five-star products and Award winners, and this one goes into a sparse sector where the shadow of Marantz’s pricier but excellent CD6007 looms large.

There’s no mistaking a NAD CD player for anything else. The company seems to have followed the same style notes for decades, and the C 538 bears many similarities to its forebears. Still, there’s not much to complain about when the result is as clean and easy to use as this.