Until now, if you wanted a Blu-ray deck with the
NAD (New Audio Dimensions, smart guy) logo, you could either pony up the $1,500 for the
T587 or get familiar with silk-screening your own faceplate. But now, a $1,999 option from NAD's Master Series has opened up for you in the M56. Back in the day, we had some pretty nice NAD stereo gear, but those pieces always stood for good value -- and unfortunately, we can't say we're seeing the same value proposition here. Aside from the overbuilt chassis construction , the specs add up to a Profile 2.0 player that can dole out Blu-ray's lossless audio via bitstream, LPCM or 7.1-channel analog jacks and play back media via a USB port; in other words, the standard feature set for a reasonably "complete" Blu-ray player these days. If you really need something that fits style-wise into your current rack full of NAD gear, go for it; otherwise consider
some alternatives -- including getting back into silk-screening.
posted Sep 11th 2009 9:08AM
You are paying extra for the better sound quality of the CD player and SACD player in this unit. Someone who has a nice sounding system and wants an all in one unit to do it all. Though many Audiophiles prefer to have a separate CD player for their collection.
The T587 Blu-ray player/CD Player by NAD has dropped to $799 by the way!
Are you sure it can play SACD? The T587 can't and I haven't seen anyone mentioning the M56 capable of it either.
If it can, I'll buy it the minute it's available. The Masters series so far has shown outstanding value for money, and $2K would be a steal. If it can't, I'll go to Denon instead. Too bad, I have the M25 and the M15HD, would love a true musical multi-player to match.
As for price, the Denon top Blu-ray machine costs $4,500, but their second best at 2K can also play SACD and DVD-A,