Opinions on NAD M5?

[silverrain]

I've been thinking about getting one of these puppies, because it seems to be well-liked, but, mainly, it would let me finally have an SACD player that will ALSO decode HDCD and regular CD too -- all in one player.

Right now, I have some really nice reference-series (in the pretty gold champagne color) Marantz players and recorders that handle HDCD, plus another two-tray Denon W15000 HDCD player/recorder, too.
I have too many rigs, maybe....

Anyway, anybody here have any experience with the M5?
I've never listened to a NAD before, but this sure seems convenient, handling all these formats in one unit.

I use my stuff mainly for headphones, with various good headphone amps, and don't use speakers anymore, so that is not a consideration.

One thing I do NOT know about this player: assuming I use the stereo line-out to my headphone amp, will SACD also play thru the stereo outputs, or will it jump over to the 5.1 channel outputs only? I can't find this out anywhere. Not a big problem, but I do wonder about this -- whether I would have to switch between amp inputs due to two M5 outputs -- one just for SACD?

[RogerB]

Someone is selling a NAD M5 in the for sale forum. It looks new and they are asking $1050 for it. I thought about it but have decided on a Marantz SA8001.

[xenithon]

You should be able to set that - because most SACD's which come in 5.1 also have a stereo SACD track/layer IIRC.

But, that is one reason I got the Marantz SA7001 (European equivalent of the US's SA8001) as it is a strictly 2-channel player.

[tom hankins]

I have the M5 that is for sale. When using the player as you described it will play the sacd as 2-channel only through your headphones.
I have also owned the Marantz SA11s1 at the same (and twice the price) and the Mcintosh MCD201 at the same time as this and did alot of side by side comparisons and thought the NAD was a better player. (than the Marantz) I sold the Marantz and used this for almost a year. I thought the sound signature of the Mac and the NAD were very close. A slight edge in detail going to the Mac, but for me not enough to spend the extra money and keep it over the NAD. It leans on the warm side of the fence (slightly) and has great midrange and bass. Not quite the resolution in the top end of the higher priced players but enjoyable and easy on the ears without lacking dynamics.