[dudlew]

Well I kinda already commited to it.

I cant audition or do alot of mods as I live in a region where shipping it to the location may cost as much as the player itself!!

So unless I find someone where I live capable of doing the mods (highly unlikely) I am going to use it stock and probably use a DAC for redbook playback.

If it is as bad as you guys say it is for redbook however, which is most of my cd collection, I may just have to change my mind!

I got the impression that it was decent with redbook and very good with SACD. I guess I was wrong.

We'll see. I will call the seller tonight and check a few things out.

As I said, modding would be difficult for me.

D

 

[Habib]

Personally I preferred my NAD C541i which cost about the same. I felt that the NAD C541i was more musical and warm. The 222ES is cold and sterile. It has slightly more detail but overal I feel NAD C541i is a better choice at the same price. The 222ES has the advantage of SACD playback and 5-disc changer. Again, once it's modded, the 222ES goes to another level. So much so that the NAD C541i is not even comparable. Hope that helps.

 

[spaceman]

Quote:

Originally posted by Habib Personally I preferred my NAD C541i which cost about the same. I felt that the NAD C541i was more musical and warm. The 222ES is cold and sterile. It has slightly more detail but overal I feel NAD C541i is a better choice at the same price. The 222ES has the advantage of SACD playback and 5-disc changer. Again, once it's modded, the 222ES goes to another level. So much so that the NAD C541i is not even comparable. Hope that helps.

I agree. When I bought my 222ES, I thought, oh ****, why did I do this! The redbook was pretty lousy, and Habib hit it right on the head with "cold & sterile." There was just this emptiness. However, after the modifications, with about 60 hours of burn in, I am quite impressed. If your budget allows, now, or in the near future, I would go with the 222ES and get the modifications.