Cambridge Audio D500SE CD Player

The Cambridge Audio D500SE is the top-of-the-range CD player produced by British manufacturers Cambridge Audio. It attempts to be 'genuine hi-fi' without the brand association of some of the cheaper brands, while providing a good audio experience. I'll be looking at how much of that the D500SE lives up to.

The D500SE is a modified version of the original D500 player, with a different DAC. It should be noted that the digital-to-analogue ...
...output.) This is what Cambridge Audio are about, though - concentrating on the aural quality while providing essentially basic functionality.

The player is standard hi-fi width, and comes in two colours: black, with a green-on-black display, or silver, with a blue backlit LCD display. I tried the silver model. The front fascia is metal, as opposed to plastic on cheaper hi-fis, but the buttons are plastic. On the front panel, you have ... more

The Cambridge Audio D500SE is the top-of-the-range CD player produced by British manufacturers Cambridge Audio. It attempts to be 'genuine hi-fi' without the brand association of some of the cheaper brands, while providing a good audio experience. I'll be looking at how much of that the D500SE lives up to.

The D500SE is a modified version of the original D500 player, with a different DAC. It should be noted that the digital-to-analogue conversion stage is the only real difference in a CD player - in the digital stage, nothing different happens, it's digital, right? (Leave a message in my guestbook if you need an explanation of this.) So you can expect a review of the standard D500 to give a different result. The SE has a 24-bit DAC, which is supposed to give improved quality. Apparently, bits of this player have been specially designed by Sony, which has to be a good thing for this Chinese-built unit.

Feature-wise, this is essentially a basic CD player with digital output. You get the standard phono plugs for analogue output, and an optical digital output, and a coaxial digital output with a BNC plug on the end. (Most I've seen have a phono plug for coaxial digital output.) This is what Cambridge Audio are about, though - concentrating on the aural quality while providing essentially basic functionality.

The player is standard hi-fi width, and comes in two colours: black, with a green-on-black display, or silver, with a blue backlit LCD display. I tried the silver model. The front fascia is metal, as opposed to plastic on cheaper hi-fis, but the buttons are plastic. On the front panel, you have buttons for open/close, play, pause and stop, along with a spring-loaded jog dial - turn it to the left to skip back, to the right to skip to the next track; hold it there to rewind or fast forward. It springs back to the centre afterwards. This looks nice, but feels a bit tacky - when you turn the dial to its full reach to skip tracks, you hear a metallic 'clonk'. For me, the control didn't always work. Fortunately, you get a full-featured remote control, which carries all the standard CD player features (track programming, repeat, shuffle, and so on). However, the remote feels very, very cheap - the kind of thing you would expect to get with the cheapest of the cheap equipment. The buttons on the front panel feel just the same - not the kind of thing you'd get in a £200 unit.

Sonically, this machine performs pretty well. The Sony-designed electronics provide detail enough, punchy bass, and good quality across the mid and treble ranges. Cambridge apparently aim to perform well across the musical board, and I'd say this is the case - the player seems aimed at Joe Public, in that no one particular variety of music comes across as inspiring, but all are reproduced well. It's not audiophile equipment, but it doesn't pretend to be - it's best suited to putting ambient music on.

Now, before I deliver my final verdict, a word in your ear if you're thinking of buying this product. Cambridge Audio equipment is only available at Richer Sounds. This is because Cambridge Audio are owned by Richer Sounds. When I went to choose a CD player, I remembered Richer Sounds' commitment to unbiased service, so when they recommended the D500SE to me over the Marantz CD6000 OSE LE, I took their advice not knowing the fact I've just imparted to you. I was disappointed with the build quality - if I'm going to spend £200 on a CD player I want it to feel like a £200 CD player! I personally think that the Marantz is a better performer, too - and it got a better review in Hi-Fi Choice than the Cambridge Audio, whilst being at a higher price in the review - they are now the same price. The happy end to this story is that Richer Sounds are nonetheless very nice people, and let me swap the player for the (in my opinion) superior Marantz, about which I've also written an opinion. I would nonetheless recommend that you give this player a listen - arrange a demo of several players and decide on the merits of them all.

Despite the fact that this player doesn't feel like it's worth £200, it is nonetheless a contender in this arena - I don't think it's as good as the Marantz CD6000 OSE LE, which I would recommend over this player unhesitatingly on grounds mainly of build quality, but also to an extent sound quality - but some people may prefer the sound of the Cambridge. I recognise that the Cambridge player produces a quality sound, and it's good for £200, but it doesn't belie the price tag the way the Marantz does. Consequently, it gets four stars, and the only reason I'm not recommending it is because I think there's a much better player out there. 

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