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Copland 266 vs NAD 541i CDP

I've wanted to upgrade my CD player for a couple months now, and I've recently come across an older (98') Copland 266 CD player for about $1k CDN (about $650 US) I was curious if this would be a move up, or simply buying into an older generation CDP with a better name?

The seller says the Copland is using better K-DAC's and would be a step up. I'm weary though because the Copland is now 6yrs old, and the NAD 541i is only 1 year old. I dont have the ability to listen to the Copland so I'll be taking a risk. At 1k CDN it isn't huge, but by the same token I want to make sure its a setup from the NAD, even though its older technology.

Is this a good move? I'll be hooking up this Copland to my SimAudio Moon i-5080. Some people say the really good stuff is good for a long long time. Such as Califorina Audio Labs stuff...its dated but still holds up. Others contend that newer cd players from NAD and rotel have really risen the bar and have closed the gap by a wide margin in the last couple of years.

I've also found a Classe' CDP-10 for 2k but I'm not eager to part with that kinda dough at the moment.
pbawcutt294c
bambadoo
19 posts
 
The copland is a great player. The 266 do not use K-Dacs. Only the 288 and 289 did. (PCM-63P). The 266 has 2 of them, and 288/289 has 4 pcs. The copland players look great, and are a nice piece of equipment. Make sure you change the "Clock" on the Copland, to i.e. lclock XO3. That makes great imrovement to the sound. The price is nice though.
pbawcutt8155
1 posts
 
Hey Bambadoo, the seller insists he had it upgraded to K-DACS, regardless do you feel that this would be an upgrade from a newer NAD player?
bambadoo
19 posts
 
If the selles says so, it's probably right. Yes I feel that it is an improvement. But! I havent heard the NAD. Maybe the first couple of hours when you listen to the copland you don't feel the improvement. That takes time. The musicality of these players are great.
I happen to know a tweak or two for copland players, that takes them even further up the ladder. The clock should be changed, and so should 2 pcs. of 0.47uf coupling caps, in the analogue stage. But then.. It's a great player.
The latest BAT vk51SE still uses the same pcm63 dacs as the copland player. Hope you find the information useful.
Best Regards
jewel_hasan's avatar
jewel_hasan
98 posts
 
Hey Bamboo - I've had my Copland CDA-289 for a couple of years but I've never tried opening the box myself and therefore, the tweaks you recommend, is this something an end user can do at home with simple instructions from you or is this more involved requiring special tools etc? If you have a minute, would you elaborate it bit in layman's terms? I appreciate your help. Thanks a lot.

If you prefer, you can email me directly at zhasan@lehman.com.

pbawcutt@hotmail.com - my apologies for riding your thread:-)
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