Is it live or is it the NAD C660 CD recorder?

I used to love making my own mix tapes back in the day when it involved recording vinyl LPs onto audio cassettes. I was delighted the first time I saw a CD recorder for sale in an audio shop. But I wasn't able to afford one at the time, at a price of $1,100 or so.

I purchased a NAD C660 from a used audio shop a couple of months ago. Put a CD in the drawer on the left, put a blank disc in the drawer on the right, select "dubbing", push play, and voila! — the C660 burns a digital clone of the original CD.


Maybe you would prefer to copy just a few tracks from each of several CDs. You program the player on the left to play only the tracks you want to copy, then switch to a different CD and repeat the process. Every time you pause to switch to a new CD, the C660 will indicate how many tracks and how many minutes of music you have copied to the disc. It will also indicate when the blank disc is full (around 78 minutes of music).

When the CD is done copying (at 1X, 2X, or 4X the standard playing speed) you select "finalize" then push play to confirm that yes, you do want to finalize the disc. Finalization takes approximately 90 seconds; once it's done, you can't add any more tracks. The finalized disc is playable in any CD player.

The NAD C660 and other brands were available c. 2001. People soon began burning CDs on their personal computers, and this terrific product was discontinued.

Why would anyone want a CD recorder? What's wrong with burning discs on a PC? Either way we're talking about a digital clone, right?

Maybe. If you don't care about sound quality, don't give it another thought. But if you do care about sound quality, here are a couple of considerations to ponder.

First, the blank CDs you buy for your computer are an inferior product. Consider these two images:


Go grab any CD in your library and inspect it for the COMPACT DISC logo. Notice that it says, "DIGITAL AUDIO" underneath — just like the image on the left.

Now grab the kind of blank CD you use in your computer. Find the COMPACT DISC logo and you'll see that it corresponds to the image on the right.

Prerecorded discs are optimized for music. The blank discs you buy for your PC aren't.

Actually, you can purchase blank "DIGITAL AUDIO" discs and use them in your computer — you have that option. But if you want to copy a disc on the NAD C660, only one kind of disc will work. The C660 uses only the "DIGITAL AUDIO" discs.

That's a clue:  there's something going on inside the C660 that your computer doesn't replicate.

Second, ask yourself this question:  What's the first step in reproducing music in your living room at home?

Answer:  It's when your CD player reads the information stored on the CD. A lot of errors creep in during that process. (Due to pinholes in the CD, or scratches or dust on its surface, or jitter.)

A good CD player uses high quality components to minimize errors during the reading of the CD. For example, the Rega Saturn:

• uses a high-stability crystal oscillator in order to minimize jitter;
• optimises playback for each individual CD loaded into the transport compartment; and
• has an exceptionally large memory capacity (20Mb). The Saturn uses that stored information to correct errors while the CD is playing.

Do you suppose that the manufacturer of your computer put such a premium on extracting information from an audio CD? Uh … I think not. PCs are designed to perform many functions; audio reproduction is a low priority.

(That may change now that people are streaming music from their PCs to their stereo systems. But a PC is still a multi-purpose device, whereas a CD player specializes in just playing CDs. That's not about to change.)

It matters because your computer can copy the CD only as accurately as it reads the CD. Uncorrected errors degrade the sound quality.

As far as I can tell, the NAD C660 makes copies that are as good as the original. There is no discernible loss of sound quality.

You can use the C660 as your regular CD player. I intend to use mine only for its copying capabilities, to keep it functioning as long as possible without the need for repairs. It won't be easy to replace in a few years, given that no one manufactures CD recorders anymore.

(Edit: correction. There are a variety of CD recorders still available — I just haven't seen one on the floor of an audio shop for years. Several options are reviewed at About.com. My suspicion is that the C660 would still be a better choice for audiophiles because (a) NAD manufactures audiophile-calibre CD players and (b) the new CD recorders seem to incorporate computer technology. The use of computer technology may be a feature rather a bug, of course — it's a matter of personal preference.)

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(Readers who remember the 70s will get the reference in the title:  "Is it live or is it Memorex?" was a tag-line in commercials for Memorex blank audio cassette tapes.)