Hello,
I once owned a c542. Found the redbook playback to be only slightly better than my 19 year old NAD 5000. The HDCD playback was impressive however. I recently purchased a AUNE dac/headphone amp new from flea bay and using it behind the archiac NAD 5000 cd player. Very happy with the DAC and noted a considerable improvement over the internal DAC. The DAC has USB port too which is nice. A great value for $165, shipped.
I once owned a c542. Found the redbook playback to be only slightly better than my 19 year old NAD 5000. The HDCD playback was impressive however. I recently purchased a AUNE dac/headphone amp new from flea bay and using it behind the archiac NAD 5000 cd player. Very happy with the DAC and noted a considerable improvement over the internal DAC. The DAC has USB port too which is nice. A great value for $165, shipped.