Shanling T100 vs NAD S500?

I can't compare the two players, but my Shanling has been running daily since shortly after the first shipment arrived on this continent. It's never had a glitch or a problem of any kind.

I too wondered about the vulnerability of the Shanling's laser lens to dirt and damage. (It's something I could have addressed in my review, come to think of it.)

The reader assembly advances in a slot under the lid when a disc is loaded. It retracts when the cover is lifted. If you do what you're not supposed to do and lift the cover during actual play, the laser will retract. The disc doesn't fly off the spindle, in my experience, but I haven't actually tried to make it do that ; I only lifted the cover a tad too soon, before the disc had completely stopped spinning.

Another goof I committed was dropping the lid on a disc. I've done that number three times now since I got the player. Each time I cringed, and each time no damage was done. Conclusion : the player seems reasonably safe from fumblers like me.

In daily use there doesn't seem to be any problem with dirt. I live in a dusty old house with a family and three cats (no smokers, not even the cats) and the laser has never skipped, never needed cleaning. I did try out my Parasound cleaning disc just to see if it would work and it did.