I've only heard the N50 once so far, and it's probably a little unfair to assess it in the system I had out it in. It's currently feeding, using its own DAC, a Bryston BP6 pre-amp and 4Bsst2 power amp which are driving the KEF Blades. It's a temporary system until we use the Bryston SP3 processor and feed the Pioneer in digitally. Anyway, it didn't sound as good as the CD player that was in the system before it, but then it was a Wadia 381, and it's higher frequencies sound a little closed in and recessed, but the bass was still allowing the Blades to reach deep down - I was very susprised by the bass performance. But I'm sure that slight drawback in the HF isn't really going to be an issue when it's placed in a more suitable system. I don't know how the two compare as we only have the N50 on demo.
The display is nice, seems very tactile, even when using the front panel buttons - just a shame there's no up/down/left/right menu control.
Very well built. I was expecting something with the same build as their entry level Bluray player, but it's actually quite heavy, and is built more to the quality of their LX91 Bluray player.
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