I've only heard the MCD500 once and that was over David's house. While it is difficult to compare to say an MDA1000 since David's system is very different from mine and I was not familiar with most of what he has, the C220, MC252 and SF Cremona speakers vs my system of MCD/MDA1000, C500P, MC501s and SF Guarneri M's. I can attest to that the system sounded very well balanced with no obvious or gross flaws. The tonality was to my liking and fairly accurate with adequate amount of resolution without sounding lean or fatiguing. The balance of bass, mids and highs was very good. The mids were especially great making vocals seductive and expressive as they usually are with Sonus Fabers. Overall, a very enjoyable system. Once we optimized his speaker positioning, the system really opened up and started to get down to business with a spacious soundstage, crisp focus and palpable imaging. Since the source is responsible for much of what you hear when the rest of the system is up to snuff, I'd say the MCD500 is a very, very good CDP for the price.
