CD...bit of a revelation

I too recently got back into CD’s - got a CDS2 and it sounds amazing - no digital out just analogue into the 252. I prefer it to my NAC 272.
I plan to get an NDX2 - so that may sway the balance back to streaming - but for now this is great!

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In the past I had the CDX2, linked up with NDAC and powered by the XPS2, it went into 282 and 200…., it was a wonderful boogie system. But when I went first to my NDS I just got to a completely different level of enjoying music, perhaps not with that similar boogie, but with so much more. And then the comfort of not having all these CD’s around on a listening evening. Would for me also be practically almost impossible with 22.500 albums on disk….

I have a Roksan Caspian M2 CD Player using coax out into NAD C658 Streamer/Dac and comparing the CD sound quality to streaming the same CD quality tracks from Tidal the CD sounds better, its not a huge difference but definately better (or maybe i shoukd say i prefer the CD sound!).
I recently demoed a Lumin P1 for Tidal streaming and compared the streams to CDs on a Luxman CD Player using coax into the P1 and the sound quality was closer than my current home system but again the CD sound quality was better than Tidal streaming.
Physical media in my experience sounds better than streaming as i have also found that pure audio blu ray discs at 24/96 via coax into the same streamer/DACs sound better than the Tidal MQA HiRes versions. However, there are some instances when the HiRes discs dont sound as good as the CD versions so its not always that so called HiRes is better.
I dont have any ripped CDs or Blurays on local hard drives etc so could not make that comparison.

I had an Arcam Alpha from 1992 (I think) up until a few years ago. Good as it was, the CD5si just blows it out the water and it was the CD5si that got me started on Naim. To my ears the ND5 XS2 is at least as good as the CD5si and often significantly better. I doubt I’d have kept the ND5 XS2 if it wasn’t at least as good as the CD5si for playing CD rips.

Streaming has massively broadened my listening base.

Somewhat obviously physical media means I am for the most part going over old ground.

The one thing on that though. When i sit down with an appp, generally i have to think what shall Iisten to.

Flicking through albums, or indeed cds, although they are currently all boxed away, presents options. Very often I’ll go hunting for one thing and end up digging out something else.

All these formats are rather nice to have. Certainly beats taping the top 40 on a sunday night on my dad’s reel to reel and cursing DLT or whoever for talking over the fade out…youth of today, jumpers for goalposts etc

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my dealer told me that he sells now more CD player vs streamer…strange times :slight_smile:

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CD players or CD transport ?

Hope you don’t mind me asking ?

Sold all my LPs in 1995.
Will never go back to vinyl, I hated cleaning discs, stylus balancing the arm bias etc etc.
Have the Audiolab CDT6000 and very happy with it.

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image

This is a photo of my bedroom system. I spin a disk every Saturday morning. It sounds very sweet.

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Is that an old Philips😊

Still doing good service and almost as old as I am. Still want a cd100.

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Direct from the set of Blakes 7. Fantastic looking machine.

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It’s a design masterpiece.

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Ah, the Philips CD104, my first cd player, built like a tank and has one of the finest tray actions I have ever seen, sooo smooth :+1:

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@Ian2001- if you ask me :slight_smile: he said CD player.

Listening to Beethoven Mass in C on the CDS3 don’t think I’ve ever heard any streamer sound anywhere near this good, simply stunning.

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Cd is very underrated by many shame really because cd is more than capable of a stunning performance on today’s cd players. I’m a big fan of cds :slightly_smiling_face:

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Likewise omegaman

Get it right and it’s just excellent

Not quite as good as vinyl to me but I use both frequently

Cheers

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When I first heard Statement at the Bristol Show Naim used a NDS but had a CD555 in the room but didn’t use. Really wish I could hear Statement with a CD555 or Vertere RG :sunglasses:

In another life I had the full 500 series with the CD555

I miss that player, it was truely magic

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