I decided to retire my 22 year old CDS2. I decided to stick with a CD player. A favourite track is Holst’s Egdon Heath. Reading the booklet that Thomas Hardy took Holst to ‘Egdon Heath’ and encouraged him to climb Rainbarrow at night (haunted woodwind chords) helps me to appreciate the music even more. I was told that with streaming you can get much of this background information but I prefer the tactile feeling of booklets. So with apologies to Thomas Hardy a CD player was a return of the native for me!
I’m not sure that you explain why you’re retiring the CDS2. If the mech is still working, surely you want to keep it running, or am I missing something here?
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I was told by my dealer that although there may be laser replacements there was no replacements for the mechanism. As I decided I wanted to stay with CD I thought it was time to buy a new player before they became as rare as Betamax players. Although my new Rega machine has been made for 12 years my serial no of 501 means they are selling less than one a week so who knows how long they will be available. My CDS2 was snapped by a buyer who was prepared to take the risk unrepairability by Naim.
We all make our own choices, but I think that moving from a CDS2 to any Rega CD player is a massive step backwards, musically speaking.
Your post makes no reference to how the two CD players sound, compared with each other, which I find rather strange. Are you happy with what you have now, compared to what you had before?
I’m not surprised that the CDS2 was ‘snapped up’!
Let’s just hope that the clever people at Naim find a solution to the mech problem, which doesn’t involve us throwing our players in a bin.
The Rega Isis is quite a bit better than the CDS2. Very musical but also more detailed than the CDS2. That’s my opinion but Paul Messenger, the HiFi reviewer who runs a full Naim 500 home system reviewed the Isis and felt it compared favourably to the CDS3 +555 ps and revealed more musical details. I read on Naim forums that Isis owners were happy. Also Rega store two laser units for every Isis sold and there is a lifetime warranty on manufactured parts.
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I can easily believe the Isis is better than the CDS2 as it is a excellent player.
Im sure you will be very happy with it.
Like you i have continued with CD as my main , and only , source. Therefore i needed a machine with a first class sound and an anticipated long life with first class back up in event of any problems. The Isis covers all that.
Mine is serial no 361 and was bought new in December 2014. So if you have only recently bought yours , that averages out at 20 new units sold per year. Hope it keeps selling but im sure if it is discontinued Rega will still be able to support it.
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I am certainly pleased with the Isis. When I read about streaming with missing artwork and internet dropouts etc etc I am glad I stayed with a CD player. I also enjoy reading the booklets. Yes it is surprising about the low sales. Rega’s owner Roy Gandy doesn’t listen to cd’s for pleasure only for the convenience of rehearsing songs for his band so perhaps Rega doesn’t push sales of the Isis.
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