I bet they sound good too through that hardware chain! 
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There you go…
Here’s our glorious Naim CD player.
In 2018, when Naim declared an end to CDP’s, we immediately went out and bought this CD5XS, to support, even protect, our investment in a CD collection for the longer term (20+ years).
Later, we added a lovely pre-loved nDAC, for a nice uplift.
Circling back to the OP - @anon70766008 - maybe it’s worth finding a nice lightly used CD5XS or CDX2.2 pre-loved. Then, adding an external DAC in time.
But the CD5Si is a decent player, if new is preferred.
KR
R
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I went full-speed into streaming but found it boring. An album is such a convenient package to discuss with friends and so on. Buying the CD is more of a commitment to the musician. And as the royalties are paid on manufacture it can be sold everywhere supporting local acts without any admin for the seller - I have never seen anyone selling Spotify streams in the bookstore.
But teenage-music has probably always been more song/hit-oriented. A better fit to a streaming model.
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Very wise imo. Lovely looking duo, almost meant to be! 
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You may be right. Ideally, I would find a new-in-its-box CDS II, which -as they say - would probably see me out.
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Just litteraly bought this and can’t wait to play it on my CD player.
1993 2 x CD, Album, Reissue - Barry Diament mastering in mint condition. 
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Trouble is, the mech can go off in the box. Even if you found a new in the box CDS2, there is no guarantee that the mech is still any good.
I understand that Naim can change/repair the mech at the moment, but please do check with Naim themselves as this situation is fluid.
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I’m trying to do that very thing, but I have been stuck in a care home for more months than I care to think about now, and my (new) dealers, Audio T in Brighton, don’t seem to have grasped yet the rudiments of telephone usage.
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Hahaha 
Is that another generational thing?
I’m so often surprised and underwhelmed by a singular lack of interest ( from younger work colleague) in using the phone for sorting a problem in minutes.
Again, I think this is dependant on your - cultural - start point.
Phones are now for screening and sorting incoming information. Instead of the joy of social interaction and immediacy of duplex communications.
Rant over.
Good luck with your search.
Working in technical support for nearly two decades, it seems very simple. If you’re over 40, you pick up the phone. If you’re under 40, you’re terrified of it and want to “chat” or email like some frustrating game of Twenty Questions.
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Please, please don’t get me started on this topic.
LOL
I’d say it goes broader than that. I see this in all aspects of work in that someone will email not just instead of phone but instead of what would for someone my age be even easier - walk 10’ down the corridor.
The thing is, the right answer depends who you are and what your ‘norm’ is. However, when it comes to a lot of business 2 consumer interactions these days very few businesses really engage via phone until the very last moment.
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You’re not the only one to have followed that exact route at that exact time. Five years on and I feel no need to investigate whether ‘better’ exists, the CD5XS and nDAC pairing works superbly.
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They would sound better if there was a space between them or they where placed side by side
I wondered how long it would be before someone said that!
I counted to ten and, lo and behold….
I also have a pre-loved CD5 XS, which sounds excellent through the Naim DAC, the SN3 and my Castle Winchesters.
I don’t worry too much about repairability and I’m sure replacement lasers should be relatively easy to source, at least for the foreseeable future (well, let’s hope so anyway!).
This may sound heretical, but I am sure that, if push comes to shove, there are better CD players out there than Naim, although which ones exactly and at what cost is another matter.
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Agreed, I’ve got a CDX2.2, one of the last produced and it sounds great into my SN3 and Kef LS50 Metas/KC62 subs. If, and I hope its not something I have to consider for a very long time I needed to look right now then two I’d be interested in are the Rega Saturn 3 and the Rotel DT 6000 Diamond.
I’ve got a Rega Apollo CDP in other system and its great and I did own a Rotel RCD 865-BX, which was one of the original giant killers and still going strong in parents system.
Both of the aforementioned candidates sit in the £2K bracket, the Rotel reads like a technical tour de force, 8 channel DAC, etc.
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Indeed!
Besides sound, aesthetics and convenience is a factor for me: With an all Naim System I have just one remote control for CD, Dac (multiple digital sources) and Pre.
My CD5 XS can be a bit temperamental with some discs, which play fine of my Marantz K.I Pearl Lite and my Oppo BDP-95.
Although having just written that, a disc I’ve just abandoned on the Naim and am now playing on the Marantz also glitched a bit, albeit not as badly.
The Oppo is a lovely player, and multi format. It lives in my bedroom system.
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