As the NDX2 is currently at Salisbury having the relays replaced, the CDX2.2 has been pressed into action. It is connected to the Nait50 via a HiLine and sounds great.
My music listening is 90% vinyl: 10% streaming so the CDX2 has been sat in the loft for the past year. I have thought about moving it on but it feels like foolishness to sell it. It was one of the last CDX2.2 models made. Connected to the N50, the little Nait is letting me hear just how good it is. I still have a large cd collection and I have enjoyed listening to cds with bonus tracks and material that isn’t available on vinyl.
Beautiful CD player. I had a CDX and had the laser replaced by naim and sold it to a chap in Greece. A long way to send it from the UK during lock down back in 2020. It got there ok after a couple of months and he thanked me for selling it. Wish I kept it. CDX2… always wanted one. Looks so well built. What a shame there’s not really a viable solution to the laser mech issues. But now I use streaming so much, would I use a CD player? Not sure. It’s so easy to discover new music from Qobuz. One thing I think I do like about playing CDs is that I don’t have to pick up the phone and end up doom scrolling. Long live the CDX2!
I sold my cdx 2.2 with power supply in 2015 on my way to uncharted audio journey. Should have brought it with me. It has the great boogie factor which Ive not found in other cd player or streaming setup since
I still have my CDX2. Very little use for the last few years but it was the first really serious piece of hifi I bought and I don’t want to sell it. I really should be making better use of it.
Three years and one house move later, it’s still churning out great music. Given what has happened to some others, I appreciate how lucky I seem to have been.
(House move had to be done rather gingerly since I’d misplaced the transit bolt and there wasn’t time to buy a new one . Prayers and oblations were offered, breath held and fingers crossed. An hour after I unpacked it and found it was still working I found the bloody bolt, didn’t I? )
Hi @jlewis
When I first came across this forum several years ago there were often comments about the CDX2 stating it needed a HiLine and a power supply (either XPS DR or 555PS DR).
I am sure the power supply makes a significant difference but it really does sound great without one. It is a lively sound; weighty and warm.
Listening to the CDX2 is reminding me just how much I love the cd format. Physical and tactile - while it cannot match the turntable in sound quality terms - it’s still an enjoyable listening experience.
Agreed, sounded good before I added a PS. This from someone who did not like CD…Although, my old CSs, ripped to a NAS and streames, sound good enough (although I prefer vinyl and high res streaming.
Thirty years since the invention of CD passed before I liked the format. I went through Mission DAD7000, Arcam Delta 70.2 and Arcam CD23 before getting a CDX2. It was only then that I really enjoyed listening to CD. It was even better with an XPS/DR added. Sadly, I let mine go last year in working form, seduced by the promise of streaming with an NSS333. In truth, the NSS333 is very good.
What a great discussion unlike the one about Power Lines somewhere in the site and their effects in digital sources etc that has taken the usual route to nowhere.
I don’t have CDX -2 but the original CDX coupled with XPS and High Line feeding my 102 and after all these years is still a challenging and enjoyable listen
Maybe we should start a club for this who are feted to have operational Naim CD kit and pass on the best way we have maintained and optimised these great machines
Yes Richard you are right and a great club it is, that is what happens when you complete a 12 hour shift, get up, read the forum and miss the point that we have a great community here.
Speaking purely personally, this is why I feel wholly undeserving of my situation. Others are seeing their beloved Naim CDPs go the way of all flesh, while my 23-year old s/h CDX2 just keeps on trucking. The recent puckless house move is merely my latest bit of inadvertent carelessness, to add to all the times I’ve closed the door with a bit too much force, let the puck snap on a bit too hard… I’m proud of none of it.
So, to the original question: maintained? Nothing. Optimised? Nothing.
Don’t miss or misconstrue the comment on maintenance and optimised performance, all I do is clean the lens and tray once a month with an Allsop dry cleaning disc, brush out the tray and run a Densen De-magnetiser disc through my whole system. Does it work, just come back from a 2 hour listening session from Eva Cassidy, Linkin Park and Rosie Vela so long may it continue
The addition of the XPS and High Line have only enhanced and freed up the spirit of the CDX.
I had a CDX which replaced my almost identically looking CD2. It was the first digital front end that really worked for me. Prior to that I was always itching to put some vinyl on when listening to CDs, but with the CDX that changed and I rarely felt like I was missing out… I big step forward on the CD2 imo..
I wasn’t trying to be dismissive either, just venting a bit of, perhaps, ‘survivor guilt’.
Like you, I keep the external case and drawer clean with a soft brush vacuum cleaner attachment every few weeks. I leave the laser lens very much untouched by anything - I haven’t even dared use my lens cleaner disc in it just because I don’t want to risk it in a world where it’s unrepairable by Naim.
No XPS on mine, and I should perhaps also say mine is not a 2.2, just the plain old original.
. Prayers and oblations were offered, breath held and fingers crossed. An hour after I unpacked it and found it was still working I found the bloody bolt, didn’t I? 
)
