The problem that CD player’s face these days is streaming.
Streaming can very easily give you the same and even better results, all this without the worry that you’re cd player will eventually break down.
You certainly have to spend a lot off money on a CD player to better what a very cheap streamer will do.
It’s really only the last year or do that manufacturers have once again started to look at CD’s and how to inpove it, as before then it was really all old designed stuff still being used.
Old transports, old software, etc, but in a nice box.
I have looked myself into jumping back into a CD transport or maybe a CD player, but really all i am doing is wasting money on something that is going to really struggle to beat what i have now.
The ideal solution would be a dCS transport, but that is very serious money, and even then the difference is very slight apparently, so what’s the point?
I guess if you have 1000’s off CD’s sitting nicely in racks etc, then it makes sense to have a nice CD player or transport, so you can use off them.
As ripping them all would be very sole destroying.
But it’s hard to beat a ripped CD, that’s been ripped correctly ono a SSD drive, no moving parts, no error correction being done, etc. Plus it’s far cheaper, and no problems going forward, as all you need to do is make a back up.
Sit back and enjoy listening to all your CD’s everywhere, all at a touch off your finger. Plus it sounds fantastic. Maybe this is the problem? It’s far to easy, and we want it to be more interesting???
Cheers dunc
I’m just ripping CD number 2,689 and have to say it’s been anything other than soul destroying. Quite the reverse infact. It looked daunting at first so I opted to rip just CDs not available on Qobuz (which is more than I expected). But then I thought, go on finish the job. I’ve about 150 left to rip I think. It’s actually been a pleasure to handle all the CDs again. To remind myself what I have and the memories attached to them. I’ve also played CDs that might otherwise have remained in the rack.
There are advantages beyond any sound quality gains there may be, a full record/index of the collection being one but the ease of selecting something to play. Far easier browsing your own collection than a whole streaming service.
It’s taken me between 3 and 4 months to rip a couple of thousand CDs but it’s been worth the effort. I’ll not sell the CDs. They mean too much to me.
The only down side I can see is copy protection. Several CDs won’t rip which gives me the itch to buy a CD transport. But then I come back down to earth. The CDs which won’t rip are available on Qobuz so no real harm done.
I still buy CDs, just less than I did, which is great for reducing storage problems. As for sound quality, I can’t tell the difference between ripped and streamed when, what I assume to be, the same version has been used. The HiRes stream can of course sound better, but not always. Which is the same with vinyl tbf. But that’s always more fun.
Because I use a core/NDX2/xpsdr I’m happy I’m using a Naim CD player!
Yes, I have the CD5si. It’s not a bad player, although I sometimes find it a tad bright and shrill. I have been spoiled by my new Rega TT, which I suspect will make any CD player sound second fiddle.
Yes. That is how I run my Audiolab 9000CDT….through my NDX2. Sounds great and is a great match for my SN3. Plus you get a great streamer too! Good luck.
I am in the US so MSRP is about $1500. I bought mine on sale for about $1200. It’s a great CDT for the money. But there are other great CDTs out there that might even be a step up from the Audiolabs. Audiolab also has the 6000 CDT that retails for about $500.
I only have an iPad. My wife as a Mac book but no CD drive. It’s worth thinking about but would mean buying an en external CD drive I presume. Thanks for the advice
Owning a CD5si I think it does some things well, such as timing, timbre and harmonics in the mid range. However, with my Arcam amplifier it could sound a bit shut in and rolled off in the higher frequencies, especially with the (expensive IMO) Chord DIN to RCA cable.
Now that is is partnered with an XS3 it sounded very overbearing using the Van Den Hul RCA-RCA cable so I switched to the supplied Naim grey DIN to DIN cable and it works really well - suits rock and other guitar/drum based music. The Arcam Alpha 5 CDP into Arcam D33 DAC combination is more refined, spacious and more suited to classical etc.
Edit: personally I think Naim should ‘upgrade’ the 5si with a digital out version, offer a digital conversion for existing players or offer a transport only version of the 5si to work with all of the Naim streamers - clearly there is a market for the latter.
I am in the process of installing a CDX2 and XPS DR into my system - after the (new) transport mechanism of a greatly cherished CDS2 ‘died’ after a return to Salisbury for service.
So no discussion, please, of alien concepts (to a dinosaur like me) such as streaming!
Hi Graham, I hope you can get those heavy units installed and enjoy the played.
I used to have a Nova , which I used for internet radio , and that meant Radio 3, the quality of this service was really good. I then used my CDX 2 which was changed to digital output into the Nova .
If you get a streamer , you can use a CD transport with the streamer to replicate a CD player and tuner
I would get Audio T ( other dealers are available ) in Brighton to demo this .
Having owned a CDP555 for around 6 years I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it or put it up against the latest streaming equipment. It is, to this day, one of the finest pieces of engineering you will come across and it’s unlikely to ever be matched. I still miss it even though I have its technological replacement, the ND555. Forget all the hoo-ha about things have moved on it quite simply produces music from a piece of plastic that sounds like real music!
The fact that the player can be picked up for around £4500 and can still be serviced has to be the bargain of the century! The reason they don’t come up that often is that some owners, I know of at least two, struggle to part with them even though, they themselves, have moved on to the world of streaming. It will forever be an all-time classic!
In the UK you cannot legally rip any CD, and keeping hold of the original doesn’t get you off the hook. I wouldn’t worry about it, the police are not going to come knocking on your door.
played.