Audiolab 8000CD looking a bit bare in comparison.
Stock photos I’m afraid rather than my own, but here are the Primare 928 pre and Primare 928 mono-blocks I had for many years until I switched to Lindemann pre/power amps.
The 928 pre-amp:
and the 928 mono-blocks:
Wonderful amps in their day (when they were a Danish company), and still (I believe) the only pieces of hi-fi design to be found in the Copenhagen Museum of Industrial Art.
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That 8200 is a real piece. But that 8000 is very minimal be comparison. Almost like they lost interest.
Cd5si and Cd5xs.
I know there is some magic bits under that board on the 5si. But it is very bare compared to the 5xs.
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That’s because there’s an entire populated PCB within the tray of the CD5Si. It’s a also a great example of how Naim spend money wisely on the most critical parts when trying to trim things down to the bare essentials.
Naim have done well to get the sound they do out of the cd5si with so little on display. A fitting implementation of their final cd player.
I take it the DAC is on this hidden board?
Yes.
It’s always neat and logically laid out inside the Naim kit - A sign of good engineering, quality control and consistency in performance. I was quite surprised to see the inside of a very expensive US made amp - wires everywhere, push on spade connectors - not good. Certainly not what you’d expect given the attention paid to the fit and finish of the exterior and the price !
I got quite close to buying a Quad ( valve) headphone amp at the start if the year.
My dealer asked if I wanted to see inside.
What a mess. Really. It was his way of telling me they’d temporarily stopped shipping from China? They apparently had some quality issues. Yep, I could see that.
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And yet lots of audiophiles get excited at the sight of point to point wiring!
… if it’s well made. Like most things it’s more about how it’s done.
Oh dear!
I agree although I do prefer turret board construction as at least there is some enforced order! :0)
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Why ‘Oh dear’?
At least one of those caps looks a little off?
Do you mean the big black ones that are made that way? :0)
They’re made like that? Wow. Looked like they’d been crushed
Have you ever seen the inside of a Mares/Lyra Connoisseur phono stage (not sure if a link to their website is ok here)? The PCB serves mostly as a placeholder for the parts, many are connected with their own leads.