Ok thanks. As the owner of a TEAC VRDS-9 used as mechanism, it’s comforting. Although its mech is a modified Sony - not a lousy starting point, though.
I find this cd5si very good… Better than a cd5i and cd5x I had. Plugged into my 272/xpsdr and 250dr I listen with pleasure!
I doubt we’d be told numbers, but it isn’t zero based on anecdotal evidence from a factory visit by a few forum members last year:
Surprising for me as I agree on better than CD5i but my CD5X was miles better than any CD5i incarnation(italic & Si), even single, with a Flatcap it was seriously good.
The original CD5i was very disappointing in my setup, anything above a Nait 5i amp in setup was a no-go.
With nowaday prices on Naim entry level 5Si CD player, I’d pay a bit more and get a Rega Saturn 3, its up there with the very best CDS/CDX players ever.
I expect Naim to be out of the CD market once any Black Classic kit is discontinued.
I can’t see Naim introduce anything but high seller items.
I like my CD5si with my SN3.
I had bad luck with the Saturn. When it worked it was great. Over time I had two and both stopped initializing CD.
I previously owned a CD5 having auditioned everything at a similar price point Arcam, MF etc. I found the Naim just sounded more natural and its presentation of vocals really stood out for me. The icing on the cake was the opportunity to upgrade via the power supplies which I eventually did, firstly with the Flatcap 2 and then the Hi Cap 2. I have often wondered where this player and power supply would sit against its future reincarnations.
I have a CD5si , it is a good machine and I have put a better power chord and a Chord Shawline (Din to Din) .
It is a machine that would benefit from an optical or co-axial out
I purchased my initial Naim equipment back in 2000, a CD3.5, NAC92r, NAP 180 paired with Mission 782s. Over the years I’ve added HiCap DR and upgraded the speakers to Focal Chorus V. The CD3.5 finally gave up the ghost in 2023, which is pretty impressive, and the only available new Naim CD player is the CD5si. I was disappointed that I couldn’t use an external power supply like the CD3.5 but the sound quality is broadly comparable to the 3.5 as I guess technology has moved on somewhat in 23 years. If there had been a higher level CD player I would have taken that option over the 5si but maybe I’m now in a minority who still want to play a physical CD.
Darren, I’m with you on this, physical format for me all the way and that means CD as no desire to go down the vinyl route. Streaming whether local from drive or via other means holds no interest, all I hear is this sounds better and is more convenient, the point is, I have a large collection and do not want to listen to music via an app. I decide what to listen to by getting up and physically looking through my collection, I change my album by getting up and physically changing it! Having access to huge libraries of music might seem an attractive thing but in reality I liken this to having too many TV channels and the urge to keep clicking through. I research my CD purchases and buy particular releases not the version that somebody else has decided I should listen to due to licencing. Yes things move forward, sometimes for the better, sometimes not, the main thing here is choice, whilst there is choice, I will continue to do what enhances my listening experience.
Also with you on the physical media side of things. Love my CD’s, records and tapes. Maybe when we get to the 21st century I’ll climb on board with this streaming malarkey!
Mine did the same after some years, my tech managed to repair its now as good as new.
Meanwhile I have upgraded to Saturn 3.
Rega support you for years to come as they managed to invest and stock large number of parts, a move many other companies failed in due time.
I doubt that Salisbury are particularly interested in CD players anymore. It seems that the only custor base for them is people who, like me, have large CD collections and don’t want the hassle of ripping them all. It must be something of an embarrassment to Naim Audio that fairly recent players cannot be serviced or repaired owing to lack of transport mech supply. My guess would be that, like Linn, Naim Audio will not produced a CD player for too much longer.
@PerF Even if my Saturn could be repaired and it was out of warranty, there is another issue. The LCD panel was orange with orange lettering. Neither me nor my husband could see how to operate the unit. We needed higher contrast. When the unit died we moved on.
Quite a few still like physical media, avoiding what is seen as the “faff” of streaming services and platforms. I read some of the threads on the streaming section of this forum and they could be written in Outer Mongolian for all that I understand them.
The other factor is that I want the artist to be paid fairly and I don’t like the way platform’s remuneration works for the artists.
Having said all that I love R3 HD and that takes me into the possibility of say an Atom HE and using the DaC facility of that with a CD transport
Personally I had a hard time hearing any significant improvement on a CD5X with the flat cap. The jump to the higher end CD player for comparable $ was far more obvious to my ears.
Your certainly right regarding the Rega display.
Most of us coming from the large green Naim CD display, anything else required extra strong glasses or very close looking.
An issue I always wanted Rega should adress, doubt they will due to extra expenses, but you never know.
I feel the same regarding ripping CD collection, can’t see myself doing it at all.
As for embarrassment…, there may be a few in their organisation having this thought, but overall, management and investors don’t use time thinking on the issue.
I find it strange Naim didn’t foresee issue in due time and invested stock parts to support their mega expensive CD players in future. One should believe there was a certain knowledge on the subject as Naim have produced expensive players for decades.
My understanding is that Naim did the honourable thing. When they realised they could no longer be supplied with enough vital parts for spares, they stopped making the players.
Naim do have a policy of buying up lifetime stocks when notified of end of life. That ensured they were one of the last, if not THE last manufacturer with stocks of CDM4 Pros and VAM1205s. However, this does rather depend on being notified in a timely manner - for example, IIRC on the VAM1250 they were notified of end of life much too late and so could only source a limited number (they basically bought everything they could get hold of). It wasn’t nearly enough though, hence why they re-engineerd the CDX2 and also the discontinued CDS3 for further service needs.
On the VAM1202 things were far more complex, mainly because it wasn’t actually Philips making the mechs anymore and so finding a reliable source was the problem. I do remember the many enormous pallets of boxes filled with VAM1202s (many thousands) that arrived at the factory around the time Ieft - the only limit here was available space to store them. I think they had problems with good yields from those. And the issue has been getting worse ever since. It’s a roll of the dice and the odds are very much stacked against you getting anything useable.
Of course, Naim also are always looking on the various markets for mech supplies, both new and old. But they have been burned on this in the past. I recall the CDM9s that were bought and turned out to all be rubbish. On these things warranty is non existent - you have to take a risk and it can get costly!
So disappointment, certainly, but embarrassment? I don’t think Naim have any thing to be ashamed of here as they have always done (and continue to do) as much as they possibly can.