Good morning to everyone present and to those who can help me in modeling the chain of Naim components that I have in use. Some time ago I purchased a Supernait 2, a DAC and some Harbet speakers with which, using the Audirvana platform, I enjoyed listening to music. I would like to implement Naim components with a CD player and a preamplifier to improve the quality and use of the countless CDs in my possession. I would like to receive some suggestions on this matter, I thank everyone in advance, Francesco
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Welcome Francesco.
Please note forum rules - all posts to be made in the English language for widest comprehension. There are tools freely available to help here, such as google translate, which I used to translate your post.
As to your question, the natural CD partner for the Supernait 2 is the CDX2. It’s discontinued but should be fairly easy to purchase secondhand. Just be aware that the mechs are getting very hard to replace nowadays. You might wish to enquire with your local service agent on this (IIRC LASA).
Given Naim currently only produce a modest CD player, advice here might depend on the availability of ‘pre-loved’ units where you are based-I’m thinking you are outside the UK?
I live in Italy and precisely in Rome, I tried to contact some retailers but each of them provides me with different solutions
There are a number of forum members who are Italy based who are probably best placed to advise on local availability. Might be worth editing the thread title to gain their attention.
I also ought to give you a ‘heads-up’ that the other thing that is likely to be raised on this is to consider ripping your CDs and moving to local streaming…
I found a dealer willing to offer me a Naim CD5si CD Player, it is possible to connect it to the DAC and Supernait, thanks for the reply
In all honesty if you are going to use a separate DAC you’ll likely be best off looking at a CD transport. The Audiolab range seems popular on this forum.
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No, you only get an analogue output on the CD5si.
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I’d be looking elsewhere for better CD player than a CD5Si - its rather entry level quality and would not really match your amp and speakers quality.
Naim no longer make high end CD players as they are fixed to streaming market.
I’d not be surprised if CD5Si will be discontinued very soon.
There are other fine players available depending on budget, Rega, Roksan, Hegel and so on…
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Thanks for the answers, I really appreciated them, could you recommend me some Naim streaming products to connect to my Supernait 2 and DAC, thanks
The natural partner to the supernait 2 is the ndx2. Your dac will be redundant.
If you still want to use your dac I’d probably look elsewhere for a streamer; you just need a digital transport. Which could be something like a limetree or eversolo; or nd5xs2 and use the digital output. All depends on your budget.
I might add, at a price sir !
Since I have received my Wiim Pro Plus, I wonder how much better a NDX2 is. - it better be as the price difference is enormous.
I’m not very interested in streaming as I mainly play vinyl and CD. Also FM and internet radio. The little Wiim is excellent for explore new music in order to buy the record or not.
Agreed, the WiiM is incredibly good value and sounds great with my SN3. I have no interest in upgrading given my main source is vinyl
What DAC are you currently using? All Naim streamers have both analogue and digital outputs, so you can use them into your own DAC, or directly into the Supernait.
If you want to use your DAC, the cheaper ND5XS2 would be plenty good enough as a streaming source. If you don’t use your DAC an ND5XS2 using the analogue connection would still be OK, or you could consider an NDX2.
used the naim dac to listen to flac music from an external device
The NDAC is a great DAC, and you’ll need to go quite a long way up the Naim upgrade path to better it. Certainly a better DAC than the one built into the NDX2, but it does require a good streaming source to get the best from it (although lossless files on a USB stick can also sound very good.)
My choice would be an ND5XS2 with SPDIF connection.
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Many reckon that ND5XS2 plus nDAC is at least as good as NDX2, though it means no screen and more boxes.
A good dedicated CD transport like the Audiolab would be a great choice here, and would put-perform any Naim CD player below the old CDS1/2/3.
Many also report that, with a high quality source, a Supernait really benefits from a Hicap power supply. To beat SN+HC, you would need 282/HC/250 or equivalents - more boxes and a rather bigger bill.
Good luck!
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