One more view…
A. Amplification. The Old Classic boxes now offer remarkable sound-per-£ and are easy to find - which option is best will be driven by budget. and preferred box-count All of the below could be bought today on eBay (so no patience required), but you may well be able to find local dealers with ex-dem boxes if you want to audition first. OC boxes will look like your NDX2 and are vastly cheaper s/h than new or nearly new New Classic boxes like a 222, 332 or 333.
Level 1. Keep all that you have but add Hicap DR to the SN3. To most ears, that is a noticeable improvement.
Level 2. Keep all that you have but add Hicap DR to SN3 and XPSDR to NDX2. The latter is the streaming combo I still use in Wimbledon - it is very good indeed,
Level 3. Sell SN3 and buy 282 and Hicap DR and 250DR as amplification. To many, that is better than level 2, but some reckon the NDX2 is now a bit of a weakness (!), so…
Level 4. As for level 3, but add XPSDR for the NDX2. It’s a classic combination for a reason.
Level 5. As for level 4, but with 252 and Supercap to power it instead of 282 and Hicap DR.
All of those are OC boxes that will look like your NDX2. If visually appropriate, you can get a very similar (some say fractionally more engaging) sound for a lot less money by buying olive 82 and Hicap instead of 282 and HicapDR. Just check that any boxes that are much over a decade old have been serviced at some point.
The same reasoning would get you the wonderful ‘olive’ 52 and Supercap instead of 252 and Supercap.
An olive 250 is competitive and again amazing VFM, but many marginally prefer 250DR.
Note too that the excellent olive monoblock 135s and the mighty 500 power amp were developed to work alongside a 52 - it and the replacement 252 really are that good. OTOH, I used a 52/SC/250 for over a decade - it’s magnificent
B. After doing all that, I would then think about your CD options. Your existing player is good, but can be beaten by a good transport into your NDX2 (esp if you have added XPSDR to it). However, how many CDs have you got, and how much do you value physically putting them in a machine?
The reason I ask is that I have a wonderful CD player (Naim CDS2) and lots of CDs. However, I ripped all the CDs into a Naim Core and play them from that down here in Tasmania. At some stage I will get another Core to replace the CDS2 (which is ancient and will die one day) instead of a new CD player or a transport.
In lots of A-B testing in Wimbledon, not a single person could distinguish playing a ripped CD on the Core/ NDX2/XPSDR from playing the same CD on the CDS2. It’s that good.
Ripping several hundred CDs was a bit of a pain, but it took about a minute per CD and the sound is 100% Naim and very good indeed - imho well ahead of your existing player and better than the Audiolab. A Core is even small!
From other threads here, I think I am not alone in taking this route instead of buying a CD transport or a new CD player. I bought mine for £1000 (with 2TB of memory, which is loads) for £1000 on eBay.
With no moving parts that can be trashed or worn out, why not buy that way (and then put your CDs in the loft if you like)? When I get ‘new’ CD, I spend minute or so loading it into the Core (just pop it in and wait until I can see it on the Naim app) and then I am ready to play.
C. When you have done all that you want to do about amp choices on list A, and quite possibly after addressing CDs on list B, you can think about speaker upgrades. Doing that may be unnecessary (depending on how far you go), but in any case it would be tricky to decide anything about speakers until you have your replacement electronics in place.
Good luck!
