So if the only issue is with the CDP mechanism, if/when mine fails I could just buy a standalone player and carry on with mine? Won’t be able to use the Star to rip any more, though.
Which raises the interesting question: if Naim took out the CD part and the Star became a straightforward all-in-one at a performance and price level between Atom and Nova, would it sell better? Or, market psychology being such an odd thing, might it even increase Nova sales?
Roger
Naim it seems does a lot of work for Focal. The new Muso with the strange naime, the 2 new active systems and maybe more I either do not know about or has forgotten.
Claus
I would be surprised if it’s not a big seller. It’s the ultimate all-in-one, in SQ very close to the Nova while still significantly cheaper and has more functionality to boot. But I’m probably biased as that’s the weigh up I made.
But maybe you’re right. It could even be like the medium popcorn in cinemas. Nobody buys it, but without it everyone would be going for the small Atom instead of the only slightly more expensive Nova.
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I hate to say it but, told you so 
I often wonder if I’d have been better off getting a Star.
Initially got an Atom when the other Uniti variants weren’t available, but returned it due to a display failure at which point the Nova was on demo and I upgraded. This was when my old separates stuff was in storage and I planned to use the Atom or Nova in another room, but I never purchased a standalone streamer.
As it happens I use the Nova as a source which will sound odd to most, so it’s power section isn’t really being used and the Star which wasn’t around for me demo at the time I assume would probably worked as well for this purpose but would also have had CD ripping/playback capability (seem to recall the Nova was originally advertised as being able to rip via an external USB optical drive but that never transpired).
We touched on this during the forum visit last week. Unfortunately the drive used in the Star has been discontinued (and no more available) so Naim have to keep what they have for future service /repair needs, which has meant an immediate cessation of production until either a suitable drive can be sourced and the product modified to suit, or perhaps a revised “Nova-lite” version of the Star can be developed.
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I think there is a strong market in CD transports , especially the half size ones.
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Same CD mech as in the Core……..? 
ATB, J
Not sure, but would guess so.
There is some for Blu-ray drives but not enough to drive OEM manufacturers sadly. And almost none for the older DVD drives Naim uses. The high quality OEM sources like TEAC and Pioneer have left the market entirely now.
What’s left is mostly Blu-Ray drives for Chinese versions that vary greatly from batch to batch and LG drives which are consistent[ly rubbish]. And the most recent batches of those are leaving the factories with a new firmware version that makes updates and changes impossible (flashing disabled). They’ve done that to stop drives being enabled for 4K playback in HTPCs. But this also prevents changes to firmware for things like read offset, or turning off features you don’t want for audio ripping like read cache.
It’s really grim out there.
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I know Cyrus made their own drives , and there is seriously good ProJect CD 
transport
But it is a reducing market.
I have a CDx2 which I will be sad to see go, and a rather good Pioneer BluRay which again may well be getting close to retirement 
I will be sorry to see either go.
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Why don’t naim do what many other vendors have done (such as new Innuos range).
Support rips from a USB connected CD drive.
No dependency on specific hardware. No need to provide a drive in the product.
They must have seen this drive issue coming, and be aware of how many other vendors have already gotten over the issue.
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On the contrary, CD revival is going on me think, not like vinyl, but nevertheless.
I’d not count CD out.
As for Uniti Star, I’d never considered a amp/streamer/CD all-in-one, personally I’d want a separate CD, if it fail you can still use your amp for other source.
I buy both vinyl and CDs as well as having Qobuz and Presto streaming
Yes and a few others. But Naim are really an assembler rather than a ground up manufacturer. Making their own mech has never been on the cards.
And doing so for both ripping and playback would complicate that further.
I do share the wider frustration though. Lately, big OEM parts vendors seem to being less of a supply and demand model and more of a “tell the market what it can have and shape it” model.
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Question: what does this mean for the firmware updates for the Star?
Will they continue or also end of life in the near future?
Atom, Atom HE, and Nova remain in production so it’s safe to assume that New Uniti firmware will continue with updates where needed.
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I know its (likely) not relevant to the question of future updates, but is the Nova PE then on a different firmware branch? The same one as NC perhaps?