Upgrade to Nac 552 or cd555

What to upgrade to first cd555 or Nac 552?f

Most say ‘source first’, but it may not be quite as simple as that. FWIW, I’d replace your power amp first as that is probably the weakest link.

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Hi and welcome,

Presumably you have sights on 2nd hand examples of each. Sîmply answering your question if you’re committed to CD replay I’d go CD555 purely based on availability. 552s often become available.

Regards,

Lindsay

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Hello and welcome to the Forum.

About 5 or 6 years ago I replaced my CDS3 with a CD555 w/ 2 555 DR Power supplies. The difference was astounding. At the time I had non DR 250 and 252, but soon upgraded to DR versions of 500 and 552. Again, a huge improvement, but as LindsayM mentioned above, the CD555’s are harder to come by now so if you have a chance to grab one in good condition, I would suggest you do it.

Mitch

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Thx for the reply

Thx for the reply I was leaning towards the cd555

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The deeper questions here run, in my view:

1- do you want to stay with CD replay or to go down the server/streamer route?

2- what budget do you have - given you’ll need a 555PS(DR) to power the CD555 – and the DR upgrade is better (to my ears) and using 2 x PSs is better still (some disagree).

Like @Mitch , I’ve got a CD555 and, in my humble opinion, it is a stunning piece of kit and can still be serviced by Naim, which should mean at least another 10Y’s of use. Is it as good as an ND555 (perhaps/probably not) but moving across to an equivalent-quality streaming arrangement would cost (UK) probably £20k+ (exc selling the CD555).

In the UK to acquire a CD555 and PS is probably >£8k combined/a tad more.

I’m hoping my CD555 will last until the next major iteration in streaming quality - e.g. son of ND555 :grin:

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It would be interesting to know your endgame plan. Upgrading either would seem to leave you with a long journey to bring the rest of your system up to the same level so in my mind it doesn’t matter which you go for right now. For me it would be the CD555 simply because they are few and far between and have stopped depreciating.

I would ask first Naim if they have still some mechs as replacement for the CD555.
Then a 552/200 is not really well balanced. So if the 300 dr or at least a 250 dr is planned in the future, it’s also a good plan.

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According to Signals my dealer….yes they do, but best check again.

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Many thanks to all the comments,I’ve purchased the Cd 555 and 555 dr ps as I’ve a very large cd collection and enjoy the music experience of sifting along my shelf’s to see what I fancy playing as well as passing by visually whilst sifting to remind myself what I actually have and memory reminders to related music.I made the mistake of selling my huge collection of vinyls.

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Excellent – time to update your profile :grin:

Your wallet may actually thank you for not keeping the vinyls, as the cost of a TT to match the CD555 is rather a lot!!

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you did fine.
You know why especially in Naim world the word source first applies ?
Because sources are up with the best
Not the same can be said of amps

In my opinion go for Nac552…Cd 555 you can think latter to Nd555

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So you advise him to sell now his CD555 he has just purchased? :grin:

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I didn’t knew he already bought … it`is written as a question what to choose

See post 9. :chicken:

I didnt notice he already bought CD555...if so im sorry

No problem at all Meni, just wanted to notice it to you……

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