Used NAIM CD Player Recommendation

Yeah, but how sure can you be to get a replacement drive five or ten years from now from another manufacturer? I’ve ripped my CDs, which seems most sensible if one has worthwhile stuff not available on streaming. But for someone who wants a CDP, a CD555, CDS3, or CD5xs is not a bad proposition, there is no reason to expect drives to be gone soon, as far as I know. (And my CD5i is still going strong after 14 years)

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I think for today, CD5/CD5i should be good choice for moderate budget
or you can go to CD5XS for the latest

For your system a new / ex-demo CD5si is a no brainer. I would only step up to a used CD5XS is you care about adding an external DAC at some point, otherwise i suspect they will sound roughly the same.

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Thanks to everyone who has replied to this thread. My budget was limited and I got what I considered to be a good offer of a CD5i (not italic) for 300 Euro. It arrived today and I noticed that
the DIN cable interconnect is not an original NAIM. Would you suggest it is worth investing in and
original cable ? Would this be the correct cable

I will report back about the sound sometime after spinning a few CDs. So far though I’m very happy.

“ DIN5 (180) at both ends, green direction band”.

Be careful, there are different versions. A 5pin 180 degree DIN to DIN interconnect lead is the one you want - this will come in a grey/lavender outer jacket with a green directional label, not a white one - it should’ve come included with the player.

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Hi

Coincidentally, I’ve scratched an itch and bought a standard lavender this week to replace my cardas interlink. In my case, this was worth the money. I planned to buy the lavender cable to sell on with my Cd5i player, but now I’m confused since I actually like what I have now.

A warning though: I have a Mogami based phono to din cable too which I preferred over the Cardas cable. So, there are definitely good aftermarket cables there. I have find though that a move back to Naim standard stuff is generally what I like.

Good choice
I think for 5 PIN DIN ( from not from RCA ) you can pick Deltron connectors for DIN connector and RCA interconnect from other brand (so many brands, I use Amplhenol ).
For Mains cable, you can use Naim Powerline Lite, it’s good choice

thank you

Thankfully my 10 year old CD5xs is still lovely and I hope it will keep going for many years. Naim have tried their best to maintain their legacy products and I honestly don’t know if Linn, Meridian etc are as committed to do so?
I doubt if a streamer would still be so useable after future technological changes and changes in streaming services across the next 10 years. If you have a large CD collection and enjoy it then buying a Cd player may still be a valid purchase but it would be best if it was the latest possible model or perhaps a Rega for £600 or so

Nothing confusing there. The Naim lavender/grey interconnect may not look very fancy but it does work brilliantly with Naim kit - after all, it was all designed together to work together.

Yup.

Thanks a lot Stephen,
That’s a real pity because the cable I was looking at locally has what looks like a white / grey label. This is not ok ?

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It looks legit. I’ve only ever seen this cable with a green label, and i’ve had a few…maybe a white label exists too? Only i’ve seen this with some of the SNAICs. It maybe an original first generation CD player interconnect?

Thanks. Just heard this was used for a NAIM CD2 so I guess this should be fine for a CD5i ?

I would’ve thought that it would most definitely work. AFAIK Naim did update this interconnect cable to their now more recent ‘grey lavender’ cable, with a slight increase in quality of sound, in a more modern sense. Make of that what you will. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I am using CDX, maybe it is quite rare Naim’s CD player. It has sturdy body and quite heavy weight (13-14 kgs)…lucky me I get healthy optical/ You better try that

Thanks to all who replied. I received my new cable today and noticed when fitting that the front panel to the left of the swing out drawer is a little loose. Is there some way to resecure this front
plate ?

There is, but it’s not so straightforward. The front panel can be quite tricky to align if you’re unfamiliar with how it works. Probably best to speak to your dealer here.

Hi, I just bought a used CD5XS and was interested by your comment. Sounds like you highly recommend an external DAC. Is the external DAC very different than the internal one? I’m surprised but I admittedly I am kind of a newbie when it comes to understanding DACs.

thanks

Thanks. So this isn’t necessarily a problem from transport but a setting ? If so I guess it’s ok to leave as is ? Thanks

Hi progfan915

Yes I’m a bit like you re DACs. I believe the nDAC is far better than the internal DAC of the CD5XS.

There were 3 steps for me

(1) purchased CD5XS as stand alone player - sounded pretty good ( had a CD555 previously so obviously not in that league but still very acceptable)

(2) added the nDAC so now using the CD5XS as transport - huge improvement in SQ, some say above a stand-alone CDX2 or at least equivalent

(3) added the XPS-2 to the nDAC, another impressive jump in SQ

To me the CD5XS/nDAC is a sweet spot and a fantastic combination

All recommended by my Naim dealer of over 35 years, his advice is always spot on

Cheers

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