Which Naim vintage CD player

Hi-Fi Corner
1

Which Naim vintage CD player is the best option to replace my Naim CD5si Player

2

Well the best is the cd555…….but what is your budget?

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3

Vintage?

CDS or CDS2

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4

Depends what you mean by vintage

I personally would go for a CD5XS - I have one it’s a beauty

Or if real vintage

CDS2

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5

:astonished: “vintage”. They’ve been around since the 90s. I’m not emotionally ready to call that vintage just yet!

Is there an emoji for spitting out cup of tea in horror?

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6

Naim’s first one box player, the CDi, was a great player (I had one in a ‘second’ system), but may be hard to find these days. Also, I don’t know if it’s still serviceable - by Naim or by independents - if anything goes wrong.

I made the mistake of loaning mine to a so-called friend some years ago, and it disappeared with him when he left town.

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7

Four to five thousand £

8

Thank you. How would it compare to the CD5Si?

9

Personally as much as i love the Naim cd players….they are on borrowed time. Naim are doing a great job of tracking down cd mechanism’s. But if i were to buy another cd player….it would be another company still developing the format.

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10

Good advice, I should think.

11

Get a CD5 and stick a Hicap on it👍

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12

Marantz do some nice high end cd players with a cd mechanism they design and build, also Accuphase. An alternative is a cd transport into one of the many stand alone dacs.
But……enjoy the journey, research online, reviews and the ever important listen for your ears. Best of luck.

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13

Would kill it

Plus can add nDAC etc etc

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14

Happy with my CD5X/HCDR.
Not a player that seems to get much mention. Too old I guess.

But younger than my olive CD2, still going strong.

(They’re both in a semi-regular rotation. No idea if this a good idea or not).

15

I am ashamed I ever sold our CD5X with the Flatcap. I replaced it with a SN3 and MacBookPro and a Hugo TT2 via Roon.

I needed the space that the CDS2 occupied and I am ashamed I ever sold the CD555.

I wish I had heard the CDS3.

What I need is the Naim CD transport into my ND555. I should have converted the CD5X into a transport.

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16

Skip

Like you my biggest mistake in my long journey was selling my CD555

I had a brain explosion

But at least I know it went to a nice home getting lots of love :+1:

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17

Are you allowed to sell a CD555 and remain a respected Member of this Forum?

It’s almost as bad, say, as trading in an ARO for an SME3009!

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18

Ha ha :grinning: I’ve learn’t my lesson

Never parting with by ARO :+1:

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19

I find the CD3 to be a wonderful foil for modern streamers and DACs. Sound-wise It’s a bit of dinosaur thanks to using the prehistoric Philips 16 bit TDA1541A Crown DAC chips, but with the right music (best steer clear of Classical and stick to more upbeat jazz, rock etc…) it’s huge fun and just draws you in to the music. The mech is the regular CDM9/44 which is one of the best Philips made, and still fairly easy to find in working condition in many other older machines, should you need to salvage spares. The main issue with this mech is a dropped platter, which is simple to fix. It uses the lovely pull out drawer, which is one of the best things Naim did for CD. And best of all, CD3s can be bought very cheaply indeed these days.

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20

I have few audio regrets but selling mine was one of them. Sublime!

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