Just wondering would Naim EVER consider releasing an SACD player? With the future of Denon and Marantz players in doubt (at least in the short term) a Naim SACD player now would most likely be well received.Would love the Naim attention to power supplies and PRAT combined with the SACD format!
They never went down that road when it was popular.
They aren’t interested in making a new cd player let alone one that will also do SACD’s.
So i think it’s a safe to say NO.
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Pretty certain NO.
Would not surprise me if R&D made a player, and discounted it. In chats with Jason Gould the feeling is a good 16 bit recording, can be rather special.
I wonder if @Richard.Dane remembers if they ever tried out the sacd format?
Probably too niche, from the time when DVD-A was being developed too, bearing in mind many Naim CDPs can play HDCD. Would SACD also have required royalties to Sony?
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Yes, I remember R&D played with SACD and modified a Philips player. I recall Roy saying that it had potential but also there were some fundamental issues too. He felt that there was more to get from CD, which made more sense in allocating resources.
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It always disappointed me that the DVD5 didn’t play SACD…As well as DVD of course, it was actually a great CD player and also brilliant with good DVD-A….
If it had included SACD as well, it would have been a sublime Universal player, back then and even to this day…!
Mine is boxed in a loft back in the UK, though it’s crossed my mind of late about digging it out and giving it a spin again – with all this ‘Transport’ talk of late I wondered what it would be like into the nDAC if I picked one up…no doubt quite good!
SC
I tried the DVD5 as a CD transport into the DAC. It was good but oddly sounded quite different to the others. IIRC there was a sort of mid-forward bias. However, it had that X factor, that sense of liveliness to the sound that eluded so many of the transports. Overall though, I preferred the Meridian. The other issue, of course, is that because it was first and foremost a DVD player, functionality was nowhere near as slick as a proper CD player/transport, and that could get annoying rather quickly!
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