Alternatives to Naim CDS?

[MJS]

These old players still sound wonderful and very analogue-sounding. Donor players yield working lasers and the CDM4 variants in these are fairly bullet-proof so we've never been unable not to fix one. We have seen issues with the door switch failing to light the laser - for some reason the laser current and index reset are both controlled from the microswitch so it may not always be a laser failure,

 

[PerF]

I much prefer CDS to CDS3
Very different presentation, not for sheeps who think any news from Salisbury must be better ha-ha.
Great if WH can get them going again, wish I knew I would never have sold my old CDi & CDS.

Bit surpriced the Isis downer
I was told a new Aethos CD is possible in the pipeline..

 

[wylton]

One of the issues that used to plague the CDS, was the puck not gripping the disc properly, which causes the coating on the hub to wear out. Eventually the laser assembly fails; I have seem the laser assembly shake quite violently as it tries to track a slipping disc. I personally use one of the later magnetic pucks; any possible reduction in sound quality is more than made up by improved mechanical performance. When I bought my CDS, it was hopeless, because it wouldn't skip tracks etc. I bought a new puck and tried to modify the old one by fitting more than one rubber, but ultimately the new pucks are better.

 

[MJS]

The clamp 5 is recommended as it eliminates all slippage. I haven't really heard any difference over the standard top-hat puck and use it all the time.

 

[JemHayward]

The CDS was my second, and last CD player. I was a late adopter of CDs, but eventually caved in, and when the CDS appeared, I found what I was looking for, and had many years of pleasure from it. The CDS2 wasn't anywhere near as good, but the CDS3 was, in many 'hifi' aspects better, but it just didn't have the rhythm and emotion that the CDS had. It's a bit like comparing an early LP12 with the latest version. Improvements have removed the obvious flaws, but have also removed why we loved it in the first place.
I then stuck my toe into the streaming world, and the improvement in accuracy and detail retrieval of even a modest streamer was enough to make me sell my CDS whilst it was still worth decent money.
If you love it get it repaired, and if you can part with it, a Raspberry pi and a decent USB DAC will be quite a big step forward in fidelity terms, but maybe you won't find a DAC that gives the same boogie (certainly the Naim DAC didn't which was a disappointment - my Lakewest MDAC gets close)

 

[Johnjo]

These old players still sound wonderful and very analogue-sounding. Donor players yield working lasers and the CDM4 variants in these are fairly bullet-proof so we've never been unable not to fix one. We have seen issues with the door switch failing to light the laser - for some reason the laser current and index reset are both controlled from the microswitch so it may not always be a laser failure,

Broken wire alert!!!

Thank you so much MJS, it was the lid switch, well the wiring to it. One of the 3 cores had corroded through under the heatshrink at the switch itself. Funny, I had thought of the lid switch but discounted it as the laser would move inwards and try to focus when the lid was closed but the red dot of the laser was missing. I guess one of the switch wires does the movement and the other does the laser power.

All three wires stripped back, re-soldered and new heatshrink fitted and working perfectly!

Thanks again to everyone for the help and suggestions which I will re-read and look into in detail. It really has made me think about future proofing my source.

It probably makes sense to put money into a good DAC and a cheaper CD transport but the CDS is here for now!

Fault...

All fixed!

 

[MJS]

 

[gary yeowell]

Result!
I enjoyed a lot the CDI i had here for a few months which is cut from the same cloth as the CDS. It did not however compare to my CDS3/XPS2 which was better in almost every respect. I know the CDS is a league above the CDI and i'd use it for as long as you can, but if you do require a CD player later as a replacement you may fall for the CDS3 over time. Like you i can't be bothered with streaming, and quite frankly have yet to hear a streamer Dac worth bothering with and i had a Chord 'Dave' here for a while which bored the pants off me.

 

[Johnjo]

Result!
I enjoyed a lot the CDI i had here for a few months which is cut from the same cloth as the CDS. It did not however compare to my CDS3/XPS2 which was better in almost every respect. I know the CDS is a league above the CDI and i'd use it for as long as you can, but if you do require a CD player later as a replacement you may fall for the CDS3 over time. Like you i can't be bothered with streaming, and quite frankly have yet to hear a streamer Dac worth bothering with and i had a Chord 'Dave' here for a while which bored the pants off me.

Great feedback Gary.

Do you know if the CDS3 can run off the old CDPS with a different burrndy cable or is a completely different power supply required?

 

[gary yeowell]

Great feedback Gary.

Do you know if the CDS3 can run off the old CDPS with a different burrndy cable or is a completely different power supply required?

I'm fairly certain that it can't John. I think the only option is an XPS2 or 555PS. You can actually use the XP5XS which was designed for the ND5XS streamer, but i wouldn't bother.

 

[pjdowns]

Result!
I enjoyed a lot the CDI i had here for a few months which is cut from the same cloth as the CDS. It did not however compare to my CDS3/XPS2 which was better in almost every respect. I know the CDS is a league above the CDI and i'd use it for as long as you can, but if you do require a CD player later as a replacement you may fall for the CDS3 over time. Like you i can't be bothered with streaming, and quite frankly have yet to hear a streamer Dac worth bothering with and i had a Chord 'Dave' here for a while which bored the pants off me.

The CDS3 is a very good CD player and I like it a lot, and that is come from someone who is no fan of Naim. I tried a Chord Dave DAC and found it very clinical and would agree with your sentiments.

 

[Caledon1297]

Great feedback Gary.

Do you know if the CDS3 can run off the old CDPS with a different burrndy cable or is a completely different power supply required?

I'm fairly certain that it can't John. I think the only option is an XPS2 or 555PS. You can actually use the XP5XS which was designed for the ND5XS streamer, but i wouldn't bother.

I have been told previously by Naim that the CDPS can be used with CDS3 (using the same Burndy that is used with a CDSII when powered by CDPS) - I haven't had the chance to try a CDS3, however, so can't confirm.

 

[MJS]

I've always like my CDI and thought it a very capable player. Then I got to thinking about how it could be improved by an external power supply like the newer models. I put a dual-polarity regulator into a SNAPS, modified the wiring and now it's 80% of the way to sounding like a CDS. If I had a Hicap I could put a dual-polarity tracking pre-regulator in it and it'd be better still. Plus I can still run it from the internal supply with a link plug.

 

[mbu]

Result!
I enjoyed a lot the CDI i had here for a few months which is cut from the same cloth as the CDS. It did not however compare to my CDS3/XPS2 which was better in almost every respect. I know the CDS is a league above the CDI and i'd use it for as long as you can, but if you do require a CD player later as a replacement you may fall for the CDS3 over time. Like you i can't be bothered with streaming, and quite frankly have yet to hear a streamer Dac worth bothering with and i had a Chord 'Dave' here for a while which bored the pants off me.

Yikes ! If I ever had to move from my cds3 I had the chord Dave on a very short shortlist. Listening to great sounds right now from the player ( into nac 52 , densen b330+, neat 3i, rel storm set up ). The music. Radiohead ok computer and the bends done. Now soundgarden superunknown . How damn good !
Gonna put in a chord 1200c next.

 

[Sonci]

I then stuck my toe into the streaming world, and the improvement in accuracy and detail retrieval of even a modest streamer was enough to make me sell my CDS whilst it was still worth decent money.

What streamer are you using? More detail and accuracy than a cd player? Is this a joke?

 

[Foot Tapper]

Having heard a few top end streaming systems and compared them with my cd player, I think so, yes.

 

[SteveS1]

What streamer are you using? More detail and accuracy than a cd player? Is this a joke?

Or....why would music files sound any better burned to optical discs and then read?

 

[Sonci]

Or....why would music files sound any better burned to optical discs and then read?

neither should sound better from a streamer,
written in a hard disc, connected through lan cables to modem then switch, transmitted through some strange protocols, decoded to wav, then output to an external dac. I can add 100 more steps, but the plactic disc just wins easily.
In the same dac, they most probably sound the same though..