Caledon1297
pfm Member
Naim CDS - still the most musically satisfying CD replay I've heard, though I continue to search (in vain?) for better...
Marantz CD7, CD10, Sony SCD-1 and the AudioPlan Vadi. All excellent!
I'd love a 63T.I have a marantz 73 and a 63 their versions of the first Philips players. Still sound great but probably more visual and historical appeal for me being honest
Jeez, I have one of these I bought used in 1992. it's on extended loan with a friend. I liked it's multi-bitness. I also ran it with an Audio Alchemy DDE 3.0 HDCD DAC. Then I changed to Arcam Alpha 7CD with the DAC. than naked. The Alpha 7 CD aced the Sony 338ESd for music. I don't think that's a massive endorsement for such a beautifully-made player.Sony CDP-338ESD, makes CD enjoyable!
let me know where you are, I can recommend a few.I’m in NZ. Not a great place to find CD techs.
I have a couple of them. They are the ugliest things ever! However, they sound good, play anything, & seem to work forever. One ($40 from Cash Converters) was my mainstay for donkeys years.My few cents worth:
Exceptional CDP of yesteryear is the 'plastic fantastic', the Philips CD-502. 16 bit, TDA1541, cheap as chips. Not the tidiest presentation, but all the fun. Just NZD399 back in the late 80's. On top of a Mana table, about the closest thing to a Naim CDS on Soundorg. I have two of them (one out on loan). Somehow, Philips really captured the magic in that machine.
My few cents worth:
Exceptional CDP of yesteryear is the 'plastic fantastic', the Philips CD-502. 16 bit, TDA1541, cheap as chips. Not the tidiest presentation, but all the fun. Just NZD399 back in the late 80's. On top of a Mana table, about the closest thing to a Naim CDS on Soundorg. I have two of them (one out on loan). Somehow, Philips really captured the magic in that machine.
Arcam Alpha 5+ CD. That timed well. Not too polite, not too fussy, relatively fun to listen to.
Naim Audio CDX (olive). The first CDP I heard that I knew I could live with and enjoy, timed and swung like a late-80's spec LP12/Ittok/Valhalla (pre-Cirkus).
Naim Audio CD3. Timed brilliantly, dug into the music, didn't sugar-coat anything. Better than the CD3.5 that followed, that did some things better, seemed a little fuller but somehow lost a bit of the magic while introducing the Naim PSU upgrade path.
Rega Planet. Fun. A bit better than the Alpha 5+ CD.
also-rans
The Rotel RCD-955 (BX?) was better than the 965BX, it timed better though was a little less polite. There are much better older CDPs to be bothering with than these once highly-rated players. They're better than the Marantz CD-63 KI Sig, too (overrated IMHO).
According to the Dutch Audio Classics' website, the Philips CD502 uses the TDA 1543?
BTW, have you found anything, current or historic, more musically satisfying than the Naim CDS?
thanks for the correction re the TDA chip, lads.
I never quite got the CDS, though I appreciated what it did. Like that great girlfriend that you never fell in love with; she was talented, intelligent, funny, attractive... but not *the one*. The CDS2 for me had the pace and timing of CDX+XPS, *and* the magic, so I had one - I fell in love. The CDS3/XPS2 that I replaced the CDS2 with was the most musically satisfying CDP I ever owned, had it from 2003 to 2020.