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Know of any good contemporary CD transports that work well into a DAC made by Naim?

Pterodactyl

pfm Member
Has anyone had any joy pairing a currently-manufactured CD transport with any dac produced by Naim?

So this would include the 'Naim DAC', ND streamers, the Naim 272, etc.

One reason to consider this is that it could be a way to bypass the hassle of ripping and storing CDs.

So get a CD transport and play CDs into my 272 instead of getting a NAS or file server.

One obvious potential downside of this would be if for some reason there was a lack of compatibility between transport, cable and dac - e.g. because of electrical noise entering the 272 from the CD transport.
 
Has anyone had any joy pairing a currently-manufactured CD transport with any dac produced by Naim?

So this would include the 'Naim DAC', ND streamers, the Naim 272, etc.

One reason to consider this is that it could be a way to bypass the hassle of ripping and storing CDs.

So get a CD transport and play CDs into my 272 instead of getting a NAS or file server.

One obvious potential downside of this would be if for some reason there was a lack of compatibility between transport, cable and dac - e.g. because of electrical noise entering the 272 from the CD transport.

Does the Naim have a problem with noise?
Using the optical/Toslink input will solve that.
 
Another way to bypass the hassle of ripping and storing CDs is to get into streaming from Qobuz or Tidal, and maybe also use Roon as a front end. Unlimited access to millions of albums in CD quality or better for a couple of hundred quid or so a year.
 
What's the point of buying a naim streamer /NacStreamer or DAC if you just want to play CDs ?
 
Thanks Lee - but the idea was to consider spending the money on a transport.
If someone did this they'd waste the onboard DAC in the CD player.

It was originally conceived as a transport and that is where most of your money is going. It just won Hi-Fi+ CD player or transport of the year...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wlzqb5s6l3a4cb/HIFI+PG178 Awards_DiscPlayerTransport_Exposure.pdf?raw=1

Full review here...

https://www.hifiplus.com/articles/exposure-xm-cd-player/
 
Another way to bypass the hassle of ripping and storing CDs is to get into streaming from Qobuz or Tidal, and maybe also use Roon as a front end. Unlimited access to millions of albums in CD quality or better for a couple of hundred quid or so a year.
Right now my only source is Tidal.
It sounds excellent and I love exploring and just playing music from it.
But lots of people claim they get even better SQ from a QNAP NAS or a Melco or Innuous or other local streaming device/server playing either ripped CDS or bought files in CD or higher resolution.

A new CD transport might (or might not) be a different way to get better SQ than streaming from Tidal HiFi - depending on how it was done.

So I'm wondering whether anyone has had any joy pairing a currently-manufactured CD transport with any dac produced by Naim?

i.e. has anyone actually done this, or heard a mate's system where this worked or didn't work?
 
Interesting.
But if I went down this route I would like all the funds to go on a CD transport without a redundant DAC attached to it.
cheers
Jim
problem is there are so few new cd transports around these days. I’d second the exposure as it’s highly regarded and there’s nothing else close in price unless you go pro-ject (flimsy) or bel canto or cyrus which are slot loading. The exposure is top loading so, hopefully, longer lasting. Can’t see why it wouldn’t be compatible with your Naim.
 
Even if it is better pound-for-pound than competing transport-only options?

It’s an interesting point, Lee.

Even with that being the case, most audiophiles seem to like “purity” - which includes a lack of redundancy.

Exposure need to make an equivalent DAC-less model, upgrade something and charge an extra £50. Then we’d be happy!
 
In your situation I would try a proven legacy transport, eg Audiolab 8000CDM, Meridian 500, and see how you go. If not happy can be moved on for little or no loss. Presume Naim use BNC for the coax in, so BNC equipped transport would be nice.

Given the level of your recipient components, any old transport just won't do.
 
Fanthorpes currently have a used Chord Coda (Export version of the Blu) in silver for £2199. I have one of these and it hasn't put a foot wrong in the 10 years or so I've had it. Optical, BNC coax and AES/EBU connections on the back.
 


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