CDS: unbelievable when placed on a decent support which can be nothing more than a carpeted floor. My favorite hifi component of all time. This one nailed the coffin shut on vinyl for me.
CDS2: as good as my CDS is my CDS2 is considerably better with a cleaner top end and a complete absence of harshness in the upper mids which creeps up on occasion with the CDS. I'll be keeping mine until its wheels fall off.
CDS2 is better than any LP12, but vinyl doesn't end with the LP12.
CD3.5 + Flatcap or Hicap
Chris N
The CD3 was superb player ... purchased 2nd hand ... used for at least 5 years ... never a glitch ... mostly used with small single ended valve amps into Reference 3a Royal Master Control loudspeakers.
Owned the CDS and matching power supply for about 18 months. Lordy that was a beautiful sound. I thought it somewhat colored ... but by analogy it was like Technicolor ... overly rich but so much fun.
This combination had two issues:
1. I had to play CDs from beginning to end ... it didn't like jumping to specified tracks;
2. The power supply took forever to warm up and reach its maximum fidelity ... like just silly long ... over a week to sound great and almost two weeks to maximize ... and I don't believe in that silly stuff ... but that was my experience.
WTS
+1 I had one for over a decade as a second source as vinyl is king here. It saw off a CDX, CDS/XPS and a swish Meridian number (amongst others) and was only replaced when we moved to an NDS and the CDs went to the cellar.
Yes, those other CDPs were better, but the marginal improvement was so small as to not warrant the £££, or the change in presentation not to my taste. As an added bonus, I got back the best part of what I paid for the CD3.5 and FC when I sold them. I think they cost me about £35 a year all up.
Lou,
Level-matched and tested blind all CD players sound the same. Pick up a $30 DVD player from the grocery store. Don't fall for that audiophile nonsense, man.
From the frozen southwestern corner of Soviet Canuckistan, man.
Joe-ba-loo
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Independent suave dude and Trek aficionado
You should be aware that the CDI/CDS transport has a nextel layer that wears out over time and disks will slip and skip. There is no real fix for this except to use pucks with more pieces of rubber (if you played with one, you'll understand what I mean). This may work but the sound does get compromised.
louballoo said:I'm curious, which of the NAIM olive CD players is the best?
Can't have best unless something else is worse.louballoo said:Since you asked, I agree any old DVD player with a TOSLINK out run into any competent DAC will sound as good as any competent CD player regardless of price.
Each to their own, but since you've not compared a B-400XS directly with Naim in your system, I'll take your opinion with a tablespoon of salt.Having owned both Naim players for extended period they are among the very best cd-players out there IMO
Admitted not many want/need a 2-box player
The original CDi and CDS was even better but sadly no serviceable, cool toploaders
Heard several Densen players and never came on with any of these, sorry can't share your optimism for Densen gear
CDS2 is better than any LP12
Agreed, a double o-ring puck seems to diminish realism in a small but audible fashion compared to the single o-ring puck.
+1.Now you're just being silly - unless I had one of the Friday afternoon jobbies. CDS2 was a backwards step and didn't get close to vinyl. Boring player.
Lou,
Level-matched and tested blind all CD players sound the same. Pick up a $30 DVD player from the grocery store. Don't fall for that audiophile nonsense, man.
From the frozen southwestern corner of Soviet Canuckistan, man.
Joe-ba-loo
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Independent suave dude and Trek aficionado
My view has always been, that no matter how good the sound might be with the original puck, the fact remains that it doesn't work properly, and its use will almost always lead to premature transport failure.
In my early days of CDS ownership, I tried all kinds of experiments with pucks. The hub was already showing signs of advanced wear, and it was impossible to skip between tracks. On occasions, the transport would shudder, making the most horrendous noise as it tried to access the tracks. Once I had tried one of the later pucks, I never looked back; I find now, that the cd player works perfectly, and as far asI can tell, it sounds very good too, and what's more, wear on the hub appears not to have gotten any worse