WIll Naim CD5i fit with my arcam & B&W's?

[edlomb]

I'm auditioning several cdp's this weekend and thought I'd see what you guys thought.

My set up at the moment is an Arcam Alpha 9 and B&W CDM 1NT speakers.

I'm in the market for a cdp upto £1000. the guy in the shop suggested a Naim cd5i since the arcam. B&W set up I have can sound smooth so a player like the cd5i can cut through that. Of course it's up to what my ears want but anyway...

What do you guys think. I'm going to be listening to the cd5i, Arcam cd192 and a Rega Jupiter. Possibly a roksan as well.

Any opinions appreciated

Eddie

[Dav1dF]

You may find the Rega a little smooth for your purpose, but it is an excellent cd player. The Naim should do the trick. They're probably the two best players around the £1k mark at the moment.

[337GUS]

Rega are replacing the Jupiter with the Saturn, I would want to hear that before deciding.

http://www.music-at-home.co.uk/pages/hifi_rega.html

Gus

[Nimby]

The Rega Apollo has been getting some serious discussion going online and is supposed to better the Jupiter according to some opinions.
Haven't heard one myself though you may like to include it on your audition list.

[withjet]

Originally Posted by edlomb

I'm auditioning several cdp's this weekend and thought I'd see what you guys thought.

My set up at the moment is an Arcam Alpha 9 and B&W CDM 1NT speakers.

I'm in the market for a cdp upto £1000. the guy in the shop suggested a Naim cd5i since the arcam. B&W set up I have can sound smooth so a player like the cd5i can cut through that. Of course it's up to what my ears want but anyway...

What do you guys think. I'm going to be listening to the cd5i, Arcam cd192 and a Rega Jupiter. Possibly a roksan as well.

Any opinions appreciated

Eddie

If you like a pacey good timing cdp with solid build you could do a lot worse than the cd5i, there's one on the Candy website under 12months old for £499

Thats a good saving, a bit of haggling and who knows???

[Mr_Sukebe]

I used to own a CD5i. It's certainly got pace, grove and is a LOT of fun to listen to. If that's what you want, VERY hard to beat at the price.
The compromise (every piece of kit has some compromise) is that it's far from tonally accurate and natural in it's presentation.

Other kit I've heard it directly against include:
- Quad 99CDP. Not as fun, but far more tonally accurate. I actually prefered the Quad, and would certainly recommend you put it on your hit list.
- Cyrus CDP, which I found OK, but a little underwhelming, somewhere the CD5i and Quad in presentation, though not as good as either.

In the end, I bought a NOS DAC (v1) which had nothing like the life, but was awesomely natural in it's presentation. I'm not sure what you're looking for from your system, but your choice should really be based on what you're trying to achieve with it.
Don't think about the above choices as necessarily better or worse, just different in their presentation styles. Choose the unit based on where it takes your system.

[edlomb]

Thanks for all your input. Very helpful.

I'll need to try the cdp's out and see.

Sound wise I like detail but to the point where it sounds too harsh. I prefer some level of warmth.

These things are so subjective anyway but yours ears need to lead!

Thanks again

Eddie

[Dom996]

I agree with the view that the Naim will liven it up. The Apollo is rounder sounding than the Naim, but still boogies.

[Kishoo]

Having listened to both the Naim and the Rega over the last couple of days, I agree with DOM996 and find the Rega ever so sligtly rounder than the Naim.

I like both of them and find the Rega exceptional value at under £500.00.

Have a listen and find a dealer that will let you borrow one for the weekend and listen to it at home...

Kishoo

[usman24]

also maybe worth waiting a few weeks for the new SA7001 marantz series IMHO and the ki signature series version before committing to a purchase.


http://www.avland.co.uk/marantz/sa7001/sa7001.htm

you could always purchase second hand or ex dem high end equipment.

[Jimholt]

Or you could try a Esound CD-E5 less than £500 and up there with a Naim CDX2 and probably beyond. Jim.

[edlomb]

Well I finally stumped up the cash and went for a Naim cd5i.

I could have spent a life time auditioning :-) I think auditioning is actually just as fun if not more fun than bringing the cdp home!

Anyway, I'm moving into my new space this friday and will commence the cdp burn in then but I really enjoyed the whole process.

In the end I had to forgo listening to the Rega (i know you're probably thinking you ahve to lsiten to them all). The biggest reason being the top laoder design. I have a turntable and I would have had to get that onto a seperate stand and it just wasn;t practicle. If I owned my own place I would have put a wall bracket but being a renter....

Anyway, bad reason to forgo the Rega but...

Eddie

[mlilliman]

Eddie, did you get to audition the Arcam CD192?

I took one home this weekend to see if it's a marked improvement over my Arcam CD82, and was a little disappointed given the excellent What HiFi review. Perhaps there isn't a big difference in CD players when you get to the £1k mark?

If I had a clean sheet and was choosing either the CD82 or CD192 then I would pay the extra £250 or so as the CD192 had marginally better timing and sparkle, but it was a close call. At one stage of auditioning I had both CD players playing the same song connected to my Arcam A80 by Van den Hul interconnects and then switching source to perform an A-B comparison.

I'm now wondering if switching to a different CDP manufacturer such as Naim (and the CD5i) will give a more 'peppy' sound...

[edlomb]

I did audition the CD192 and had I heard only that model without any comparison to others I would say it sounded good but after hearing the cd5i the 192 seemed somewhat dull. A good reason to compare cdps!

The cd5i was definitely more peppy.

Eddie

[mlilliman]

Cheers Eddie! I left the CD192 on play and repeat for much of Monday and to be fair to the player, the improvements over the CD82 were more noticeable and worthwhile. It's a leaner sounding machine with more bite and sparkle and my CD82 sound a little lacklustre and mushy in comparison.

Out of interest which amplifier and speakers are you running? Would you know if the Naim CD5i partners an Arcam A80 and B&W CM1 speakers well?

EDIT: Forget the last bit. Doh!