CD5i - unimpressed... But CD5... Help me decide :)
Posted by: domfjbrown on 12 January 2004
Well, I finally got round to demming the CD5i this weekend, as I'm on a mission to replace my elderly(ish) Mk1 Rega Planet, which I had no complaints with sonically, barring a noisy transport on some discs. Until Saturday, that is...
The dem system consisted of:
NAIT5
Dynaudio Audience 42s
Naim cables/unsure of racking. This is the nearesst approximation they could get to my NAIT3/Ela Mk1s/Target racks (ssssh!!!)
First up, the CD5i, warmed up. This was OK - but the stereo panning (I won't go so far as soundstage 'cos I hate that word) was very very odd - pannings on Air's "La femme D'argent" didn't work at all - kind of left->hole->right on a left to right pan etc. Love's "Forever changes" was a mess as well. Evenescance worked fairly well considering the singer's toppy vocals... A few more tracks (including "A building panic" from Back to Titanic, and a dodgy CDR from CDR from MD from vinyl of Incantation's "Cachapaya" (my vinyl copy, done on Planar 3) left me feeling curious - as this is old skool PR&T and nothing else it'd seem...
Next up, the Planet 2000 (with second revision) - unsure if cold or warm. Blimey - the CD5i sounded REALLY muffled - like, as in, broken, like a tape deck with dirty heads) in comparison, but the Planet's timing was nonexistent. So that didn't last long...
The Jupiter (not warmed up) showed both previous players a clean pair of heels, but I don't rate the build on it at ALL - very flimsy. Noisy mech again too so negates the purpose of an upgrade...
..."Urm, Mr Audio Excellence - please please let me try a CD5 just to be sure"
"It's not warmed up either"
"I don't care - let's try it"
Well - it is different to the Jupiter, but not worse or better IMHO really - it had all the emotion of the Jupiter but with more poise I think - the timing was as good but different, and the build was faaaaaar better. A brick. I was concerned by both the 5 and 5i with that puck, but you get used to it really quickly...
So the 5 has been in my home system since Saturday. It's the first player that consistently gives me goosebumps, though I'm not sure at the mo if the timing's any better than my Mk1 Planet. That said, I'm not sure if it's a dem model or a brand new one, as all the packaging (remote etc) was unused. It even managed to play Whitesnake's "1987" without ripping my ears off, though Cinderella's "Gypsy road" was a bit harsh - probably down to the late 80s mastering....
So tomorrow is D-Day - do-I-buy? Due to Exeter's limited hifi shops, it's either this, a Rega (hmmph) or some crap from Sevenoaks like Arcam (yeah right - my 1988 freebie Tosh from last week'd beat that!)...
The 5i should make sense, but based on what I heard, the 5 I think is the only way; in my rig the NAIT3/CD5 play each other to give refinement but enough groove - I think the 5i would be a mess in there...
My Rega Planar 3 is (from memory) still slightly ahead though
BTW - WHAT does a flatcap do to the 5's sound, 'cos I'd love to know but won't want to fork out for a while?
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
The dem system consisted of:
NAIT5
Dynaudio Audience 42s
Naim cables/unsure of racking. This is the nearesst approximation they could get to my NAIT3/Ela Mk1s/Target racks (ssssh!!!)
First up, the CD5i, warmed up. This was OK - but the stereo panning (I won't go so far as soundstage 'cos I hate that word) was very very odd - pannings on Air's "La femme D'argent" didn't work at all - kind of left->hole->right on a left to right pan etc. Love's "Forever changes" was a mess as well. Evenescance worked fairly well considering the singer's toppy vocals... A few more tracks (including "A building panic" from Back to Titanic, and a dodgy CDR from CDR from MD from vinyl of Incantation's "Cachapaya" (my vinyl copy, done on Planar 3) left me feeling curious - as this is old skool PR&T and nothing else it'd seem...
Next up, the Planet 2000 (with second revision) - unsure if cold or warm. Blimey - the CD5i sounded REALLY muffled - like, as in, broken, like a tape deck with dirty heads) in comparison, but the Planet's timing was nonexistent. So that didn't last long...
The Jupiter (not warmed up) showed both previous players a clean pair of heels, but I don't rate the build on it at ALL - very flimsy. Noisy mech again too so negates the purpose of an upgrade...
..."Urm, Mr Audio Excellence - please please let me try a CD5 just to be sure"
"It's not warmed up either"
"I don't care - let's try it"
Well - it is different to the Jupiter, but not worse or better IMHO really - it had all the emotion of the Jupiter but with more poise I think - the timing was as good but different, and the build was faaaaaar better. A brick. I was concerned by both the 5 and 5i with that puck, but you get used to it really quickly...
So the 5 has been in my home system since Saturday. It's the first player that consistently gives me goosebumps, though I'm not sure at the mo if the timing's any better than my Mk1 Planet. That said, I'm not sure if it's a dem model or a brand new one, as all the packaging (remote etc) was unused. It even managed to play Whitesnake's "1987" without ripping my ears off, though Cinderella's "Gypsy road" was a bit harsh - probably down to the late 80s mastering....
So tomorrow is D-Day - do-I-buy? Due to Exeter's limited hifi shops, it's either this, a Rega (hmmph) or some crap from Sevenoaks like Arcam (yeah right - my 1988 freebie Tosh from last week'd beat that!)...
The 5i should make sense, but based on what I heard, the 5 I think is the only way; in my rig the NAIT3/CD5 play each other to give refinement but enough groove - I think the 5i would be a mess in there...
My Rega Planar 3 is (from memory) still slightly ahead though
BTW - WHAT does a flatcap do to the 5's sound, 'cos I'd love to know but won't want to fork out for a while?
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
Well done Dom. I have no doubt that it will rock. I would have thought that £199 for a FC from a dealer was OK - you have a Planet to trade, but why not save for a used HiCap if it to be a long termer. Time to post another picture on the Systems 2004 thread. 
Hi Dom,
Hi-caps a plenty on ebay at the moment - seem to be going around 350-500 depending on year. Mmmm
Hi-caps a plenty on ebay at the moment - seem to be going around 350-500 depending on year. Mmmm
quote:
Originally posted by bigmick:
Call in sick at work
Like I need an excuse to do that - this job's doing me in!!!
He he - but at least now I can get my musical kicks easier when I *do* get home. Which reminds me - I'm off now - or I'll miss my lift
BTW - Status Quo bought in the arrogance of (16 years old!) yoof
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
quote:
Originally posted by Greg Beatty:
If I wasn't the sole wage earner with an 11-month old at home, I would have one to couple with my Nait 5/FC2 fer sure.
Yeah..mine's 18 months. Priceless ain't it
Can someone tell me how a CD5, which went into stock in Audio Excellence on 11/11/03, NOT have the PIC update on board???
I'm not a bappy bunny right now.... All I can say is that the PIC update had better be free... Hmmmph.
OK so I only have 2 non-CDs at the mo but that's not the point. The CD5 is sounding great by the way
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
I'm not a bappy bunny right now.... All I can say is that the PIC update had better be free... Hmmmph.
OK so I only have 2 non-CDs at the mo but that's not the point. The CD5 is sounding great by the way
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
No worries dudes - Naim've got 2 CD5s heading towards Audio Excellence in Exeter as we speak, so hopefully I can suss this out tomorrow night (or Monday at the latest); they'll swap em over for me no problems, so that just leaves me running it back in again now
Thanks Naim/AX
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
Thanks Naim/AX
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
An 80 minute CD will run the laser sled over its entire length, so if there's any issues with grease or lubricant needing "wearing in" as well, this'll solve it
How long can you leave a CDP on repeat, out of curiosity? I'm going down to Newquay for the weekend - if I set it on Friday avo will it melt down by Sunday? I was thinking of sticking something like Infected Mushroom's BP Empire in it (9 tracks) and programming the album in 11 timex (99 tracks) so that'd be about 11 hours of burn in - might be safter than repeat ad nauseam all weekend!
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
How long can you leave a CDP on repeat, out of curiosity? I'm going down to Newquay for the weekend - if I set it on Friday avo will it melt down by Sunday? I was thinking of sticking something like Infected Mushroom's BP Empire in it (9 tracks) and programming the album in 11 timex (99 tracks) so that'd be about 11 hours of burn in - might be safter than repeat ad nauseam all weekend!
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
quote:
Originally posted by domfjbrown:
An 80 minute CD will run the laser sled over its entire length, so if there's any issues with grease or lubricant needing "wearing in" as well, this'll solve it
Very smart. Hadn't thought of that.
If it was me, I would leave the running in to when I was listening to it. With my SBL's I was just delighted at how they sounded, and then they just got better and better, and my grin became bigger and bigger. It is quite satisfying to be there while he's growing up. You can hold his hand and explain your musical tastes as you go. You know, build up a relationship from the outset. You don't just want to be a weekend dad and take him to McDonalds on Saturdays, do you.
(I need a lie down..)
A repeat of a posting I made elsewhere, but may be of interest...
Opportunistically tonight I had the chance to hear the CD5i at my dealers, the CD5i was fed via a Nait5i to a pair of Allae's.
Obviously an unbalanced combination w.r.t. front end vs back end expenditure, but often a useful one, I've heard Allae's sound good, so I'm reasonably confident they weren't reponsible for what I heard, and they should be revealing of the front end stuff.
I'm puzzled by the 'muffled' statement though, was it actually dull (as in no treble) or was it just waffly bass, giving a muffled sound?
What I heard was certainly not the first, in fact the treble was extremely refined for it's price point in my view, but bass...well how can I put this...it wasn't what I expect of Naim.
Basically it was a bit boomy and inarticulate, it struck me as if it had been engineered to add a bit of subjective bass weight, to satisfy those that would complain about no bass from a normal Naim setup, but in my view it was a bit slow and ponderous down there, not the worst I've heard, but not the best either.
Andy.
P.S. Gary
You're wierd
Opportunistically tonight I had the chance to hear the CD5i at my dealers, the CD5i was fed via a Nait5i to a pair of Allae's.
Obviously an unbalanced combination w.r.t. front end vs back end expenditure, but often a useful one, I've heard Allae's sound good, so I'm reasonably confident they weren't reponsible for what I heard, and they should be revealing of the front end stuff.
I'm puzzled by the 'muffled' statement though, was it actually dull (as in no treble) or was it just waffly bass, giving a muffled sound?
What I heard was certainly not the first, in fact the treble was extremely refined for it's price point in my view, but bass...well how can I put this...it wasn't what I expect of Naim.
Basically it was a bit boomy and inarticulate, it struck me as if it had been engineered to add a bit of subjective bass weight, to satisfy those that would complain about no bass from a normal Naim setup, but in my view it was a bit slow and ponderous down there, not the worst I've heard, but not the best either.
Andy.
P.S. Gary
quote:
I must say I enjoy the burn in period, there is something satisfying in hearing things 'come on line'
You're wierd
Greg,
I'd still be happy to reserve judgement on any of the bits I heard, until such point as I'd heard the effect of the individual items in isolation, but no naim amp I've ever used has been loose in that way and the Allae's don't normally sound boomy, so not sure what was going on
Andy.
I'd still be happy to reserve judgement on any of the bits I heard, until such point as I'd heard the effect of the individual items in isolation, but no naim amp I've ever used has been loose in that way and the Allae's don't normally sound boomy, so not sure what was going on
Andy.