SACD which players get used with Naim

Without wishing to sound too glib, pick your Naim CD player and play the CD layer of whatever SACD...

Personally, when I tried to do a comparison some years back I preferred playback of the CD layer on a number of SACDs I own - I did a comparison about 10 or 12 years ago with some of the Rolling Stones SACDs, and a few others that I can no longer recall.  I played them on a Sony SACD player and on a Naim CD5 with flatcap2.  Interconnect was the Naim i/c or Chord Chrysalis.  The Naim replay of the CD layer was appreciably more rhythmically engaging and fun. Of course, the Sony SACD player may well have been holding things back, so perhaps not such a fair comparison.  A later listen to some classical SACDs I felt showed much more of where the format's strengths lay.  But by then I was using a CDS3 and anyone who is familiar with this player will know that it makes CD sound oh so good..

Oppo 105 - it's a universal disc player. Plays BluRay Audio too.

The Oppo offers very good value for money and deserves serious consideration.

If however, you are looking for a dedicated SACD player and provided you have the budget, I'd recommend the Marantz's top player, the SA-11S3. It has a smooth, rich sound that's favoured by Japanese makers and will get the best out of your SACDs.

The same goes for a top version of the Yamaha player. However....

None of them provide a multi-channel analogue output (unlike Oppo 105). Quite a lot of SACD are encoded in 5.1 - I use that functionality quite a lot actually (both SACD and BluRayAudio discs).

I would also vote for the oppo as it's also fit for multiple purposes....

Another vote here for the Oppo. Fabulous machine! I enjoy multichannel recordings, provided they're done well, and indeed some of the recent Steven Wilson stuff's better in surround than stereo. The original Alan Parsons 4.1 mix on DVD-A of Dark Side of The Moon is superb.

I still own and use one of those big monster Sony SACD's, and I'm afraid I have to agree with Richard that on many SACD's the CD layer sounds better - perhaps this parallels some of today's hi-res formats? However, there are a couple of SACD's that I have that do sound truly fantastic. Much more headroom, lots of 'inky blackness' and increased micro dynamics. Unfortunately I've had to sacrifice the SACD side of thing as I now use the Sony as a pure transport to feed my 555/NDac and it can not support the SACD's digital output. Richard's comment about the Sony being held back was also spot on as it's biggest weakness seems to be the internal Dac. How does ithis combination sound...I had a CDS3 on loan for a short while and I still have a CDX2.2, so I'll let you decide.

Cambridge Audio SACD player - it has multi channel surround analogue output (which I feed to a Yamaha A/V amp these days).

SACD is fun and interesting as a demonstration tool for visitors before you introduce them to what a decent audio system can do for stereophonic sound, swiching from Yamaha amplification to the Naim system  -  usually brings a smile to the face 

I had an extended borrow of Denon's DCD-A100 (the anniversary edition of the DCD2010) and it sounded fantastic on the handful of SACDs I had to hand. Of course the Naim player sounds as good in its own way on most CDs. I haven't been able to justify the expense of a superb player such as this but I doubt if there's a lesser one (that cost £2200 when introduced) which would be worth having.

Denon BDP-3313UD. Superb.

But not a patch on a Naim streamer with a good quality rip (just of CD, not necessarily hi-res formats).

But the Denon costs less too and I've not heard anything that approaches it's cost performance.

My primary digital source is streaming via Naim NDX > Chord Hugo TT.

That said, I do have an Oppo 105 which is primarily used for Bluray watching, however does occasionally get used for listening to CD's.. and it will also play SACD and DVD-A. I use it as a transport into the NDX>Hugo and it works beautifully for this purpose. It's a great all rounder for very reasonable money.

Geko posted:

I still own and use one of those big monster Sony SACD's, and I'm afraid I have to agree with Richard that on many SACD's the CD layer sounds better - perhaps this parallels some of today's hi-res formats? However, there are a couple of SACD's that I have that do sound truly fantastic. Much more headroom, lots of 'inky blackness' and increased micro dynamics. Unfortunately I've had to sacrifice the SACD side of thing as I now use the Sony as a pure transport to feed my 555/NDac and it can not support the SACD's digital output. Richard's comment about the Sony being held back was also spot on as it's biggest weakness seems to be the internal Dac. How does ithis combination sound...I had a CDS3 on loan for a short while and I still have a CDX2.2, so I'll let you decide.

Interested to note that you use the Sony SACD player as a transport to feed your nDAC/555PS and  you have a CDX2.2. Have you tried using the CDX2.2 as a transport to the nDAC/555PS instead?  

I was originally using a big Accuphase CD transport to feed my nDAC and was very surprised at the performance improvement I got when tried a CDX2.2 in its place.  

Mike

I cannot comment on SACD 'cause I don't have any.  But I hoped my Oppo BDP-95 would obsolete my CD5X + FC2X for RedBook . . . It did not.

Nick