CD555

Alba1320 posted:

Put CD in CD player, press play.

Damned inconvenient, if you ask me; Why have we put up with such a time-consuming and convoluted process all these years?!  

  

I'll grudgingly admit that pressing the play button on your CD player remote control is indeed quite easy.  

Finding that CD you have a sudden urge to play, but haven't seen for years is not quite so convenient.

Having to store thousands of CDs in your living room is extremely inconvenient, as is the need to browse through thousands of CDs edge on to find the CDs that have been incorrectly returned to your massive floor to ceiling CD rack. Now, unless you retain 20/20 eyesight, that exercise is not just inconvenient, it is just about downright impossible. And what about CD cases that have been returned to the rack correctly, but with the wrong CD inside. Now, whenever I came across this problem in my CD playing days, the worst part was that I knew that of course there had to be another of these little b***** which was also in the wrong case. But how to find which one?  

Hmack posted:

The Strat (Fender) posted:

From so much of what I read I fail to see how streaming is more convenient than CD. 

I think you may be confusing convenience and reliability. .........

However, I simply cannot understand how anyone could argue that streaming isn't more 'convenient' than playing CDs.

- No more need to store hundreds or thousands of CDs locally for easy (?) access to my music collection

- Every single album or individual track I want to play available in seconds via my PC or IOS based streaming applications  

- Browsing my entire music collection so much easier and so much more fun

- the option to use 'music discovery' features of external streaming services should I desire to do so

- the additional bonus of access to a plethora of Internet Radio services

and in my own case and experience, better sound quality than I could possibly get from a CD player without paying a fortune for a top of the range player from the likes of MBL.

I'll admit that a few people will not agree with my own assessment of the relative sound of today's best streaming devices and CD payers, but in respect of convenience alone, what's not to like about streaming?  

Well in my case, if I want to listen to an CD, I have to get out of bed, go to the Living Room, pop in a CD, hit play, and jump back into bed.

I can program the Cdx2 to play a select number of cuts, and put it on repeat!

Clearly more convenient, than my previous LP 12.

However, Local Streaming is Sweet!

Nearly four days of Music, shuffle play, if I decide.

Countless number of custom playlist.

Internet Radio.

Purchase cuts off itunes, add to my Library.

All controlled from my $35 a month Android phone, while Lying in bed.

Now that's convenient!

Now in my particular case, is the SQ superior to my Cdx2?  NO!

But not bad at all, my friends can't tell the difference, but they wouldn't spend over a Grand on a complete System, less known a CDP.

So in conclusion, I tend to agree with Hmack.

Just waiting on that new NDS555 to make it's appearance, right DB!!!!!

Allante93!

PS. I forgot I control All 3 Systems whilst lying in bed.

Living Room

Family Room

Rec Room

Valid Arguments, both sides!

But when it comes to serious listening, not lying in Bed, proper seating within System A.

Convenience is not the issue, it's SQ!

Albeit:

Master tape, on Reel to Reel!

Loaded LP 12, with an 3K cartridge.

CD555 with (2) 555PS

Or the less expensive NDS/(2) 555PS

Allante93!

PS. Those Master Tapes ain't Cheap!

I would enjoy CD’s more if I could actually read the liner notes. Since when did 6pt type become the norm? As it is I recall playing the dozen or so cd’s laying on the hifi cabinet for weeks at a time until I could be bothered to shove those back in the drawers and choose another round. Much prefer seeing at a glance everything, and the ability to play those anywhere in the house at anytime with no clutter. Of course if your network goes down....

charlesphoto posted:

I would enjoy CD’s more if I could actually read the liner notes. Since when did 6pt type become the norm?

{As it is I recall playing the dozen or so cd’s laying on the hifi cabinet for weeks at a time until I could be bothered to shove those back in the drawers and choose another round.}

Much prefer seeing at a glance everything, and the ability to play those anywhere in the house at anytime with no clutter. Of course if your network goes down....

Couldn't agree more, that's exactly what I do!

And then the hard part, trying to find The Yuri Honing Trio, Walking On The Moon, on CD!

Nice CD heard it last week at Seminar:

70K Speakers Sonus Faber

66K Audio Research

Hard copy CD!

Allante93!

Well, I can still be accused of often playing the same half dozen albums endlessly (esp by my wife), but at least I know exactly where everything is. I was never much of an alphabetizer...

Gazza posted:

Well I gave up crawling around on hands and knees looking into the back of cupboards for 900 cds. Much better now ripped to Uniti core and streamed to Nova.????

Couldn't agree more! My CD collection was up to 1800 when I discovered Naim (SuperUniti and UnitiServe). The physical wall space required was leading to friction with my better half, choosing music was, literally, a pain in the neck, trying to read tiny writing on jewel case spines. The liberation of ripping and streaming has been fantastic. I endorse everything said by Hmack. I would never contradict those who prefer the sound of the CD physical medium, but I do wish they wouldn't try to defend the indefensible when it comes to convenience!

Of course the functionality can be good but it just seems that the effort in getting there is so great.  

I don't stream, but I'm pretty sure I'd find it much easier to browse my CDs for ideas than I would scrolling titles on a screen. If you know exactly what you want, the screen would certainly be faster, but I think I, personally, would break out of the rut better and more often by looking at the actual discs. 

As a scientist, I deplore the demise of bound journals. Under the new paradigm of pay-per-view, I get what I want fairly quickly from any conceivable journal, but that has killed off getting new ideas from browsing adjacent articles. The rack-vs.-scrolling seems similar.

JRHardee posted:

I don't stream, but I'm pretty sure I'd find it much easier to browse my CDs for ideas than I would scrolling titles on a screen. If you know exactly what you want, the screen would certainly be faster, but I think I, personally, would break out of the rut better and more often by looking at the actual discs. 

As a scientist, I deplore the demise of bound journals. Under the new paradigm of pay-per-view, I get what I want fairly quickly from any conceivable journal, but that has killed off getting new ideas from browsing adjacent articles. The rack-vs.-scrolling seems similar.

Although not perfect, the "Genre" search function on the Naim app is very useful. In the mood for some Reggae or Jazz or Blues, click the tab and albums in the selected genre are displayed.

JRHardee posted:

I don't stream, but I'm pretty sure I'd find it much easier to browse my CDs for ideas than I would scrolling titles on a screen. If you know exactly what you want, the screen would certainly be faster, but I think I, personally, would break out of the rut better and more often by looking at the actual discs. 

As a scientist, I deplore the demise of bound journals. Under the new paradigm of pay-per-view, I get what I want fairly quickly from any conceivable journal, but that has killed off getting new ideas from browsing adjacent articles. The rack-vs.-scrolling seems similar.

You may or may not realise that it is possible to browse through album cover art in matrix format rather than just by album titles in a folder/directory format. This is what I normally do. It works superbly well with my Linn Kazoo app, and worked almost a well with my old Naim app.

I have however failed to grasp the logical advantages of the Kindle or Kobo vs a physical book. I have a Kobo and a Kindle app for my iPad. However, having read a single book from cover to cover on my Kobo, I have reverted permanently back to purchasing and reading physical books. All of my points with regard to storage and convenience in respect of music streaming can equally be applied to books. However, I suspect that I will never make to switch from books to e-readers.  

I guess I am a hypocrite.

badlands posted:

Jonn posted:

What would be the point when the NDS now exceeds the performance of the CD555 at half the cost? (Ex CD555 owner).

Naim stopped making the CDS3 and CD555 because there was no demand.

There's a reason the NDS is half the cost, because it sounds half as good! 

The reason Naim stopped making CD players is because they are owned by an investment company calling the shots now. Making money for investors is a top priority now.

There was never a big market for forty thousand dollar CD players anyway. I would be surprised if Naim ever sold the CDS3 or the 555 in big numbers.

the nds with 555 dr and uniticore and high quality lan cables is the same price or even more expensive  than the cd555 when still produced.  I don’t understand why often the nds is presented at half the price of the cd555.  nds with xpsxs  perhaps ....

So much of my CD listening is classical and I could be really be attracted by being able to just select the Egmont Overture by Herbert VK from the iPad.  But my experience of ripping and tagging on iTunes has really put me off. And combined with the fact that the CDS3 sounds so good.   I would need to be persuaded that it would simple and reliable.  

Shortly after I'd bought my NDS I had so many issues with discs not ripping properly, or not completely, on several UnitiServe machines that I spoke with my dealer about returning it, paying the difference and getting a CD555. But I'm so glad I didn't. I obtained an NS01 to replace the UnitiServe, which is a super server and ripping unit, and haven't looked back since. I admit the firmware updates for the NDS have caused a quickening of the pulse, but aside from that it has been brilliant. Of course, with the NDS I can also play high resolution music too and that's something CD players cannot match.

I have a fairly high spec LP12, but I would say that the NDS is just as good. Different, yes, but like the LP12, it can sound truly remarkable.

I'm glad I didn't make the swap.

The Strat (Fender) posted:

So much of my CD listening is classical and I could be really be attracted by being able to just select the Egmont Overture by Herbert VK from the iPad.  But my experience of ripping and tagging on iTunes has really put me off. And combined with the fact that the CDS3 sounds so good.   I would need to be persuaded that it would simple and reliable.  

Lindsay, I am no techie and I have managed to navigate my way through to the point now where I just love the convenience of streaming. I make no comment about the SQ of CD vs Streaming as this is a personal opinion but as an ex CD player owner, there is nothing to compare to the convenience of streaming.

I have successfully ripped hundreds of CDs on my UnitiServe with only one or two CDs failing to rip due to their poor condition. Having ripped in WAV to the UnitiServe, I have never had any (mis)tagging problems. I have even now added a NAS as a back up device that does have tagging issues (metadata) with ripped WAV files so I have used the UnitiServe to convert all my CD rips to Flac and copy those to the NAS. The Flac files are now transcoded to WAV on the fly so I can still benefit from the superior SQ of WAV.

That all sounded like gobbledygook to me but with the help of this forum, my dealer and Phil at Naim support I managed it with the press of a few buttons and a bit of a wait when converting WAV to Flac.

It is true the set up of a streaming network is a bit of a challenge but there is help at hand and your dealer can assist. Once set up, there is no more aggro, well there wasn't for me other than my UnitiServe did let me down on a couple of occasions but this unit has been replaced with the Core or you can just use a NAS and rip on your computer. The US/Core is a simpler solution though.

One aspect of streaming I really value is access to an external streaming service (Tidal) which gives almost CD quality and instant access to a huge library. I have predominantly used Tidal to explore and discover new (to me) music. Once I hear something great, I buy the CD, quite often pre loved for a silly price off the river and rip it. This has quite simply been a revelation to me and has entirely rejuvenated my music collection. I think this key benefit of streaming is often overlooked.

I’ll stress that when changing to rips, correct tagging is absolutely essential. I didn’t and my genre list is a mess. I was a novice and relied on my Vortexbox to do the some 900 rips of both mine and my wife’s collections. Left it in the living room so whenever somebody saw one sticking out they’d put in the next. But not always with checking data though and not thinking through the genre meta tags (and still not thinking through). Our internet was always shoddy too. When we switched Century Link came out to inspect and install the line. Turns out the cable was literally hanging on by a thread - she showed me the cable. So a lot of cds that got ripped were all ripped under “Unknown” because the internet was down. It became a serious piece of detective work going through the stacks and double checking. All good now, 100mbs. Switched to dbPoweramp and never looking back.

The 2010 microVortexbox still serves it’s duty handily, powered by an inexpensive Chinese R-Core LPS. It’s in the office closet right below the living room hifi. Everything dc powered on the network has the Computer Audiophile DIY ground shunt tweak. Google it. It changed the sound of my system (microRendu into DAC V1/110/RX3’s) dramatically. Seriously cheap to boot. Get the network right and you’re golden. The worse thing is hair pulling home IT freak outs. I know how to get through them but I can see it daunting for others. Nothing like popping in or putting on and it works instantly. CD players and turntables can always be “found.” Sometimes not so for that expensive streamer. But my current set up brings me no end of joy. If there was a down time and I needed it there’s always the UQ in the basement office or the Muso isn’t the bedroom or the Sonos in the kitchen. Spoiled. Or the old Oppo Blu-Ray with the DAC V1. Why not. 

Someday I’ll pay my son to sort my tags. I’d much rather be sweeping leaves, thank you. 

I once ripped Mozart 38/39 Symphs on to iTunes and it identified old Wolfie as the artist.  I must say he survived the digital remastering pretty well

Allante93 posted:

Valid Arguments, both sides!

But when it comes to serious listening, not lying in Bed, proper seating within System A.

Convenience is not the issue, it's SQ!

Albeit:

Master tape, on Reel to Reel!

Loaded LP 12, with an 3K cartridge.

CD555 with (2) 555PS

Or the less expensive NDS/(2) 555PS

Allante93!

PS. Those Master Tapes ain't Cheap!

Here's another take from a spillover thread:

Allante93 posted:

PS. NDS555!!!! It's coming....

Not with Naim being controlled by an investment company. Not enough profit to be made in the very low number of units sold. I don't think you'll ever see products like that again from Naim! Just my opinion.

One more obvious observation, if a forty thousand dollar CD player didn't sell well, neither will a forty thousand dollar streamer, no matter the sound quality.

I think it did sell well, far beyond the original projections.

Luxury items are not sold in great numbers. They are for the few who are prepared to pay for the very best performance.

streaming - convenient 

CD - Simple 

I like both, i like to put on a new album and listen the whole CD is a good routine, jumping from album to album and have a mix is another good routine... 

badlands posted:

Allante93 posted:

PS. NDS555!!!! It's coming....

Not with Naim being controlled by an investment company. Not enough profit to be made in the very low number of units sold. I don't think you'll ever see products like that again from Naim! Just my opinion.

One more obvious observation, if a forty thousand dollar CD player didn't sell well, neither will a forty thousand dollar streamer, no matter the sound quality.

Right you are, I was just being facetious, messing with DB! 

Allante93!

PS. DB introduced the NDS555 earlier on the thread, I think.

Maybe not Alzheimer'sl,  but definitely some timers! LOL....

badlands posted:

Allante93 posted:

PS. NDS555!!!! It's coming....

Not with Naim being controlled by an investment company. Not enough profit to be made in the very low number of units sold. I don't think you'll ever see products like that again from Naim! Just my opinion.

Being controlled by an investment company's got nothing to do with it. Naim was, and continues to be, a commercial entity and must make profits to survive. If a business case can be made for a "Statement" - type streamer then I've no doubt Naim will go ahead & build an excellent one. The difficulty faced, I believe, is that current technology won't allow a large enough improvement in sound quality over what has so far been achieved to justify a suitably large premium required to ensure return on investment and ongoing profits.

So then I conclude that in terms of absolute sound quality streaming technology is now as good as it can get, it now just needs to be made to work properly...............

Plus Naim does not have yet a source really at 500 series level, less so on pair with Statement

Regards

Roberto