xps 2 burndy on cds2/xps

Yes I have tried the new burndy on a CDS2/xps.
The difference was startling. Much better bass, timing and detail retrieval. A cleaner sound without being over-revealing. The old one sounded quite soft by comparison.

I would get one.
Don't see why it wouldn't do as good a great job for you either Martin.
And the cheapest Naim upgrade I think!

Joe90

joe, did you notice the difference right away? Is it that obvious? Also, was your original burndy the black one? If so, what did you do with the original burndy? Do you still have the xps or did you eventually get the xps2? So many questions! thanks, david.

It was actually my friend who has the CD player. He's looking at the upgrades (CDS3 first, then XPS2) BTW.
The difference was VERY immediate and got bigger over the normal burn-in period. We put the old Burndy in a box. Yes it was the black one.

Once you hear the new one the old one is not much use to anyone cause they get one with their xps2/CDS2/3 etc so its resale must be nil.

Rush down to your dealer and get one or at least try it!!!

Joe90

I too have tried this. It is a serious and significant upgrade. I tried in the context of CDSII/XPSI, black XPS Burndy. I heard it as far greater than the diff between black and grey SNAICs.

Timing and structure greatly improved. Worthwhile, at not very much money to improve an already great CD player.

It should be noted that Naim have already come forth on this very forum, not only announcing it, but recommending it also - not a length they would usually go to in terms of a retrfittable item or upgrade. On those terms alone you should get one.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

Strange as it may sound, the new burndy seems to me to offer at least as much improvement as the upgrade from CDS2 to 3. I've consistently found cable upgrades indispensable, but this is possibly the best yet. Much better musical dynamics, focus and space. I would expect similar improvements with the 2. It's very exciting!

Tom.

Hang on.

I have a CDS2 with the original burndy. I assume that this cable is a bundle of wires that connect power supplies in the XPS to components in the CDS. The new cable can't have more wires for obvious reasons, so the improvements must be to do with the quality of the wire or connectors, or shielding (or because they forgot to connect the pin that drives the aural MSG circuit in the first 3000).

I am not saying that this is bollocks (I haven't heard it) but if the new cable really affords "at least as much improvement as the upgrade from CDS2 to 3" (sic) I will be plucking yet another hat from it's stand and sautéing it gently in butter and garlic.

Can anyone offer a technical explanation for this miracle, or is this meant to be a faith thing ?

Minky

I'll second your question. Why not have a technical explanation from Naim to add confidence to the personal subjective assessments? I'd possibly go further. Why was the old burndy not designed properly to start with? Blasphemy!!!! Has something new been discovered since CDS1?

John

can anyone please remind us how much the new burndy costs?

enjoy

ken

ken,

can anyone please remind us how much the new burndy costs?

I think a few posts up someone said £265.

Cheers

Don

Minky & John, do you have a preference for the sound of Naim gear? Does it do something for the music playback that other gear does not, or is it also some leap of faith? Did you know that simply lifting cables off the floor improves the sound of a system also? Electromagnetic energy is complex and tricky. Fortunately, more and more are recognizing that and working with it.

One of the best I know who tweaks “wire” is Bob Crump of TG Audio. He is most humble and talented. His cables are extraordinarily effective, reasonably priced, and he’d probably be happy to offer his perspectives on what changes cables and sound. You could try him at rcrump@houston.rr.com.

Cable tweaks offer some of the least expensive, most dramatic system improvements there are. Enjoy, Tom.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Don Atkinson:
ken,

_can anyone please remind us how much the new burndy costs?_

I think a few posts up someone said £265.

Cheers

Don

---

don, many thanks


enjoy

ken

Minky prostated himself in the Naim Kitchen with this

quote:

---

I am not saying that this is bollocks (I haven't heard it) but if the new cable really affords "at least as much improvement as the upgrade from CDS2 to 3" (sic) I will be plucking yet another hat from it's stand and sautéing it gently in butter and garlic.

---

Minky

you can stand down the hat, lower the butter temp, and leave the garlic be - no need to be distracted from the NBLs on such trifling matters.

I can confirm that adding the new burndy to your existing CDS2/XPS is not as significant as the upgrade to CDS3, nor even as significant as adding the XPS2 to your CDS2. It is worthwhile, though. And at around a grand, cheaper than a night out... in New York City, anyways.

HTH. Don't forget to turn of the extraction fan when you leave the kitchen.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

PS - my understanding is that it's the same cable as before - the configuration within the cable and its construction are what's different. Richard, please correct me if I'm wrong on that point.

Gents, be nice. To begin with, I added the XPS2 to my CDS2 months ago and was thus accustomed to its sound. Second, I suspect that a least some of the improvement of the CDS3 is in a more sophisticated suspension, and since I listened to the 2 atop excellent vibration isolators, that part of the change may have been null to me.

The changes I heard when swapping to the 3 are musically important and evolutionary, but not dramatic. In my system, they were somewhat subtle. Now granted, I made some minor room acoustics and speaker tweaks around the time I plugged in the new burndy, but the dynamic musical changes I’m hearing since then are stunning. They’re more dramatic then when I plugged in the CDS3.

And I love garlic, particularly chopped up raw in olive oil... Tom.

Well, I have ordered one without hearing it. Just based on the positive feedback and a certain faith in Naim. If I ever told some of my non hifi-loving friends that I purchased a $500 cable to replace the one that came with my $11,000 cd player, well let`s just say that would look at me kind of funny. That is what I love about the forum- I am amongst nutty people just like me! When I get the new cable, I`ll post my findings, david

Can the burndy between the 52 and Supercap be changed? and what is the result?

tw

If anyone wants to shift their now useless black burndy Mk 1, just give me a call.....

Jo

I think an in-depth technical explanation re the new Burndy will NOT be forthcoming from Naim, probably due to most companies (rightly) keeping a secret a secret. You gotta keep a few things under your hat!!

Most of the 'technical' explanations from Roy George are only hints at what they actually do. And it's the same for every other company. I've never seen an article on gear which wasn't part hints/tit-bits mostly blah-blah-blah.

What sounds better is better!!!

Joe90

Jo,

YGPM.

Stephen.

I started a thread on July 1 that asked the same question that began this one. Only my pal Dave Antonelli answered. Perhaps I forgot my cyber-deodorant that day. It's good to hear these reports now, considering that I've also ordered a burndy-2 and expect it soon.
Regarding the one comment about wires and interconnects can make a difference - surely that's moot by now. I settled it for myself years ago by posing two simple questions - do speaker wires make any difference; and if they do, why should there be any limit to that difference?
So I bought some cheap electrical wire and used them to replace my speaker cable - NAC4 at the time. The sound was unbearably shrill and dreadful, the acute degradation obvious even to the half-deaf. A crude test, but the principal (that cables do change sound) was established to my complete satisfaction. One logical conclusion must be that if inappropriate cables can create such an appalling decline in sound quality, very good ones can make for an equally radical improvement.
Cheers,
Don

Sorry if my question as to the nature of the burndy upgrade caused offense.
I get the feeling that some of you would have me burned for heresy.

The thing is, I feel terribly misunderstood . I don't doubt that different bits of wire sound different. I accept that the new bundy sounds better - why else would they have had a ticker-tape parade in honour of the brave souls that engineered it ? It's just that when Naim releases a new burndy that must be functionally identical to the old one (because the player and the power supply don't change), the obvious question pops into this old brain of mine : but what have they changed ?

Was the wire extruded on a planet with more rings ? Are the connectors forged of a metal hitherto unknown to man ? Was there a mistake in the original burndy (the one fitted to the Columbia) ? Did someone in the factory scratch his arse with a burndy and, noticing the extraordinary improvement wrought, place an add in the local rag : "turn those itchy piles into cash" ?

Come on Naim - is it the wire, the connectors or is it just a bunch of arse ?

Hi Minky,

this has been covered on a couple of earlier threads.

Basically while spending much R&D time on refining the first pre-production prototypes of the CDS3, it was decided that time should also be spent to investigate whether any improvements could be made to the Burndy. After much experimentation one Burndy was found to perform much better than the others. This Burndy had a revised internal layout and revised construction which improved the separation of the digital and analog supplies within. Thus the S-XPS Burndy was born...

Richard

New S-XPS Burndy with CDS1

As a CDS1 owner I would be very interested in the improvements that this next generation burndy brings. Has anyone had any experience with the new cable linking a CDS1 and the CDPS?

Bruce

Bruce,

the S-XPS cable cannot be used with the CDS & CDPS. Neither can the S-XPS be modified to work with them.

We can, however, build a special S-CDPS cable which incorporates the improvements of the S-XPS cable.

We've supplied a few such cables to customers so hopefully somebody reading the forum will be able to give their impressions.

Richard

Richard,

Thanks for that. Sorry I was under the impression from my dealer that it did fit.

Is the S-CDPS cable the same price as the S-XPS cable?

Bruce

Richard
Hi
I've just bought a 52 s/c black burndy 1 week ago after an excellent factory visit-thanks Mark and Doug.

I asked a colleague of yours in customer service on the phone as to whether Naim would be be able to custom make a '-s' series Burndy for this application in the near future, and was told nope---never will.
At the risk of being repetitive--can I just check out this again. It would be such a shame to shell out £250(although I have now been using it for a few daysafter that reasurance) and find something better is just around the corner for similar money.
Regards Richard

[This message was edited by Richard Paget on TUESDAY 15 July 2003 at 11:45.]