CD 5 or .....AH?

Posted by: Theo on 23 July 2001

Despite a growing number of SACD, DVDA players and titles, I'm in for a new CD player. I have some 750 CD's which I will not replce for a new format.
The naim CD5 is on my hotlist(so far a NAC A5 cable is my only Naim component), accompanied by an AH Tjoeb 4000.
Has anyone compared these two players side by side? Is the Naim worth its price difference of $1300?

Posted on: 25 July 2001 by Sidney Overton

Theo,

I suppose it depends on what you intend to do with the rest of the system and what sound you like. I heard the AH Tjoeb with a Chinese solid-state amp and Sonus Faber speakers. Put together as a budget-system, you get what the name says, a very ‘tube’ sound most un-CD like. In the end I thought that if you are trying to impersonate valve sound you might as well buy valves. The system was just too relaxed for me. The AH I thought was a remarkable example of what you can do by applying imagination to a mass-produced product and excellent value for money.
Having no imagination myself, I eventually went CD5/Nait as I thought that I could predict long- term what it might sound like.
At least in Holland you have the possibility of a direct comparison in a Naim system.