The Naim sound
Posted by: Tuan on 15 January 2003
After spendind sometime listen to the new series at my friendly local Naim dealer in Toronto (HiFi FoFum) ranging from the series 5 to the CDX2/PS/282/PS/300/PS (PS is the power supply units) all placed on the Naim Fraim and with Royd, Neat, Totem speaker lines, I found the followings:
Old naim sound characteristics: foward, lively with good leading edge and strong rhythm, pace, timing.
New naim sound characteristics: clean, informative,polite and low listener fatigue with strong rhythm, pace, timing.
Based on this findings (my opinion) I am thinking about buying the CDX2 intead of a used CDX/PS. Any advice on this issue?
Posted on: 15 January 2003 by Steve Toy
A used CDX/XPS should still out-perform a new CDX2.
I haven't yet had the chance to demo the new CDX2 in "proper" surroundings though, but I'll report my findings if/when I do.
Regards,
Steve.
Posted on: 16 January 2003 by Frank Abela
Sorry guys, I've been playing with the CDX2 and it's astonishingly good. The base CDX2 is chasing the CDS2 for performance and in some ways actually beats it. In the old series, the 82 was generally considered as the value for money item in the range. I wouldn't be surprised if the CDX2 gained that mantle in the new range. It really is a wonderful player, having lost that wild edge of the CDX, but added loads of resolution, pace and cohesion.
Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.
Posted on: 16 January 2003 by David Hobbs-Mallyon
quote:
In the old series, the 82 was generally considered as the value for money item in the range
Frank,
Where did that come from - never heard that before - infact an 82/Supercap I would consider about the worst vfm of the Naim range.
CDSII seems to be getting worse by the day
David
Posted on: 16 January 2003 by Tuan
quote:
Originally posted by manuel candré:
Tuan,
Have you ever listened the Electrocompaniet ECM 1 (24 /196, I guess)? It's a very capable machine.
manuel
Manuel
I have not and not sure if we have it here in Canada. I will find it out. Howerver, I read good review on the current Metronome CD player on the HiFi+ (January issue, I think) and love the look of it.
Posted on: 17 January 2003 by Frank Abela
David,
I don't wish to hijack the thread but the 82 was far and away one of the outstanding vfm products of the older range. It was virtually a no-brainer going from 72 or 102 to 82 with the same power supply. The exception was that a supercap gave you the 52 option which was a no-brainer over an 82 if you had it. But generally, most people didn't have the supercap so the 82 was the vfm model in the range. It gave significant high end improvement without having to invest high end cash.
Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.
Posted on: 17 January 2003 by David Hobbs-Mallyon
Frank,
I think it's my old prejudices about the 82 coming out again. In my opinion the piece of equipment that is furthest from 'The Naim Sound'. Lets leave it at that.
Looking forward to hearing a CDSIII though.
David
