morning all.
I currently have a cd5i which is displaying the error message. Dropped an email to naim who have given me an initial quote of approx £400 to look at /repair.
i have been told by my local retailer that if I am going to upgrade to a new naim CD player then I need to consider a player with a digital out. Can someone confirm if this is to use with an external dac . I have the naim dac and currently use the sonos through this. If this is the case and the increase is dramatic then it may be worth considering. I have lots of CDs and don't really want to abandon the format yet , but do enjoy the convenience of streaming , and have also recently got back into vinyl with the addition of a rega deck.
sorry to ask so many questions but just need some guidance on the merits of repaying the cd , which has had very little use , or even getting a replacement unit.
Hope you guys can throw some light on this.
thanks
graham
Posted on: 04 September 2017 by hungryhalibut
Yes, the point of a digital output is that you can connect to a separate dac. I've never heard the nDac, but it certainly should sound better than the CD5i. Before having the player fixed it may be worth borrowing another CD player with a digital output and trying it into the dac - the CD5xs or the later CDX2 have the output. But don't buy a new one. £400 sounds an awful lot to fix a player that is only worth about that. It may be worth speaking to Darran at Class A, who are cheaper than Naim for service work.
Posted on: 04 September 2017 by Gavin B
First it'd be sensible to try to confirm the error message is pointing to something serious, or something more trivial. Have you ruled out issues with the puck? (I'm not familiar with this player and don't know what puck type it uses.) I've previously had some error messages with my CDS3 and a replacement puck sorted things out nicely.
If it is something that prompts you to upgrade, then the advice to go with a digital out player is sensible - take advantage of your nDac (especially if it's got XPS/555 powering it). The alternative would be to look at something like a CDS3. They're good value second-hand but you'd also need a power supply so that solution might be out of range.
