This made me smile

[AmDismal]

Yeah so let's move away from knocking Naim for value for money, as they are far from alone in failing in that respect, and move to an area that brooks far less argument. Their kit sounds shit. The more Naim kit you get, the more Naimy the sound, and that just makes it more shitty-sounding. Adding a shitty external power supply to a shittily unstable amplifier creates a megashit sound.

[Voice_Coil]

£700 for that power supply looks like good value next to £420 for the mains lead to go with it...

ha hah

[sq225917]

If you think the 3.5 was bad you should see inside the MF5CD, the pcb for the dac section was 1/2 that size.

[russ_h]

This popped up recently with Arcam BD player £1000 ... that gets you an HDMI connection for video and audio (think of what you can buy sub £1000 BD player wise just now) and the inside of the case looks like this:

I don't have any technical knowledge of electronics. Would the circuit boards in the Arcam have been
designed in-house, or are they likely to be off-the-shelf components that are bought in?

[jayatno10]

Reminds me of when I looked inside my power amps.

Same with my RWA 30.2 power, hardly anything in the box, was shocked when I opened it up to change the battery, but whatever is there works beautifully! Surely that's the point?

[browellm]

Same with my RWA 30.2 power, hardly anything in the box, was shocked when I opened it up to change the battery, but whatever is there works beautifully! Surely that's the point?

Yep, it just shocked me as I had previously had a valve power amp.

[zebra100]

The components in that case appear to be stock components, and probably available (including a suitable case) from RS/Maplins etc, for a fraction of the Naim RRP. If people are willing to buy it though, you can't blame Niam for selling it.

[meridian man]

Id say it's the case which really put's up the price.

[Matt J]

Surely the whole Naim ethos is: "He who collects the most boxes before he dies is the winner" ?

Going by that, they'd buy each individual component of an amp if it came in a Naim box and they needed a whole room full of their rip-off rack to sit it all on. I think Naim are missing a trick here, surely there's loads of stuff they can put in extra boxes that you "need"?

[meridian man]

Maybe they should make a 500 series money box.

[tuga]

Naim Flatcap 2

[tuga]

Let's get subjective...

The sound differences when the Flatcap 2x was added to the CD5x were obvious and completely beneficial.
When I had tried the CD5x earlier in my friend's system, with a Flatcap 2, we noticed a general improvement in the performance of the player, but no real change in its personality.
Used with the Flatcap 2x in my system, I did notice that the bottom end was somewhat stronger, creating a slightly warmer and more physical presentation.
And, of course, all other aspects of the performance were improved too, just like in my friend's system.
Overall, the whole picture was more precise, with better focus and more control.

Going back to the CD5x on its own after a couple of weeks proved the point.
The player I was so impressed with only a few weeks ago now almost disappointed me! It sounded flatter, thinner and grainier than with the Flatcap 2x.
It is amazing how quickly one gets used to a better source.
It is also quite shocking how much improvement was still possible with a player that did produce the best sound from CD I had ever experienced in my system.
One of the reasons to try the Naim CD5x, and the extra power supply, was to find out where the law of diminishing returns really sets in for CD players.
The Flatcap 2x clearly proves that investing an additional £565 on top of a £1450 CD player can be very cost effective indeed!
I really wish I could tell you that spending more that £1000 pounds on a CD player is pointless, but it simply isn't true.
If anything, this exercise proves that we're not even near the point where additional investments are useless.

[boffothe magnificent]

My FC2X added to my Cd 5 made it a finer more betterer player to my ears; quieter background fuller bass and a bit more 'into the mix' errr... as it were.

Worth it? Of course. And, as with all quality hifi buys, it's always important to remember that they last for bloody years. Total enjoyment, wondrous musical experience (for years), divided by cost is trifling; nowt!

If you don't like the Naim sound then obviously have a wank instead of sniping.

By the way I'm not a Naim arsechomper, but I do like the sound....oh yes!

Having said that, I expect to swap the cd5 for the new Audiolab CDQ as soon as it's about.

That of course has all sorts of power supply malarkey built into the one case.

So ???

[cjr]

I don't have any technical knowledge of electronics. Would the circuit boards in the Arcam have been
designed in-house, or are they likely to be off-the-shelf components that are bought in?

I'd assume the video processing is some existing tech bought in. No idea about the audio, but again we are talking about transfer via HDMI a pretty standard audio interface digitally these days.

[tuga]

Naim CD5X



that toroidal looks familiar...