Do you really like pop music? Britpops to be more exact? Don’t forget that a lot of rock started right after Beatles. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple remain the few bands residing in the soft spot of my heart. Sandie Shaw, anyone?
With my rigs, clearly, it was not built around beats, but rather, on tonal attributes. When given the chance to audition one between CDS3, CDX2 or CD5X, I chose CD5X as this is the farthest budget I could push if I ever got smitten by it.
On first listen, I was really surprised actually to note its capable soundstaging and imaging qualities, something that Naim was not known for. Although the depth is kinda narrow and upfront, it throws a really wide stage in my setup. Live concert like?
This player holds rhythms and beats up above all else, there’s an overriding effect on all the music being played. You know like playing piano, there’s a beat keeper; this player plays the role of a beat keeper in my setup.
Listen to the drum work or any percussion instruments, there’s an energetic quality to them, visceral and on the spot. They never fail to follow the pace! But then, all else take a backstage, following the speed frantically disregard of genre played! Fuhhh!
On the other areas, I can live with the mids and highs. The mids is grainless and sweet, though not as communicative as Meridian (a far margin!), but definitely head to head amongst the good (not great!) players out there. Highs is not as extended, but enough to let you enjoy even audiophile CDs.
It’s great at making pop music, out of anything! But who would afford 10K just to play perfect pop?!
infrequent updates
7 years ago
1 comment:
naim is quite an oddball manufacturer. in trying to be mainstream (e.g. include RCA), they confuse audiophiles further. flat-earth or round-earth now?
even local dealer here abandons naim speakers and try to pair naim amplications with proac speakers.
personally, i think they should stick to their earlier no-nonsense (and stubborn) approach.
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