Naim CD Player CD5si

With so much focus on audio streaming and downloads it might seem easy to forget the humble CD. But not at Naim Audio. After all, the CD is still by far the world's most popular music format and for millions of music enthusiasts compact disc collections still constitute the heart and soul of precious music libraries. This outstanding machine, which replaces the previous CD5i, brings worthwhile performance benefits for users but retains the functionality and straightforward usability of the classic player. The CD5si is designed to be the best in its class, incorporating genuine technological advances to provide a thoroughly enjoyable musical experience.

Technology & Craft

The CD5si name may only differ from its CD5i predecessor by one character, but under the skin there's numerous fundamental improvements and advances - each one aimed at extracting more music and enjoyment from every CD. To begin with, the CD5si digital to analogue converter chip has been upgraded to a Burr Brown PCM1793 - a device very closely related to the one used in the NDX high-end streaming player. The CD5si also benefits from a more stable DAC clock, higher voltage power supply rails, a revised analogue filter design and a brand new CD transport and laser optics. All these changes were driven by our relentless search for engineering reliability and sound quality, and the benefit of each change was confirmed after many hours of listening.

However, just as change can bring improvement, there's often nothing wrong with sticking to your guns, so the CD5si retains all of its predecessor’s best features and Naim Audio trademarks. The unique Naim Audio swing-out CD drawer, laser tracking and digital error correction software, discrete analogue output electronics, and a die-cast, non-magnetic enclosure construction that helps ensure the electronics within can extract the most music possible from every CD.