[Blitzula]

Ah, I see. That makes particular sense in the rock/metal arena, with the number of iffy recordings.

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blitzula Ah, I see. That makes particular sense in the rock/metal arena, with the number of iffy recordings.

CORRECTION:
CDX comes with the Black Burndy. Should have the label taht says 'NAXPS'

CDX2 comes with the 'Super' Black Burndy with NASXPS. And this is the one that does sound bright with your CDX and should not pay extra for it.

Sorry for the confusion. This is what happens when I post while I'm working.

 

[Blitzula]

The seller actually has a CDS2 with an XPS powersupply. His description of the XPS cable is,

"The black Burndy cable is the power cable that connects the XPS to the source component (either a CDS2/3 or CDX/2). It carries the various low-voltage supplies for the head unit and plugs in where your link plug is ow fitted on the CDX. A burndy is supplied with the XPS. The original urndy was grey. I purchased this upgraded black burndy cable about 2 years go at a cost of 500.00. It was a big upgrade over the grey one..."

I wonder which black Bundy he is referring to....hmmmm......I suspect the Super.

 

[kuma]

Do you see the writing on this black burndy? ( SXPS)
If the seller's Burndy has the letter 'S' in front of it, that's a Super Burndy which you don't want.
If he's offering it for free, sell it on the ebay and make a profit.

Unless you are planing to move to the newer kit, the Super Burndy will sound much too much bright on the CDX.
BTW, as you can see, the lable end goes on the CD player. ( Burndy is directional. altho some swear backward is better )

 

[Blitzula]

That's a great picture, thanks. Right now I'm waiting to hear from him....if he sells the CDS2 separately, he will sell me the XPS.

I'm assuming he's going to try and ask for a higher price because of the $500 he paid for the Bundy cable. If that cable is a normal, non-Super Bundy cable, does it warrant a higher price for the XPS? I'm assuming not.

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blitzula I'm assuming he's going to try and ask for a higher price because of the $500 he paid for the Bundy cable. If that cable is a normal, non-Super Bundy cable, does it warrant a higher price for the XPS? I'm assuming not.

Ok.

Eearlier serial numbered XPS came with the grey Burndy.
XPS Black Burndy came with later olive XPS. ( so, again, check the serial number of the XPS you are interested in ) This is part of the value of buying later XPS.

The old Black Burndy was offered separately at 500$ for older Olive kit. And that's the one you want.

How much is he asking for? Does he still have the original grey Burndy?
If not, he should subtract from the asking price.
You can buy a NOS ( new old stock ) black Burndy for cheap from NANA.

The seller might have paid 500 bucks for his Black Burndy. But that's an old news.
Naim's including it as standard with later XPS devalued it, and the Super Burndy has devalued it even more.

So, again, find out the serical number and to see if it's an older olive XPS with grey burndy or black Burndy. This should reflect the final pricing.

Buying used Naim is rather complicated and you need to know the history of the product since the company keeps updating stuff.

 

[Blitzula]

It's a 156XXX XPS (1999), which still had the original grey Bundy (as he upgraded to the black or super black Bundy he has now, also the NA XPS wasn't upgraded until 2002 per the Naim website). Since he paid $500, I'm thinking it's the normal black Bundy.

He's trying to sell the CDS2 and the XPS for $4,400 OBO. If he sells the CDS2 separately (he has a buyer interested in doing that), he'll sell me the XPS. He hasn't quoted a price yet pending selling the CD player alone.

But even though this sale isn't far enough along yet, everything you've told me is critical for evaluating either this XPS or the next one I try to buy. So thanks for all the help. I'm armed with plenty of information if he comes back to me with a sale opportunity.

I picked up my Ikea Corras today and assembled it...I'm going to get the CDX tomorrow.

 

[Blitzula]

Alright, CDX is here.

It's cold right now...only listened to a couple of songs. Not blowing me away, but good so far. The bass is much better than the X-Dac, better defined and clearer. PRAT is there, even now. Harshness I had with the X-Dac isn't a problem any more. I only had cheap RCAs on hand.

Turned out the seller did have the original box, and on the box it showed that it was shipped from an audio dealer to the person he bought it from. He just hadn't been sent the correct manual or an extra puck. So that's good. I talked to the seller for a good half hour. Senior Executive type, nice house in the mountains near the beach. Nice guy. I had some concerns about the unit until I met the seller and talked to him, and found out he did have the original packaging. I think I got a pretty good deal now.

Anyways, after the unit has had more time to power up (and when I get a decent cable), I'll share some more thoughts. It sounds good with Metallica's MOP right now.

 

[walkman666]

Alright, blitz! Good to hear. Keep us posted and enjoy that thing. "Party on, Garth!"

- walkman666

 

[kuma]

Quote:

It's cold right now...only listened to a couple of songs. Not blowing me away, but good so far. The bass is much better than the X-Dac, better defined and clearer. PRAT is there, even now. Harshness I had with the X-Dac isn't a problem any more. I only had cheap RCAs on hand.

Give it at least a whole day to warm up. And keep it on.

I hope you'll get a Chord Cobra DIN/RCA rather than going through RCA outs.
And is it with the original stock power cord?

I hope it'll do what you want it to do in your rig.

 

[Blitzula]

You informed me well beforehand, I'm leaving it on and expected it to need some warm up.

It's the power cord he was given, which I would assume is stock. I'll have to try to figure that out. He never used it, he had expensive cables and power supplies/conditioners.

I am going to go the Din/RCA route per your recommendation. I like a somewhat brighter sound (note the Grado love). I talked to the NANA guys, they considered the Chord Cobra II to be warmer and smoother, and the Chord Chrysalis to be somewhat brigher and thinner, but perhaps more exciting.

I was going to go for the Chord Chrysalis, in particular given that I have a (darker) XP-7 being built to go with my (more neutral Grado) MS-2. Also, I didn't find the CDX to be bright even with my bottom of the barrel RCA, so I would think it wouldn't be too bad with the Chrysalis either.

What do you think of that reasoning?

 

[kuma]

Quote:

What do you think of that reasoning?

Very good.

They are right. Cobra is smoother and warmer than Chrysalis.
I was concerned that since an older Naim gear sited in a non-Naim system can sound *off*.

Besides, it's not a bad thing adding a bit of a zip to the Emmerline.

As far as 'expensive' cable goes, this is what I tried to use with my Naim kit and failed.

A cable next to the Chrysalis is an NBS Black Label. ( 80$ vs. 10K& per meter )

 

[Blitzula]

Ok...it's only been a day and three or four cds now, but I'm really enjoying the CDX a great deal now. It's a much better player than the CD5i (based on my short listening sessions on each), it's more coherent and authoritive. I really like that the bass sounds solid and clear at lower and higher volume levels. I'm enjoying my music, and the sound isn't lo-fi, this is good stuff.

I hate to say this early because opinions can always change, but I think I've found my source. Now I have to figure out if the XPS will hurt some of the rawness/excitement I like, making the player too smooth for my tastes. I definitely have to find a used one that can be resold for close to what I bought it for if I don't like it.

 

[walkman666]

Good for you, blitz. Sounds like a winner. Don't fret too much of the power supply if you like the cdx, but then again, it is a never-ending search for improvement, right?

- walkman666

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkman666 Good for you, blitz. Sounds like a winner. Don't fret too much of the power supply if you like the cdx, but then again, it is a never-ending search for improvement, right?

Yep.
If he doesn't like what the bare CDX does, adding on an XPS ain't gonna help any.

Blitzula,

Don't change more than one thing in your rig at a time.
If Ray is making something new for you, wait to see what it does before you change your gear.