NAIM NA-CDS3 CD PLAYER

The Naim CDS3 was Naim’s flagship CD player and remains one of the company’s most highly regarded digital source components. Designed for uncompromising Red Book CD replay, it uses Naim’s distinctive top-loading transport, with the disc secured by a magnetic puck, and places the transport and digital-to-analogue conversion circuitry together to preserve signal timing and integrity.

The CDS3 was designed for use with an external Naim power supply, most notably the XPS2, separating the power-supply circuitry from the sensitive audio electronics. This two-box approach, combined with Naim’s emphasis on mechanical isolation, low electrical noise and accurate timing, helped establish the CDS3 as a reference-level player.

Its reputation centres on an exceptionally musical, dynamic and involving presentation, combining fine detail and refinement with the rhythmic drive for which Naim is renowned. Even many years after its introduction, the CDS3 remains a highly desirable choice for enthusiasts with serious CD collections.

Reviews

What Hi-Fi? awarded the Naim CDS3/XPS2 five stars, praising its exceptional detail, dynamics, refinement and timing. The review found that music possessed an unusually convincing sense of flow and emotional communication, ultimately describing the combination as one of the world’s great CD players.

In its retrospective selection of the best British CD players of all time, What Hi-Fi? again singled out the CDS3/XPS2, noting that it served in the publication’s reference hi-fi system for much of a decade. Its sound was remembered for its finesse, superb timing and attack, with the publication describing its performance when fully warmed up as being on another level.