I have heard both at the same dealer and the Naim is , in my opinion, hands down better in every dimension. But, in my opinion the Naim is a company that keeps itself too propietory(sp) for me to invest in. You need thier power supplys and cables and nothing else seem to work with them.
But they do produce a good product and great sound. What is your budget, there a number of CDPs out there that rival the Naim. I own a C5xe-mp Ayre and love it. I have also heard the ARC Cd8 and it sound fantastic. Do some research with CDPs most likely on the down side of future new products there seems to be lot of great players on the street right now. I think that the advent of High Res download has propagated a plethora of DAC improvements that is finding its way into new CDPs
But they do produce a good product and great sound. What is your budget, there a number of CDPs out there that rival the Naim. I own a C5xe-mp Ayre and love it. I have also heard the ARC Cd8 and it sound fantastic. Do some research with CDPs most likely on the down side of future new products there seems to be lot of great players on the street right now. I think that the advent of High Res download has propagated a plethora of DAC improvements that is finding its way into new CDPs