Experience with the D1 has also allowed CH to limit the number of options to those most frequently employed. Originally, the D1 offered a choice of a single board stereo DAC or dual mono DACs mounted on a pair of boards. The stereo DAC was so comprehensively outperformed by the dual-mono option that few if any were ever sold and (thankfully) it has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Users with the stereo card installed in their D1 will be offered a trade in allowance against a pair of the latest dual-mono DAC cards. Likewise, the option to run fully discrete 5.1 outputs (for replay of surround encoded SACD) is no more.
If the chassis is essentially unchanged, the grounding/stacking spikes that can be mounted in each corner have been significantly changed and improved. I covered these in detail in the Installation Notes (https://gy8.eu/blog/installation-notes-2/) along with the board options and set up. The main thing to note here is that where I had grave reservations about the original, steel spikes, the new composite aluminium/polymer versions are way better. The originals didn’t work and these do – very well indeed. I’d still only stack the units if there really is no other option, but the four spike arrangement delivers excellent mechanical grounding and that’s never more important than on a player/transport. Getting the best out of the spiking system requires some care, again outlined in detail in the installation notes, as does choice of supporting surface/interface. Finally, there’s always the option to upgrade the spikes to the titanium version supplied with the 10 Series. In any system with a proper, coherent strategy for cabling, grounding and supports, that’s definitely worth considering.
Long-term listening…
For the purposes of this review, I’m considering the D1.5 as a standalone player. Its use as a transport makes most sense in the context of a separate CH DAC, where you can take advantage of both the CH LINK-HD interconnection and the clocking priorities that allow you to designate a clock master for the pairing. What I am going to include is the X1 power supply option ($17,000), what might seem an unusual facility in the context of a CD player. However, the use of external power supplies, either as an integral part of a two-box machine or as an upgrade option has long been a central (and extraordinarily effective) part of both the Naim and Cyrus CD replay architecture. Needless to say, I wouldn’t have bothered in this instance if I didn’t think it was worthwhile.
So let’s start with the basic character of the D1.5, and first up, its sense of musical articulation. Playing the MQA encoded John Coltrane album, Ballads(UCCU-40111) demonstrates this CD player’s way with shape, pace and pattern, but it also demonstrates its note-to-note continuity and rhythmic agility. From the drummed opening of ‘All Or Nothing At All’, the precision with which notes are placed and spaced was immediately apparent, underlined by the front-foot pacing of the bass line and the way they combine with McCoy Tyner’s stabbed phrasing, to create that insistent, propulsive quality that drives the track. It’s a million miles away from the old D1 playing CD – and a goodly distance from most other CD players too, especially once Coltrane enters the fray. The rhythm section are doing just that – laying down and shaping that urgent, pushy tempo but Coltrane’s sax takes more meandering, elongated lines. The D1.5 ensures that for all their temporal fluidity, Coltane’s phrases still lock step with the rhythm defined by the other three members of the quartet. It’s an object lesson in spatial and musical coherence. But at the same time, the player also highlights the contrast in pace and the fluid, expressive quality of Coltrane’s playing. It’s this ability to combine tempi and expressive range that makes the D1.5 both special and very listenable.
