There's minimalist and then there's seriously minimalist, and it's arguable that Naim has come close to crossing that line with the CD5i. Its display, that shows either track number or time, but not both, and no 'pause' button (never mind fast forward or back) on the front panel, could make any user grit their teeth. Just make sure you don't lose that remote control!

On the other hand, one has to admire the upside of that minimalist approach, especially as Naim has so attractively illuminated the buttons and its own logo. What's more, the swing-arm disc-loading method is far the best anyone's come up with since CD's inception.

What you might not guess is that practically the entire player is contained within the swing arm. Beneath the mechanism (mounted on simple but ingenious silicone rubber supports for vibration isolation) is a circuit board carrying enough circuitry to provide an analogue output.

This is passed down a ribbon cable to the single external circuit board where it is filtered, buffered and passed to the sockets (RCA phono and DIN). Of course, the power supply stuff is separate too and, this being a Naim, the PSU is substantial with a large toroidal transformer and generous smoothing capacitors. It's also upgradeable with an external super-supply.

Audio output is available on Naim's favoured DIN socket or more conventional phonos, and using the remote it is possible to select either or both. There's no digital output (another typical Naim touch) and this does limit options for connecting recorders or a remote DAC or such.

With Naim's reputation resting not least on the business of rhythm and timing, it's more than a little surprising to have to report that timing was just about the only area of this player's performance that attracted any criticism.

No one suggested that it was seriously lacking, but a couple of comments compared it unfavourably to rival players. If that was the downside, timbre was very much the up. Across the all-important midrange, this is an admirably neutral player that maintains a consistent policy of honesty as regards the tone of different instruments and voices.