CD format - life expectancy?

admin_exported

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Hello, all.

I'm looking to beef up my sound system with a new CD player and stereo amp in the near future (I've focused on home cinema until now), but my one reservation is the possibility that the CD format will die on its rear end before too long - the next 2-5 years, say. I don't know a great deal about the industry, so how likely is this?

If downloads do become utterly dominant, will today's stereo amps perform well with lossless MP3s/WMAs, etc.? Basically, I don't want to be stuck with a stereo amp that is poor with non-CD formats.

Many thanks in advance for your responses.
 

Big Chris

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You could buy a brand new Arcam DV135. They're on eBay for £300.

The beauty is that if you want, you can use it as a DVD player too!
 

Gerrardasnails

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stringo:
Hello, all.

I'm looking to beef up my sound system with a new CD player and stereo amp in the near future (I've focused on home cinema until now), but my one reservation is the possibility that the CD format will die on its rear end before too long - the next 2-5 years, say. I don't know a great deal about the industry, so how likely is this?

If downloads do become utterly dominant, will today's stereo amps perform well with lossless MP3s/WMAs, etc.? Basically, I don't want to be stuck with a stereo amp that is poor with non-CD formats.

Many thanks in advance for your responses.

Stereo amp will still be the way to go. Last night I watched John Legend live on bluray. Through my receiver the sound Dolby Digital True HD or PCM was excellent but the bass was a tad heavy. I switched to stereo amp through my DAC and the sound was amazing. Lossless files through DAC to stereo amp is the way forward for me but cds will be around for a long while yet I reckon.
 

chebby

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I don't think there is any doubt that CD is losing favour but 2 - 5 years is wildly pessimistic. (Especially given that I can still buy a suprising amount of brand new vinyl 25 years after THAT was supposed to be on the way out!)

I would say 10 - 15 years before CD finally kicks up it's heels. It is still a cash cow and - even in it's decline - sells in enough quantity to make money for all involved.

That said, I am not buying any CDs at the moment and don't plan on buying any more unless the music I want is totally impossible to get on vinyl or download.

CDs can have a new lease of life just by ripping them losslessly and enjoying the music with a different 'user interface' via a DAC from a computer or music server. Does not change the fact that you have to buy the CD to rip it in the first place.

iTunes store is now the world's biggest music retailer and (hopefully) their downloads will get better and cheaper but there is still a huge buying public who don't like downloads or who simply don't have fast enough internet access or the inclination to use a computer as a primary source.

So I think the traditional stand-alone CD player is more 'doomed' than the format itself. If I were given - say - £2000 out of the blue by the 'hifi fairy', I would rather spend it on a better computer and a good DAC than a £2K CD player AND have lots of change left over.
 
A

Anonymous

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IMO, CDs will remain in many more years as CDs have surpassed many digital media formats (like DVD audio and SACD) that never became popular as the same level as CDs. I am not sure if there will be some kind of Blueray or HD DVD audio in the future
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A good Sterero amp will always perform well with any non CD format as long as the source is near CD quality like lossless encoding like flac.
 

Thaiman

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CD will keep go on and on (just like that aweful Celine Dion song) the best thing is - with other formats are getting stronger,CDs price getting lower and lower. Just look at play.com or HMV offer...music lover's heaven. I do love taking the shinny disc out of jewel case, pop into a tray and press the close button....no ipod or MAC can compare to that feeling ah, oh so lovely
emotion-2.gif
 
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Anonymous

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Thanks for the replies, folks. I think I'll get a good amp and a decent, but not ridiculous, CD player for now.

Out of interest, can you feed iPODs and other decent MP3 players through DACs and get good results?
 

John Duncan

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stringo:Out of interest, can you feed iPODs and other decent MP3 players through DACs and get good results?

On the whole, no, since very few have a digital output of any sort - the Wadia iTransport allows you to suck the digital feed from an iPod, but it costs about 350 quid. Easier to get an airport express and feed it from your computer instead.
 
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Anonymous

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I must be old. Nothing beats those vinyl covers and lyric sheets.
 

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