CD Player or Streaming?

[peterpan]

I have bought a Naim XS 2 for my Dynaudio Focus 260. It is a perfect match. Now i doubt to replace my Marantz cd 6004 for a Naim CD5si. Will it give a better sound? Or better keep the Marantz and buy a streamer?

 

[Al ears]

That would probably depend a lot on how big your CD collection is and how much in the way of music files you have on your PC or whatever you intend to stream music from.

 

[MajorFubar]

They're certainly two contrasting experiences. Difficult to say which is best for you. I moved over to computer streaming last year and I wouldn't want to go back. Yet I understand where people are coming from who say they miss the physical interaction and the act of putting a CD on. Streaming does take away the 'sense of occasion' of actually putting a CD pn, sitting down and listening to it.

 

[stevebrock]

How does the CD6004 sound with the XS 2?

Personally I would go for a CD player if I am honest (thats if I had a large CD collection and it was my main source)

 

[peterpan]

I have more than 500 cd's but none of them ripped. But isn't the CD era end?

 

[MajorFubar]

They're selling less, but in lieu of a sufficient replacement, I reckon they'll be here for a while anyway. But it's not hugely relevant. If they stop making CDs tomorrow you'd still have your 500 CDs, so you need either something play them on or rip them to. If you really like the experience of using a CD player, and the thought of streaming does not appeal to you, I see no reason why you can't happily upgrade. But I personally wouldn't want to go back to using a CD player all the time.

 

[chebby]

I have more than 500 cd's but none of them ripped. But isn't the CD era end?

No. Probably not for a long time to come. Even the vinyl era hasn't ended yet (in fact it's thriving again) and CDs have been around for over 30 years.

Buy what you are most comfortable with and don't worry. People who rip their CDs still buy new ones. (My purchase of CDs has doubled - or even tripled - since I sold my last dedicated CD player.)

 

[tino]

The thing is once you have a streamer, it's difficult to go back to playing CDs. And there is a certain element of futureproofing if high-res music takes off and prices become more affordable.

However to say CD is dead is not true and I suspect they'll be available for many years to come. My CD purchases have increased since getting into streaming and I purchase quite a few second hand CDs which are extremely well priced - much cheaper than vinyl or music downloads.

You may not have any CDs ripped at the moment, and it will take time to do the lot, but going through the process lets you rediscover all your old music catalogue.

If you did go down the streaming route you should still keep a CD transport somewhere to hand, even a cheap DVD player. Using the digital output of said player you could go through the DAC of a streamer (if it has one), and still be able to listen to CDs when the mood takes you. Win/win

 

[peterpan]

All what i read is that the trend is streaming. But then which one? Naim is fine, but very expensive. The new Sony with harddisk? Or Cambridge or Pioneer n50? Marantz comes this year with the new NA 8005.

 

[Macspur]

For CD either the Rega Saturn or Naim CD5XS and for streaming, apparrently the Pioneer you mention is supposed to be very good.

Mac

www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net

 

[Al ears]

I have more than 500 cd's but none of them ripped. But isn't the CD era end?

No. Probably not for a long time to come. Even the vinyl era hasn't ended yet (in fact it's thriving again) and CDs have been around for over 30 years.

Buy what you are most comfortable with and don't worry. People who rip their CDs still buy new ones. (My purchase of CDs has doubled - or even tripled - since I sold my last dedicated CD player.)

You are correct as usual chebby. The CD has not quite expired, in fact it is going strong and the physical media is getting cheaper to buy. Stock up now I say.

If you really intend to head down the streaming route it is going to cost you particularly if buying hi-res downloads.

I still cannot find half of what I want to purchase as a realistically priced hi-res download so am quite content to buy the CD and rip it myself.

I am sure there are many in the same boat.

CD is far from dead believe me, and note the number of hi-end kit manufacturers that are still churning out CD players or transports.

 

[skippy]

All what i read is that the trend is streaming. But then which one? Naim is fine, but very expensive. The new Sony with harddisk? Or Cambridge or Pioneer n50? Marantz comes this year with the new NA 8005.

If I were you I'd get a Sonos Connect and hook that up, for 250 quid it won't break the bank and with the Naim and Dynaudio's it'll sound great.

If it's not for you, you'll be able to flog it on for not much loss...

 

[matt49]

If you really intend to head down the streaming route it is going to cost you particularly if buying hi-res downloads.

Funny, I was thinking the exact opposite. Of course, you're right about hi-res downloads. But streaming at CD quality needn't be expensive.

I was going to suggest doing the two, CD and streaming, in parallel. So keep playing CDs, but at the same time dip a toe in the water of streaming (excuse the pun). For instance, some CDPs and universal disk players now have digital inputs. As for the streamer, there are good guides on the web explaining how to build a streamer for next to nothing. And some off-the-shelf streamers aren't too expensive, e.g. the Sonos Connect.

Matt

 

[unsleepable]

If you really intend to head down the streaming route it is going to cost you particularly if buying hi-res downloads.

Funny, I was thinking the exact opposite. Of course, you're right about hi-res downloads. But streaming at CD quality needn't be expensive.

I was going to suggest doing the two, CD and streaming, in parallel. So keep playing CDs, but at the same time dip a toe in the water of streaming (excuse the pun). For instance, some CDPs and universal disk players now have digital inputs. As for the streamer, there are good guides on the web explaining how to build a streamer for next to nothing. And some off-the-shelf streamers aren't too expensive, e.g. the Sonos Connect.

Matt

In my case, when I left CDs behind I simply started listening to more music. It's easier to have more music as it doesn't occupy physical space, and it's easier to browse through it and choose something. Now I don't have a single CD player at home—not even in my laptop and desktop computers—, and my brother has my whole CD collection.

And even though I'm also a Spotify Premium suscriptor and keep a few music lists, I still like listening to full albums. Some feel almost like books, with an introduction, development, and an end. But other times, music lists are also great and that's something that doesn't work with a CD collection.

Anyways, the Marantz CD6004 has digital outputs. A streamer that implements a good DAC and has digital inputs may also serve to improve the sound quality from the CD player at the same time.

 

[steve_1979]

I prefer streaming music because I find it easier and more flexible than using CD's. You don't need to spend a fortune on a streamer to get good sound quality either. Your money is better spent on amplifiers and speakers if you want an improvement in sound quality.

I suggest you try a Sonos, Cambridge Audio StreamMagic or second hand Squeezebox Touch. Also a small silent media PC or Apple computer into an external DAC works well.

 

[richardw42]

The Naim will cost a lot more and offer not much over your current Marantz.

Id keep your cdp and start with streaming as well. Remember any PC is effectively a streamer.

Sonos is nice and simple, can be controlled by a great phone app (about to be updated). In fact I don't bother with a personal library, and use the Sonos to access Spotify, Amazon Cloud Player, internet radio. But it does also support your own library, and more units can be added to enable multiroom.

 

[alancrane]

Cd player for better sound up grade your player with tri chord clock and power supply. If you win the lottory naim hdx its a ndx cdx2 server stream ripper in one but £4500 i got ex demo 1tb for £2800 and paid in instalments took me a year but down to the dealer that was over 3yrs ago just paid £250 for 2tb upgrade and got extended warrenty. As for sound its bloody awsome worth every penny evern at full price. Ask your dealer for options of payment i started paying before hdx became avilble as exdemo so when one came avilable already had deposit.

 

[JamesMellor]

Hi Peterpan ,

The CD era is far from it's end , and even if it was the 2nd hand market will still go on for decades , hell you can buy recondtioned discs in Morrisons for about 2 quid each , they look as good as new , I bought 4 discs last week for 7 quid .

As for how long it takes to rip a CD lossless to itunes , in theory 10 mins , in practice 15 seconds a disc of your time , I've ripped 5 while reading this forum this afternoon , put the disc in click on the right version , wait for the tinkle , eject and feed the next one in . You just do it all in the background , I've ripped over 500 cds in the last 3 weeks

James

 

[drummerman]

Do/use both.

Rip your existing cd collection to a good media player (I use dBpoweramp and MusicBee) but keep a cd player (or DVD drive).

Streamers are getting cheaper and you could even just hardwire your laptop/pc to your amplifier thus utilizing your ripped collection, internet radio etc.

Not the most elegant solution but it works just as well.

I would certainly not give up cd's

regards

 

[knaithrover]

Up until recently i hadnt owned a cd player in years having gone down the ipod/computer to hifi route completely.

I have around 500 cds which were gathering dust in the garage until i decided to try one through my Panasonic Blu Ray (i had read the model i have is great with cd's) I was immediately knocked out by the sweet sweet sound of the cd through the aforementioned bluray into my Nad MA BX2 combo....mmmm. Got me thinking so i bought a Nad CD player for a steal on ebay and it was even better - my cd's are now gradually moving back into the house - much to my Wife's disgust!!! However at the same time my new Marantz M-CR510 arrived which, through cheap but lovely Boston Acoustics A25's sounds amazing with whatever i throw at it. I feel now i have the best of both worlds and a use for my cd's which i was loathe to sell (not that cds are worth anything) I have also started to buy cd's again......

 

[manicm]

I continue to buy many CDs, but since I suspect that my CD player is acting up my decision has been cemented to never buy another CD player again, my next purchase will be a streamer of sorts, non-PC though. I'm waiting for Marantz's replacement of the NA7004, or I'll wait for their next version of their slimline AV amps.

I've already started ripping my CDs, and with my new laptop and EAC it's sounding great.

 

[MadSquirrel]

The primary source in my main system is a Turtle Beach Audiotron streamer (a few years old now and one of the first, but it has the advantage of not requiring any software on whatever's sharing the files). All music is stored on a 400GB RAID file system on a *nix box, shared out by Samba.

The Audiotron feeds an Arcam AVR360 which is driving a set of Monitor Audio RX6s (with RX Centre and RXFXs for 7.1 surround material). Yes, I'm aware that the Arcam has on-board streaming, but this uses DLNA which needs server-side software, the user interface needs the TV on to work properly, etc etc. The Audiotron is just nicer to use, and an SPDIF connection to the Arcam sounds just as good as the internal streamer. (I previously had an AVR250, hence the Audiotron.)

If I want to play a CD on this system I can either stick it in the Blu-Ray player (Denon DBT-1713) or the CD recorder (Sony RCD-W100), both of which are connected digitally to the AV receiver (HDMI for the BD player and SPDIF for the CD recorder).

The second system has the digital out from the PC hooked to an Audio Alchemy DAC-in-the-box, feeding a Yamaha DSP-A592 amplifier running in 2-channel mode and driving a set of Mission 760iSE speakers. No CD player exists in this system, although technically I could play an audio CD in the CD-ROM drive and send the output to the SPDIF. (The analogue out on the PC drives a pair of Altec Lansing PC speakers for the system sounds only - Winamp routes to the SPDIF.)

As for the FLAC v MP3 argument, I won't go into that here any more than to say that I use MP3 almost exclusively, but at very high bitrates with a particular set of options to LAME, which at worst will be indistinguishable from the original WAV or FLAC (on top-notch equipment), and may even sound better (on cheaper equipment, by removing inaudible signals it actually lowers the noise floor of the recording, meaning that a cheaper amplifier won't be wasting power amplifying a signal that you can't hear at the expense of what you can hear).

 

[MickyBlue]

i use both in a sence, all my music is on my macbook pro which is connected to my leema dac, if i feel the need to play a cd i use my pioneer BDP-LA70A blu-ray player as a transport and link it through my leema dac, although now this is happening less and less and im mainly listening to the macbook.

saying that i am buying more and more cds and ripping them as they are getting cheaper and cheaper then boxing them up and storing them.

 

[drummerman]

As for the FLAC v MP3 argument, I won't go into that here any more than to say that I use MP3 almost exclusively, but at very high bitrates with a particular set of options to LAME, which at worst will be indistinguishable from the original WAV or FLAC (on top-notch equipment), and may even sound better (on cheaper equipment, by removing inaudible signals it actually lowers the noise floor of the recording, meaning that a cheaper amplifier won't be wasting power amplifying a signal that you can't hear at the expense of what you can hear).

I agree to an extend. I can (and sometimes do) happily listen to 320kb Ogg Vorbis Spotify Premium for hours and am very happy with what I hear.

However, when it comes to ripping a cd collection, I still think Flac makes most sense as a true lossless copy. Storage space is cheap these days and it is easy to batch convert from Flac to another format if and when needed.

regards

 

[MajorFubar]

However, when it comes to ripping a cd collection, I still think Flac makes most sense as a true lossless copy. Storage space is cheap these days and it is easy to batch convert from Flac to another format if and when needed.

regards

+1. Though in my case Apple Lossless.