CD Transports going the way of photographic film?

[JoelSim]

AKL:
Nice pics Chebby, check out mine at www.pbase.com/akl, bet no one can tell which pic was taken using film/digital.

But before this thread degenerates into a photography debate (which I have read the book and seen the film about many years ago), I think what Andrew meant was that CD transports (I didn't mean the mechanisms, I meant the kit eg Cyrus CDXTse transport) are probably heading the same way as film, as more and more people use the ubiquitous PC/MACs with the emergingÿDACs.... in a sort of similar way as digicams became "mass market" over a relatively short space of time.

ÿ

I don't think he did AKL.

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

You could be right Joel.

 

[JoelSim]

AKL:You could be right Joel.

I'm keen to understand how your English Pointer sounds, have you used a special mains lead? Or is it more bite than bark?

ÿ

 

[oldleodensian]

chebby:

Trefor Patten:....because a joke does not have to be hi-fi to be funny.

Well....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco

Brilliant. Nice one Chebby!

 

[basshead]

amazing photos Chebby, i love this one:

''I prefer digital for my Infra-red stuff though....

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1434/536215258_226fa302c3_o.jpg ''

are you a proffessional photographer or just a hobby? i would love to be able to obtain a print from you, is it possible for the WHF team to provide you with my e-mail address to discuss? ( i really really hope requesting this is not against any forum rules? if it is i appologise sincerely)

 

[chebby]

Thanks but I just do it for pleasure. I could never be a professional photographer.

It gives me a good excuse to go and stand around in the countryside for hours though

 

[idc]

I didn't take this photo.....................................

.....but I love big skies and Chebby your spectacular photos remind me of excercises around Mull and the day I saw a warship sail through the Corryvrekan whirlpool, magnificent.

 

[Anonymous]

JoelSim: I'm keen to understand how your English Pointer sounds, have you used a special mains lead? Or is it more bite than bark?

Funny how this thread went off topic but hey ho, might as well compound it by telling you about my English Pointer - she is fed clean and conditioned food, has very thick isolation pads on her legs, needs no burning in or warming up and her soundstage and presence is life like with a tight bass line, although it can be a little "forward" at times, especially if she sniffs a game bird or a deer. On the other hand, the Jack Russell has a smaller soundstage and little separation between notes but he has more "attack" than the Pointer, which perplexes us because he is fed the same clean and conditioned food and also has isolation pads....

There is a pic of them on www.pbase.com/akl The Pointer is the B&W one.

 

[Alec]

chebby:

Trefor Patten:....because a joke does not have to be hi-fi to be funny.

Well....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco

Cheers Chebby!

 

[Anonymous]

Just wish to make clear I am not saying CD players will go the way of photographic film, I am referring to CD transports, ie the box which extracts data from CDs on the fly and send the data to an external DAC, and why it may not offer more benefit than a cheap PC in terms of sending bit perfect data to a DAC.

 

[Anonymous]

My iMac sounds just as good as the Cyrus CDXT SE fed into the DAC-X when using lossless files.

CDs and their transports will of course dwindle in usage as we move ever further towards the digital age. Living in Singapore, we have a decent broadband speed set-up here, lossless downloads to purchase hopefully is the future

 

[chebby]

thfcwestlower: CDs and their transports will of course dwindle in usage as we move ever further towards the digital age.

As much as I agree with that - I play streamed music from my computer via a DAC and also download - I find the wording interesting in the way it seems to say that CDs and their transports are somehow not actually part of the digital age.

This could be because CDs have been such a common part of everyone's lives for a generation now, whereas the use of computers in the home, capable of decent quality musical replay, are a relatively new thing especially to the majority of the public. Even the DAC itself - ever present in all CD players since they first appeared - is considered something new and even challenging by some since it hopped into a seperate box (not for the first time since 1983) and found a new use plugged into a different kind of computer playing essentially the same files!

CDs are invested by some - after these 26 years - with the quality of being 'traditional'. They have been almost as succesful and long lived - by now - as vinyl (microgroove) LPs had been up until 1983. A few times - even on these forums - I have seen 'traditional' confused with 'analogue' regarding CDs. People describe the 'tactility' and warmth of CDs and they reify these abstract qualities in the same way a previous generation did with those of vinyl LPs when threatened by digital.

Fact is that the current debate is just about different ways to deal with the very same 1's and 0's and usually from the very same discs, in the case of people who are ripping their CDs to a harddrive.

This is NOT about moving "further towards the digital age". In hifi that happened almost three decades ago and in studios even further back.

 

[Anonymous]

chebby - I agree. thfcwestlower probably meant "further down the digital path", but I very much doubt CDs will disappear any time soon, just as vinyl has stayed with us (with a recent revival I hear), it is all good stuff because "choice is good".

thfcwestlower - very pleased to hear your experience comparing lossless files with the CD XTse + DAC X which together cost more than 10 times the cost of my DACMagic, I am now glad I did not buy a Cyrus CD player....

 

[manicm]

The CD player will eventually die out, but I don't know about CDs. Here's why:

Even if labels wanted to, transferring all titles to servers as FLACs will be a mammoth exercise. And they're still procrastinating with compressed music - but there is lots of progress here.

So for now if you want Dark Side Of The Moon in all its glory CD is the only way to go.

 

[Andrew Everard]

manicm:So for now if you want Dark Side Of The Moon in all its glory CD is the only way to go.

...or possibly the SACD.

 

[matthewpiano]

Andrew Everard:
manicm:So for now if you want Dark Side Of The Moon in all its glory CD is the only way to go.

...or possibly the SACD.

...or possibly, and quite probably, the vinyl, which to these ears, still sounds best of all.