Do you still prefer your CD player to other sources?

[adamrobertshaw]

Whenever I buy a CD album I always listen to the CD on my CD player first before I rip it into both I-Tunes and FLAC.

I find I always want to hear the CD played in it's native format before I change my listening back to a Mac or a streamer as my source.

I probably listen to 95% of my music via USB or my streamer.

But whenever I really want to listen properly to a favourite album, I will hunt down the CD and put in into a CD player.

To be frank, I think in most cases the CD sounds better than FLAC or Apple lossy.

I feel like I'm neglecting my best hi fi friend for an easy life on the sofa ... just button pressing and aimless scrolling using control apps / tablets / smart phone.

Anyone else think like me; or have a lot of folks consigned their CDs and CD players to a life of dust collection?

 

[Lo Fi]

I only ever play CDs on my Audiolab player, many years ago I only had LPs but then switched to CDs because of the better quality sound and ease of use.

 

[eggontoast]

Err no, I sold it over 3 years ago

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Err no, I sold it over 3 years ago

 

[MakkaPakka]

I like CD and somethimes think I'm in a minority . Having heard CD in a stupidly expensive setup I know it is capable of sounding amazing and any 'bad' CD is nothing to do with the format itself.

I have tried streaming via squeezebox and computer audio but ended up back with CD.

I like vinyl but, having bought 20 or so new records over the last 18 month I find it too much pot luck. Some sound great but several are very poor indeed and I feel like I was ripped off and didn't gain any sound quality over listening on youtube.

 

[steve_1979]

I own hundreds of CD's but I've only listened to about half a dosen of them. I just buy a CD, rip it and put the case on the shelf and only listen to the digital files.

 

[MajorFubar]

Whenever I buy a CD album I always listen to the CD on my CD player first before I rip it into both I-Tunes and FLAC.

I find I always want to hear the CD played in it's native format before I change my listening back to a Mac or a streamer as my source.

I probably listen to 95% of my music via USB or my streamer.

But whenever I really want to listen properly to a favourite album, I will hunt down the CD and put in into a CD player.

To be frank, I think in most cases the CD sounds better than FLAC or Apple lossy.

I feel like I'm neglecting my best hi fi friend for an easy life on the sofa ... just button pressing and aimless scrolling using control apps / tablets / smart phone.

Anyone else think like me; or have a lot of folks consigned their CDs and CD players to a life of dust collection?

Yep this is me also. 95% of the time I listen to streamed lossless rips from my Mac but I'll part with my CD player when they pry it from my cold dead fingers. I still like the concept of 'putting a CD on' or 'putting a record on', and besides which, the sound from my CDP is superior to that from my HRT DAC, which probably isn't surprising. One is a £500 CD player from the days when £500 was more than double the average weekly take-home pay, and the other is a USB-powered grey box with an output stage made from surface-mount consumer-grade components.

 

[eggontoast]

Err no, I sold it over 3 years ago

what are you puzzled about BBB

 

[MeanandGreen]

I still prefer the CD format. If there is an album I want to buy I always buy the CD version, I prefer owning a physical object with proper artwork, a booklet, song lyrics etc... Plus ultimately it does sound better. I only download the occasion chart single.

I use my iPod in my Arcam dock for convenience of playlists only. If I really want to appreciate a particular track or album I opt for CD.

In the car it's the iPod every time.

 

[SiUK]

Yeah, I have been having a wee bit of CD separation anxiety lately I think. Have been ripping my collection to flac for a while now, and although the music playback is great, I still, like you it would seem, pull out a CD just to compare and make certain I'm not doing myself out of better sound quality. In truth I cannot say there is much difference really. Actually, I think playing the flacs back via USB is probably a slight improvement if anything over the built in cd transport in my Marantz. I think for me it is also just the interaction I miss, even if it is minimal with CD. Took me ages to get over the whole vinyl ritual as well. I still miss that to be honest.

 

[chebby]

I still have the option (I keep all of my CDs and store them in Rymans CD boxes or Case Logic folders in a cupboard). I won't ever get rid of them (even if it became legal to do so).

My M-CR603 affords me the ability to play them, but there really is so little point.

ALAC (music) or 320K AAC VBR (drama / documentary / comedy etc.) sounds just as good and meshes in so well with all of my other AirPlay sources whether from - or controlled by - my iPad and iPhone.

In any given week the only reason I need to go near the hi-fi is to dust it.

I only use it's remote to power it up from Network Standby or select FM (or AUX 4 for TV/PVR/BDP sounds).

Lately I have been buying and ripping far more CDs than ever before. So the format itself isn't 'dead' yet (at least in this house). Far from it.

As for any 'ritual' of playing the CD, forget it. More like muttering ... "please don't let the case break" (assuming it wasn't already broken when you bought it). I can well do without those poxy little booklets too. (I keep them anyway and even store them along with the CDs in their boxes or folders, but I am never going to read the things.)

 

[ISAC69]

I prefer CD format :exmark: Tried to listen to music via my hard disc and a DAC but found that it's always sounds better with my CDP :shifty: sold my DAC and converted all my files( I have also hundreds original CD's ) to standard CD format and very happy with it although it's less convenience

 

[matthewpiano]

CD always was, and still is, a brilliant format. Superb sound, easy to store, and complete with artwork, booklet etc. For classical music I personally think there is no better format. Streaming just doesn't cut it as meta tagging becomes so messy and drawn out if you are going to have any chance of navigating a large collection with multiple different recordings of several works.

 

[ISAC69]

CD always was, and still is, a brilliant format. Superb sound, easy to store, and complete with artwork, booklet etc. For classical music I personally think there is no better format. Streaming just doesn't cut it as meta tagging becomes so messy and drawn out if you are going to have any chance of navigating a large collection with multiple different recordings of several works.

:cheers:

 

[the record spot]

CD is still my "go-to" format. The best sound, which is borne out by some of the great recordings and masterings that pretty much trash the view that "digital sucks" (which is something I still read a lot of, or words to that effect). Every now and then, I'll pick up a player that I've been interested in for whatever reason. Latest one was an Arcam Alpha 6 CDP and it's been excellent. Really works well in the Onkyo / Tannoy setup. Delighted with it, especially for £60 (think it used to retail for about £600). I do like Gumtree!

 

[Alec]

Never had a CDP since I got in to all this.

 

[iceman16]

Yes I still prefer my cd player for serious listening. But when there's some occassion like friends gathering and small parties, I just use my iphone(spotify) via Chord gem for background music

 

[Electro]

Yes my Cd player every time , open the lid place the Cd on the spindle put the spider clamp on top of the Cd close the lid and press play, then enjoy 100% reliable and beautiful music with no messing about .

The icing on the cake is that it sounds better to me than every other source that I have ever heard including vinyl .

What could be better

 

[Covenanter]

CD always was, and still is, a brilliant format. Superb sound, easy to store, and complete with artwork, booklet etc. For classical music I personally think there is no better format. Streaming just doesn't cut it as meta tagging becomes so messy and drawn out if you are going to have any chance of navigating a large collection with multiple different recordings of several works.

Absolutely! If you are mainly a classical fan there are really few attractions in anything other than CD.

Chris

 

[letsavit2]

CD is and has been my primary source for the last twenty years. Ipad to airport express when I'm doing other jobs and just want music in the background, vinyl for albums I listen to from start to finish.

Will always want to feel, touch and see my music collection.

 

[Milo_Myage]

Every CD i buy gets ripped almost instantly but it's only for the portable player, when i'm at home it's CDs all the way. Racks and racks of the things all in alphabetical order, choosing what to play is half the fun.

Often think about upgrading my player but my £40 Marantz CD6000OSE is serving me fine for now.

 

[Dougal1331]

Often think about upgrading my player but my £40 Marantz CD6000OSE is serving me fine for now.

You got a 6000OSE for £40? Wow.

If it still works fine, I would say there's no point in upgrading- it's a great player!

 

[drummerman]

There are hundreds of millions of cd's out there. The format is accessible and quite often, very cheap.

Imo CD will be here for a long time still and having a cd player is part of that. - Good CD sounds good (as do other digital files).

regards

 

[adamrobertshaw]

I started the thread yesterday when I was listening to a new CD.

Both the CD transport and the 8200CD (nearly) always sounds better than FLAC or Apple m4a.

There's just seems to be more substance, solidity and musicality.

Even when I've effectively attempted to lower the quality of the CD player and give my Stream X2 an advantage by swapping over the better cabling, the CD is still better.

FLAC still sounds better than Apple m4a. But m4a could sound as good as FLAC once I paid £60 for Audirvana Plus.

I'm a Mac user but have to keep my old PC going to rip CD into FLAC via DB power amp.

On about 10% of the rips I'm having to adjust the meta data so the music databases can find the right album art etc. Total faff. |(

I'm having to do two rips to keep both my Stream X2 NAS and Mac Mini updated. Then I have to back both up for safe keeping. |(

A CD player ... get your CD out of the box ... put it in the drive slot / tray ... wait 5 ticks ... press play ... then everything sounds great.

Also, to prove what a weed I am, I'm totally dithering on whether to ugrade the Cyrus transport to their new all singing and dancing model. Even though I know it will totally outclass FLAC streaming and Mac playback.

It's good to know CDs are alive and kicking and that manufacturers are still improving / innovating to get the most out of CDs. :cheers:

 

[MeanandGreen]

I'd like to add that this year I have really got into jazz, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, John Coltraine and such like.

I can pick up their CD albums much cheaper than the download versions, which seems irrational to me. Anyway I own a Sony CDP-XB930 CDP with the fixed pickup transport mechanism. To me there is something quite special about opening the disc tray placing the CD in, then placing the magnetic puck ontop and then listening to the fantastic sound of jazz musicians playing away in my room.

I won't even rip the jazz to my computer or iPod, I MUST listen to it on my good old Sony CD player. It's just special somehow.