I love compact discs

[MrReaper182]

Haha, :rofl:

 

[MajorFubar]

Very true Major. Its the same with people who diss downloading music. Those very people would be blown away by high quality music downloads.

I was in reasonable agreement with that until I heard about digital watermarking, which affects both streamed content and purchased downloads (lossless included). Turns out my ears are very sensitive to its effects, I had heard it on some Spotify albums but had considered it to be a lossy compression artefact. So that quickly put an end to my (not very strong) interest in downloading, and guarantees that I will stick to buying CDs and ripping them until they all pull their heads out of their collective a--es

 

[plastic penguin]

FWIW, I still get immense pleasure out of CDs, certainly a staple of the music diet.

 

[peterpiper]

..

 

[Covenanter]

Major everyone to their own. Just because my music is not computer bassed does not mean I have someting against it because I don't. The point of this post was to say that CDs sound wonderful though a great CD player because there are plenty of people who will tell you that CD sound rubbish full stop.

Clearlly they are equally as wrong, and I agree with you all the way. Very happy to raise a glass with you to your new CDP :cheers:

+1

Chris

 

[DIB]

I love my CDs, but not my wifes.

I also love my LPs too, but again my wifes David Cassidy LPs I'm not too sure about.

.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

I will continue to use CDs as my main sourse of music for years to come.

+1

 

[Al ears]

I love my CDs, but not my wifes.

I also love my LPs too, but again my wifes David Cassidy LPs I'm not too sure about.

.

It is a well known fact that wife's CDs do make excedingly good bird-scarers.

 

[Kamikaze Bitter]

I also believe that with all the DRM stuff and compression issues downloads are for the weak minded.

I love CDs - some fabulous bargains to be had. I'm sort of with Chebby though on ripping to a computer - with a couple of reservations. I've been ripping to FLAC using an ancient Fujitsu laptop connected via USB to an external DAC and then my amp. The sound is great - maybe very small differences from the CD player, but I'd be hard pushed to choose which is better.

Problems with ripping are:

I have lots of CDs! Ripping is taking forever!

Managing the tags. My collection is mostly classical music, with a lot of fairly obscure stuff. The tags that come from the CD databases can be pretty random. Editing the tags is a pain. If you don't edit the tags then its hard to find and play the music. Definitely harder work that scanning a shelf of CDs and picking one out!

Am I missing out on something? Is there an easier way that I haven't found?

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I settled on a Audiolab 8200 for 800 quid from Sevenoaks. good CD players really do bring out the best in those shiny discs

Can someone explain how something that reads digital information and sends it to an amp can sound better than something else that reads digital information and sends it to an amp?

 

[steve_1979]

I settled on a Audiolab 8200 for 800 quid from Sevenoaks. good CD players really do bring out the best in those shiny discs

Can someone explain how something that reads digital information and sends it to an amp can sound better than something else that reads digital information and sends it to an amp?

The if badly implemented the analogue output might be different in some cases or the built in DAC may produce some RF interference which some amps are susceptible to while others are not. With a good amp (that isn't susceptible to RF interference) the difference between most CD players is vanishingly small to non existent IME.

 

[steve_1979]

Spanner in works time

I have doubled (or even tripled) my purchases of CDs since I packed my old Naim CD5i (my last stand-alone player) away in it's box and replaced it with a DAC about 4 years ago.

It's not a matter of quality (ALAC is just as good - as is FLAC of course - and 320K AAC was 'too close to call' even against the old CD5i), it's a matter of space, clutter, time, organisation, fun and cost. (Why have a CD5i - or any expensive player - when a decent DAC, at a fraction of the size and cost, can do the same job?)

I have no sentimental attachment to CD cases. (Some of the worst packaging ever conceived of.) I get all the same cover art-work, track listings etc. and I was never a fan of the tiny little notes that were barely legible anyway. (I still have them all - along with the stored cases and CDs - but am never going to open a box to read them.)

All that rubbish about the 'tactility / tangibility of the physical object in your hands' is for fetishists and nonsense about wanting to own something you can touch. Yeah, well, I can still go and touch the CDs that I own if I really want a weird moment. ("Sorry dear, I'm just in the cupboard experiencing the tangibility and tactility of the physical format for 5 minutes. I'll be normal again soon.")

+1

This mirrors my experience exactly.

 

[steve_1979]

I also believe that with all the DRM stuff and compression issues downloads are for the weak minded.

I love CDs - some fabulous bargains to be had. I'm sort of with Chebby though on ripping to a computer - with a couple of reservations. I've been ripping to FLAC using an ancient Fujitsu laptop connected via USB to an external DAC and then my amp. The sound is great - maybe very small differences from the CD player, but I'd be hard pushed to choose which is better.

Problems with ripping are:

I have lots of CDs! Ripping is taking forever!

Managing the tags. My collection is mostly classical music, with a lot of fairly obscure stuff. The tags that come from the CD databases can be pretty random. Editing the tags is a pain. If you don't edit the tags then its hard to find and play the music. Definitely harder work that scanning a shelf of CDs and picking one out!

Am I missing out on something? Is there an easier way that I haven't found?

The tags on classical music are notoriously bad. I always change them manually as they get ripped otherwise they're a nightmare to use.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I settled on a Audiolab 8200 for 800 quid from Sevenoaks. good CD players really do bring out the best in those shiny discs

Can someone explain how something that reads digital information and sends it to an amp can sound better than something else that reads digital information and sends it to an amp?

With a good amp (that isn't susceptible to RF interference) the difference between most CD players is vanishingly small to non existent IME.

That's what I was getting at really, if you can afford an expensive CD player, you can afford an excellent amp, and an excellent amp will negate the need for an expensive CD player IMHO.

 

[Covenanter]

I will continue to use CDs as my main sourse of music for years to come.

+1

+1

I guess as and when I have to move into sheltered housing or a nursing home I'll get my kids to rip everything onto a NAS or whatever is the thing by then. For now the walk to the CD player every 1/2 hour or so is good for me.

Chris

 

[Vladimir]

That's what I was getting at really, if you can afford an expensive CD player, you can afford an excellent amp, and an excellent amp will negate the need for an expensive CD player IMHO.

Can you expand on this how an excellent amp negates the need for an excellent CDP?

Thanks.

 

[stevebrock]

I settled on a Audiolab 8200 for 800 quid from Sevenoaks. good CD players really do bring out the best in those shiny discs

Can someone explain how something that reads digital information and sends it to an amp can sound better than something else that reads digital information and sends it to an amp?

I think is something to do with CDP analouge output stage?

 

[Electro]

I settled on a Audiolab 8200 for 800 quid from Sevenoaks. good CD players really do bring out the best in those shiny discs

Can someone explain how something that reads digital information and sends it to an amp can sound better than something else that reads digital information and sends it to an amp?

I think is something to do with CDP output stage?

+1

Definitely the analog output stage IMO , this is where the real differences are made , time and money spent in this area can reap massive rewards in sound quality .

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

That's what I was getting at really, if you can afford an expensive CD player, you can afford an excellent amp, and an excellent amp will negate the need for an expensive CD player IMHO.

Can you expand on this how an excellent amp negates the need for an excellent CDP?

Thanks.

No, I can't, because I'm not clever enough.

 

[english mustard]

hey cyrus se8/2 + cyrus dac signature + 2 psx r via blackcube linear into audeze lcd3 . cd heaven ! . seems to me theres no limit to cd sound quality they just keep getting better with every upgrade ive made . whats not to love in the right system.

 

[Vladimir]

@Bernard

Well for someone not clever you sure have a geeky signature full of tech.

@mustard

The bill.

 

[CnoEvil]

For me, Vinyl was something to love, whereas the CD was/is a necessary evil......and I'm not talking sound quality here.

CDs come in a cheap and nasty case, aren't an enjoyable item to own, and are far from the indestructible medium that they were originally marketed as......IMO, they are a stepping-stone to high quality streamed music, either from a NAS or a Cloud.

 

[Womaz]

Just to add my humble opinion to this thread,I love CDs too.

Two years ago I bought my present system and was told a quality rip from a CD was superior to the original CD as a CD player has an amount of jitter and therefore loss of SQ.

I could not hear that difference in quality to be honest.

I now use both my streamer and CD player as much as each other. To me there is absolutely no difference in SQ and I am sad enough to have tried to find it.

I honestly can't hear a difference between a high res file and a rip from a CD copy, maybe you need a really high end system to hear that. I am not disputing the fact that there might be, but to me they are not audible.

Both CDs and Streamers have their place. I live the fact that on my CLIC I have all my collection at my fingertips. It's amazing how many hours I can now just sit and flick and listen to music.

 

[Covenanter]

For me, Vinyl was something to love, whereas the CD was/is a necessary evil......and I'm not talking sound quality here. CDs come in a cheap and nasty case, aren't an enjoyable item to own, and are far from the indestructible medium that they were originally marketed as......IMO, they are a stepping-stone to high quality streamed music, either from a NAS or a Cloud.

I'm sure you are correct that in the long run music will be delivered in another form. However I actually rather like CDs.

Chris

 

[CnoEvil]

For me, Vinyl was something to love, whereas the CD was/is a necessary evil......and I'm not talking sound quality here. CDs come in a cheap and nasty case, aren't an enjoyable item to own, and are far from the indestructible medium that they were originally marketed as......IMO, they are a stepping-stone to high quality streamed music, either from a NAS or a Cloud.

I'm sure you are correct that in the long run music will be delivered in another form. However I actually rather like CDs.

Chris

Is it the CD you like, or the sound it produces?....though I realise that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

I think it's fair to say, that less effort is put into album cover art, as the smaller "canvas" of a CD box doesn't do it justice.