How important is a disc player anymore? I think that stand alone DAC's have far eclipsed the stand alone disc player in importance over the last 3 years with the rise of server based music.
Only an SACD really needs a disc player anymore. In what instance can you get better sound from a disc player than when you download the music, CD or HiRez, then play it back through a new stand alone DAC with the latest technology?
I really only use my very humble disc player to watch movies that I own now. I download most movies to rent through AppleTV, and if I buy a CD (rare) I download it to the server, where it takes up residence in iTunes for playback in AIFF format.
So, disc players on their deathbed, as DAC move to the top of the digital mountain?
I do not think so, I like the ritual of playing discs. If I get a server and like it better for sound and convenience then maybe the silver disc spinner will be dead, but that will not be for some time. I like having solid media.
Are turntables dead? There really aren't that many records being produced anymore and the used supply of records in good condition in music that people want is diminishing. Add that to the fact that everytime you play a record it is wearing out. It is a fact the turntable will be dead long before the disc player. It has been dying a slow death for years. The only thing keeping it alive is the low prices for used records.
When computer audio outperforms a top-line well done CD transport, the latter will be dead indeed. Unfortunately, so far, this is not the case, at least not in my book!
So enjoy the "dead" CD player/transport, and the music, of course! :-)
Timrhu, Macdad is a BIG vinyl fan. I have read many of his posts on the subject. So, knowing that he considers vinyl to be alive, I tried to answer his question about digital discs from that perspective.
That is why I referred to vinyl.
I have nothing against anyone preferring vinyl to digital by the way.
a disc player has a dac and a stand alone dac also has a dac.
obviously the cd player has a mechanism that "spins" discs.
it is the spinning that has been criticized, allegedly causing "errors". companies like ps audio and servers address the problems of listening to a disc while it is spinning.
in order to assert that the cd player is inferior to a stand alone srever and dac, or as some have used mac lap tops and dacs, one needs to edstablish the superiority of one over the other.
all it takes is one cd player which "sounds" better than separates to disprove the null hypothesis.
one can say that a particular cd player does not sound as good as a particular dac and transport mechanism, but one cannot generalize, unless one has sampled all cd players--an impossible task.
thus i think cd players will survive until there is sufficient evidence of their inferiority.
After reading the responses I forgot the OP's question. OK, just reread it. I prefer my old 20 bit cdp with HDCD to my DAC. So much so I bought a spare laser assy to install when the original dies. How in hell did this get to be a digital vs vinyl thread?
They are most assuredly not. Many of us like the simplicity, reliability and high SQ of transports and DACs, traits often not found in server-based music systems. We eschew the myriad of acronyms, server and software hiccups, crashes, droputs, firmwares, updates, backdates, minute-by-minute obsolescence of server-based music, especially through USB. At least early day CDP's were reliable!
I installed a Sonos system and added a high end DAC about 6 months ago. Since then I have not used my CD player once. I still listen to vinyl for critical listening but the convenience of the Sonos is nice.
A high-end player is still the redbook gold standard--it is quiet, more linear, more original to the source. Computers and DACs are nice for those who like the convenience, storage, purchasing options for music--lots of things to like. I'll still take my Wadia directly into my amps. Can't get any closer.
Disc players will not die until: A- they completely better servers B- servers get very cheap
Meaning, that on both ends of the scale music servers can still be beat. Furthermore, music servers can be effected by player programs and file types. Until it is discovered why and how to ameliorate it, there will still be assurances in using a SOTA transport.
This topic seems to reappear every few weeks. There`s such a large volume of music available in the Red book format at very reasonable prices new and used.
My passion is jazz and fortunately much of it was recorded well. My large jazz CD library continues to grow, I`m always finding something new to buy.
A high quality, well set up Red book playback system is capable of beautiful music reproduction,I sure enjoy mine. Best Regards,
the analog guys hold on to vinyl because they generally like the sound of lps compared to the digital version, and you lose some quality ripping vinyl to hard disk. but cds can be ripped to hard disk without any reduction in quality, so you lose nothing in your digital music collection going to pc playback.
talk is there's movement now to offer DSD (sacd) downloads too. unless someone has a bunch of sacds, the argument for getting a new sacd transport seems to be getting weaker and weaker.
however, having said that, not all dacs and digital interfaces are created equal. for example, you're not going to get the same performance as a transport when you use a pc and a usb interface unless you have the right usb implementation that significantly reduces jitter. in my opinion, for usb, i would only go with a dac that has built in two-dimensional jitter reduction like the playback designs dac or, if the dac didn't have this, then a dac in combo with an empirical audio usb converter that reduces jitter.
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