Network Music Player or CD Player-Opinions Wanted
My current audio system consists of a Linn Turntable, Linn DMS Speakers, Sony CDP-XD707ES CD player and Naim Electronics. Everything is circa 1984 except for the CD player which is early 1990's. I have never had any problems with the system and it still sounds great. But after all these years it is time for a change. My music collection is albums and CDs. Every time I play an album, it reinforces why I bought the Linn/Naim system.
Besides changing the amp, pre-amp and speakers, I am definitely going to invest in upgrading my turntable. The opinions I am interested in receiving pertain to the digital side of the system. I have nothing against a high end digital network player, except most of the music I enjoy listening to is 1970's, 80's and early 1990's hard rock, metal, "Big Hair", new wave/dance music (mostly high energy). To my ears, an album still sounds better than a CD playing the same exact music. If faced with the following scenario, what would you do?
At least from what I have researched so far, the type of music I enjoy listening to is mostly available in CD format, and for streaming. It is not available in a high resolution downloadable format. I am not interested in MP3 or a low quality music download format. So if I want to build up my music collection, I will probably have to buy CDs. While streaming is convenient, I want to own the music. Some will say that the CD is a dying format, and the network player is the future. That is fine if all of the music one listens to is available in a high quality downloadable digital format. What does one do if the music that person listens to is not available in a high quality downloadable format? It makes no sense to me to buy CD's only to spend extra time transferring them to a hard drive. I don't mind changing a CD every 45 minutes or so. I am more interested in sound quality. When faced with this same situation, would you find it unreasonable to invest in a newer high end CD player vs. being coerced by a dealer to purchase a network music player, transfer my current CD collection to network storage and continue using my Sony CD player for the occasional CD. What good is the hardware if the software is not available? The turntable investment is justifiable. I can only justify the network player if all of my originally recorded analogue music is available in a high quality digital format. Otherwise, I feel investing in a higher quality CD player is just as important as my high end turntable. Convenience is nice, but without the sound quality, I feel like I am wasting my money. If anyone knows where I can purchase my type of music in a high quality downloadable format, please reply. Your opinions are wanted as high end audio these days is a costly endeavor and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
