trust me, it's over. The CD was a transitional medium at best. Maybe it won't settle at USB or HDD for storage, but one thing is for absolute certain. CD's are dead, dead, dead!
I stand behind what I say 100% and will be the first to apologize if I am wrong at a later date. As someone who works in the IT industry in the research sector, and sees the writing behind the wall, take it from me consider it over. The shipments of the two types of storage media alone are a tell-tale sign. HDD being the winner.
Dust hasn't completely settled on where it will end up, but right now, lossless files piped in via USB or firewire are a good bet.
CDs are for ripping at this point, not putting in an inconvenient and archaic player with all sorts of transport induced jitter to-boot. I will take a Cosecant, or Crimson over ANY modern day CDP anyday. |
Comparing CD to Vinyl is not an accurate analogy by any means. All of you are forgetting tape. 8 Track, DAT etc...Where is it now?
The only thing missing now is a credible place for people to download DRM free Losslessly encoded files online somewhere. Then we can really have this debate. I am sure the record companies will hold on to that power for dear life as long as they can. But eventually, it will change, and CDs will be about as popular as tape is today.
I am not saying it will all be hard drive based..Where it is stored is anyones guess. Could be HDD, could be SSD, could eventually be holographic storage. But one thing is for sure, it will most likely move towards a computer/server based set up for most. The reason being, is there is NO difference in sound quality when the files are lossless and the DAC is designed well. Like all of Gordon's DACs.
Until you've listened to one, you can't say a word about it. I have owned MANY high end CD players, and can say with confidence there is NO sonic reason to miss the CD sound, or deal with the inconvenience anymore. |
Aplhifi-
I did A/B, many times. For example my Cosecant against an $8k Meridian G08 at a dealer. A room full of people were shocked that the Cosecant killed it, including the owner. The 808 (which is an upsampling player)was another story. You could hear a little deeper in with the 808, but didn't have the pretty sound the Cosecant has. I would have loved to see Crimson against the 808. But either way, these are $8k and $12k respectively. Worth the money after what heard? No freakin way!
NONE of my buying decisions were based on Convenience first, trust me. That is just the gravy of computer-based system like mine. I listened extensively before throwing down one penney for Cosencant. Don Better let me have it and Brick (another amazing DAC for the $$) for two full weeks, and you can bet I did my comparisons before making a final decision, each time I was shocked.
I think it would be silly for anyone to pay $3500 for a DAC if all they were shooting for was convenience. I have very nice equipment from VTL and my DAC. Wavelength is tops, and there is no sonic compromise (from an audiophile standard) with ANY of Gordon's DACs. Give one a listen first, then come talk to me. |
"With all due respects,I can't understand why anyone would spend big bucks on a USB Tube DAC that can only do 16/48."
Single-handedly one of the dumbest most uninformed statements on this thread yet. I will tell you why people would pay this much, because A) it IS tubed and not SS B) because alot of upsampling implementations don't necessarily sound better and C) because a $3500 DAC built by Gordon, will most definatley sound better than ANY modded Squeezebox.
That is why people pay that much for them, plain and simple. |
" Do you think 16/44.1 recordings sound better than 24/96 recordings?"
this question can NOT be answered with one sweeping statement like you may want it to. But to answer your question in my opinion, it depends on the DAC and the implementation. I personally have listened to 24/96s that don't sound better than 16/24s, on my DAC in particular.
Believe it or not, 24/96 does not mean better sound, it is not that simple. And quite honestly, after listening to enough harsh and hollow sounding 24/96s I just assume not bother with them when I have a much better sounding option. |
One other thing I forgot to add...Who said anything about "Fraction of the cost"??? Particularly in this hobby, there is little rationale to the $$ we spend on this equipment. And I tend to agree that you don't always have to spend gobs of cash to get the best sound. And Wavelength should be one of the better examples of this fact.
Just remember, these are DACS that many agree outperform $15K Reimyo and Meridian CDPs (no exaggeration). There is some perspective for you, which in those terms makes Gordon's DACs a relative bargain. |
Tpk123-Not to sound overly cliche here, and being a Cosecant owner, take it for what it's worth; but you get what you pay for in this case.
A Wavelength DAC is a tried and true audiophile grade DAC, that is custom designed with a tubed output stage. This is not your run-of-the-mill commodity-based DAC chip product. The USB controller was custom designed by Gordon himself, this takes loads of engineering R&D hours to produce. Also the power supply is custom designed by Gordon with hand-wound transformers (a lost art).
Most importantly, he is a (classically trained) musician all his life, which means all his products are voiced properly, to how a performance should sound.
I know some of his pieces could be a stretch financially, I know I certainly did at the time, but they are worth every penny of their asking price. This coming from a guy with a newborn child, and not alot of disposable income. My Cosecant DAC will have to pried out of my cold dead hands, it sounds that good as a source with all my other equipment. Unless of course I get a nice enough tax return to get a Crimson, with directly heated triodes! |
I think some of us are missing the point in terms of a Wavelength DAC, even some of the owners. The convenience FACTOR is nothing more than a sideshow when speaking about these DACs, and we should not lose sight of the fact that the sound quality is comparable if not better than some of the perceived "best" CDPs on the market today. Lets not lose sight of this and the fact that convenience should be considered a secondary benefit ( a darn good one) of a PC-based system after you consider the sound quality, which Wavelength DACs have in spades. I consider myself a true audiophile, and this is what we look for first and foremost. And for some, our dreams have been answered, because now we have the best of both worlds, audiophile sound from a PC-based rig.
And if you waiting for a Wavelength product to come down in price, don't hold your breath. The laws of supply and demand some may hope work in their favor do not typically apply to items that are this unique and that are hand made to order. For that, wait for a solid state based, mass produced DAC that is a compromise in sound. |
Psacanli-"Wavelength company" is one man, Gordon Rankin. He doesn't have marketing reps, or salesman, and quite honestly doesn't seem interested at all in being anything remotely close to "mainstream".
I too defend and promote Wavelength, consider me a Marketing Rep. But mostly I am a promoter because it is incredible stuff, and Gordon is a genius and a friend to all those who buy from him. |
Digital to Analog conversion is perfectly appropriate for this forum as well. |
