Is this the END of DAYS for the high end CD player

You must jump through a few hoops in order to get the SQ that you need to beat your CD player. That's right not just match, but BEAT.

And same applies to a CD transport; you must jump through a few hoops in order to BEAT any computer audio currently available.

3) playback using Foobar with Kernel Streaming on PC or Amarra/Pure Music/Ayrewave on a Mac. Playback from memory and SSD is even better

IMO, the J. River Media Center with ASIO4ALL (on Win 7, 64bit) offers better audio quality compared to Foobar with KS and any Apple-based playback. Playing from memory makes things even worse.

Best,
Alex Peychev

This talk of CD drives in computers is nonsense. If they could not transfer the data properly none of our computers would work.

So you really believe that transferring data correctly is the only requirement for "perfect audio quality"? Every CD player has C1 and C2 error correction built-in. This said, with a brand new clean CD, there are no errors coming even from a boom-box CD drive. But why it does not sound as good as a high-end transport then? Is it only clocking? Is it only jitter?

Fplanner2010 you mention the use of coaxial (I assume the jittery s/pdif) which is a consumer digital in/out. Isnt that 75ohm system only capable of 24/96k in stereo if that? I am a bit confused as you mention 24/192. Sorry it has been a while and I have only really used AES/EBU 110 ohm digital ins/outs in the past.

The "jittery" S/PDIF in Fplanner2010 NWO-M is used in a non-jittery way. :-) And no, it is not limited to 96/24; it is 192/24.

Best,
Alex Peychev

It seems like getting computer source perfect and beat hi end cd player is problematic and cumbersome, which completely destroyed the convenience of computer source..... Even if you do everything right... it's still not definite... there are so many things besides bit perfect read that affects sound quality....

Sigh... I have ripped 8000 songs with WAV on iTune over the past 5 years...... it's such a daunting task to start over....

I have read on some forums that even with bit perfect set up/software, you still get different results with different CD/DVD ROM drives... how many different bit perfect copies are there?

If it is at all possible getting bit perfect results.... shouldn't the results be the same with different drives....

"Because that's a much bigger if reading real time from an optical drive in general than with files stored on a computer hard drive".

If reading in real time (1X) doesn't result in bit perfect data comparing with files stored on a computer hard drive.... How is it possible to get bit perfect data in the first place? What I mean is..... if reading/ripping in real time doesn't get perfect bit for bit data..... how is it possible when reading/ripping at multiple speed (4x, 8X, 24X) be any better? It's the same data, if a CD/DVD ROM can't even get it right in the first place in real time..... how can one guarantee ripping from it results in perfect bit for bit information?

Still.... I believe the power supply in a computer is not clean enough for hi end use..... and.... there are so many signal cross talk with all the components in the computer.... hell... even hard drive generate internal noise....

I guess it's one of those thing where people have different school of thoughts... and one can believe in anything with theories to back up their thoughts...

At the end of the day...... I urge all of us to just trust our ears..... I have personally done a blind A/B test....Even if I didn't do every technical aspects right .... I have preference in hi end CD players and hi end dedicated music server...

"It seems like getting computer source perfect and beat hi end cd player is problematic and cumbersome"

No more problematic than choosing the right stylus, turntable, cables and phono preamp, and then adjusting the turntable. This is simpler I think. Manufacturers of computer audio equipment usually provide recommendations, instructions and even some software. Find a simple way to get this from a turntable manufacturer.

"Still.... I believe the power supply in a computer is not clean enough for hi end use"

These are myths. Has little or no effect on it if you use the right technology, either async USB, Firewire or networked audio.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"how can one guarantee ripping from it results in perfect bit for bit information?"

Simple, just use dbpoweramp on PC with Accurate-Rip enabled or XLD on Mac with Accurate-Rip.

Like I said already, this pretty much guarantees that the dataset and control information in the frames is correct, unless maybe the track you are ripping has never been ripped before.

Once you have this, it will last forever on the right storage media. It will not have read-errors when your CD player gets old, and the disk will not degrade over time (they do). The variability in the pits, which results in jitter in most CD players is no longer an issue.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio