Do You Still Play Compact Discs?

Al M. · Jan 31, 2021

ack said:
Ahem! Wait till you get to compare material like the Janaki Debut on LP vs HDCD in here, Alpha DAC or Yggy2 (which cannot properly decode it). I will just mention again what I've mentioned to you and others a few times - CD is harmonically deprived, no matter how good it sounds lately.

A number of recent experiences have challenged this notion for me. And basing such a conclusion on the comparison of just one recording on different media is dangerous.

You seem to keep going back and forth on this as well. One of your recent posts on your system thread reported enthusiastically how your Redbook sound was on par with your analog (post #1037).

howiebrou · Jan 31, 2021

I think we can all agree that bad CDs and bad Vinyl are both equally shit.

ack · Jan 31, 2021

Al M. said:
A number of recent experiences have challenged this notion for me. And basing such a conclusion on the comparison of just one recording on different media is dangerous.

You seem to keep going back and forth on this as well. One of your recent posts on your system thread reported enthusiastically how your Redbook sound was on par with your analog (post #1037).

At the same time, one must never lose perspective. Not sure what you've heard recently, but "on par" is a rather general term. Notice, I never said "on par with THE BEST OF analog", so I chose my words carefully. When analog is at its best, it's nonpareil. Redbook, any which way you slice it, does not have enough room for all harmonics

ack · Jan 31, 2021

I see over 78% of responders still spin CDs; this is very nice to see; the reality is that there are billions if not trillions of silver discs still in circulation... But I do hope one day we will graduate to hi-rez streaming, if the quality is high enough

Robh3606 · Jan 31, 2021

I like them. Purchase a lot of digital only releases on Bandcamp and burn them as CD's. I guess it goes back to vinyl. Used to have physical media with liner notes cover art.

Rob

thedudeabides · Jan 31, 2021

ack said:
But then... there is Pat Kop on Alpha CD...

Or Patricia Barber, or .............

christoph · Feb 1, 2021

Al M. said:
I have had extensive exposure to high-level vinyl playback in friends' homes. I don't think that I am missing much. I used to, but CD playback, including in my own home, has made incredible advances over the years.

In terms of consistency of quality of playback, especially when it comes to classical and jazz (the CD mastering of rock and pop is often questionable), I actually prefer CD to vinyl. There is stellar vinyl playback, to be sure, but not all vinyl is stellar; there are many mediocre pressings.

Your CD playback must be quite poor then.

I fully agree with all you said

Just with the difference that I don't play physical CDs anymore and prefer streaming locally and from Qobuz

Qobuz in fact enriched my musical life extremely

christoph · Feb 1, 2021

howiebrou said:
I think we can all agree that bad CDs and bad Vinyl are both equally shit.

Perfectly summarized

Quick-n-dirty

christoph · Feb 1, 2021

ack said:
the reality is that there are billions if not trillions of silver discs still in circulation.

At least MY over 1000 CDs are NOT in circulation

I listen to them via server and DAC

They are stored in my home cinema room and act modestly as diffusors, distributed in some shelves.
There are more shelves on the left side of the room

perart1 · Feb 1, 2021

Ron Resnick said:
Did you donate your compact discs to the Salvation Army or use them for target practice, or do you still have them on your shelf?

What are the advantages, if any, of playing compact discs, rather than streaming the exact same title and recording through a streamer + DAC?

If you still have and play compact discs, what CD transport do you use?

what's a compact disk?

carolus · Feb 1, 2021

christoph said:
....There are more shelves on the left side of the room

View attachment 74409

Nice left-collection .... & relax fauteuil .
One quid, Is your musical scène in "balance" ....

Happy listening ... in heaven.
Karel

christoph · Feb 1, 2021

carolus said:
Nice left-collection .... & relax fauteuil .
One quid, Is your musical scène in "balance" ....
Happy listening ... in heaven.
Karel

Hi Karel

This is "only" my home cinema

Serious music listening happens with my other systems

But should I one time fancy listening seriously in the home cinema room, I can fold back the middle section of the chair and have another seat.
Not as comfortable as the other two seats but perfectly centered instead

exupgh12 · Feb 9, 2021

Since ripped all my CD's last year it's all vinyl or streaming for me. however, never had the courage to box my CD's and store them in the storeroom.

andromedaaudio · Feb 9, 2021

Tape or CD s for me and DVD s

CKKeung · Apr 26, 2021

The 10th reason!

LL21 · Apr 26, 2021

Still very much enjoying the 4-box Zanden. Have a Kaleidescape for movies and have burned 550 DVDs on it, and just picked up a 2nd to give us more capacity to grow. All the DVDs are now stored (no boxes, just in DVD circular containers so a small fraction of the original space. And the interface is lots of fun. Not yet thinking of doing the same for CDs...but the Taiko is certainly starting to sound amazing but at well more than 2x the price of the Kaleidescape.

amey01 · Apr 29, 2021

Haven't touched a CD since about 2007 (yes, I was a streaming early adopter). The only exception is my small collection of SACDs, but I have since acquired the DSD files for most of those anyway.

Gregm · Apr 29, 2021

Ron Resnick said:
Did you donate your compact discs to the Salvation Army or use them for target practice, or do you still have them on your shelf?

What are the advantages, if any, of playing compact discs, rather than streaming the exact same title and recording through a streamer + DAC?

If you still have and play compact discs, what CD transport do you use?

Have donated a number of CDs to friends, but still have c. 1000 left -- which I dust regularly and spin very rarely (i.e. never).

I find that streaming from my external HDD sounds better, and is much more flexible and practical. Plus I have quite a number of 24/96-192 which I much prefer to standard redbook. I miss the booklets though (think classical).

Back in the day, I had a Symphonic Line Reference cdp for the serious stuff & a tubed Magnat, now left with the latter.

While I ripped a good number, I am simply too lazy to continue.

Don't get me wrong, the cdp is still on standby as a transport but it rarely actually spins!

Cellcbern · Apr 29, 2021

Gregm said:
Have donated a number of CDs to friends, but still have c. 1000 left -- which I dust regularly and spin very rarely (i.e. never).

I find that streaming from my external HDD sounds better, and is much more flexible and practical. Plus I have quite a number of 24/96-192 which I much prefer to standard redbook. I miss the booklets though (think classical).

Back in the day, I had a Symphonic Line Reference cdp for the serious stuff & a tubed Magnat, now left with the latter.

While I ripped a good number, I am simply too lazy to continue.

Don't get me wrong, the cdp is still on standby as a transport but it rarely actually spins!

Only play physical sacd's, cd's, and vinyl and no plans to start streaming in the future - have yet to hear a streaming setup that approaches the sound quality of my tube sacd player, and from what I've read the high end streaming setups that pro reviewers use cost many times what my components did.

andromedaaudio · Apr 30, 2021

I bought 3 today , all kinds .
Amy winehouse back in black.( great music but not the best recording

)
Underworld
The notorios BIG .
Mdou moctar on order as well as Stevie ray vaughan .
Since i have the Mark levinson dac , i play more cd s then tape .
I dont visit the brussels city center that often but i m astonished how much vinyl shops there are .

Do You Still Play Compact Discs?

Do You Still Play Compact Discs?

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