A plea in favour of cd

spiritofmusic

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Bodhi

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Thanks for posting.That was an impressive article considering John is strong with the Darko side of the force. Of course cd's aren't dead, their is still a healthy niche market. There are tens of millions of cd players still on audio racks, billions of cd's in circulation, and new high end cd transports and dacs are still being built; two examples being APL Hifi and MSB. In Japan audiophile cd sales go gangbusters. Sites like CD Japan do a roaring trade. And for Indie artists, aside from old school cassettes, CD's are still the cheapest and most convenient way to distribute their music. And for audiophiles like me, I find downloads soulless. Yes you have a file on your computer, but God forbid, hard drives can crash. Then what? With cd's, you own something tangible, you can interact with the media, enjoy the album art, read the liner notes, and you always have a physical backup of the album if your computer crashes.
 

spiritofmusic

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I just thought it was fascinating that a guy who's heard a lot of servers and dacs and is a natural consumer of streaming concluded cd had a marked advantage in SQ.

Noone pro cd is arguing against the convenience, choice and l/t economies of streamed music. The Q here is purely SQ and John feels there is sufficient margin in favour of cd to reactivate it as a collector's format in his life.
 

Hi-FiGuy

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I just thought it was fascinating that a guy who's heard a lot of servers and dacs and is a natural consumer of streaming concluded cd had a marked advantage in SQ.

Noone pro cd is arguing against the convenience, choice and l/t economies of streamed music. The Q here is purely SQ and John feels there is sufficient margin in favour of cd to reactivate it as a collector's format in his life.

The collector part is what is taking up so much space in my house and has me rethinking the whole audiofool hobby.
When I recently packed up all my belongings and had all my Records/CD's/DVD's/Cassettes and even VHS all in a pile it was ridiculous. So I then started looking at streaming services and with the exception of very few discs, its all available online.

There will be a massive re-evaluation when I set up my next room. Paying a monthly fee to have millions of titles at your finger tips, means more money for equipment! :D

The nostalgia of it all is wearing off very quickly with me, but there will always be a turntable and CD player in my system to go along with whatever digital path I follow.

And of course yesterday I bought more vinyl and Record Store Day is Saturday and I talked a local shop into "looking out after" my selections for 8:00 am.

I need help!
 

thomask

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ABEDQUAD.jpg

I had not used my 18 years old Bedini ultra clarifier II for the last 5 years.

Then I had it worked last night.

Oh my god, CD treated turn out to sound more open and transparent.

I can not go back to Audioprism Stoplight but decided to try more CD cleaning solutions.

I placed an order of " Essence of Music Pro " cleaning solution based upon some rave review.

https://www.dagogo.com/essence-music-cd-treatment-review/

Redbook CD is not dead yet.

I had bought more than 300 classical redbook CDs for the last 2 weeks at bargain price of 2$ per CDs.
 
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Kingsrule

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Bodhi says cd's are a niche market and then he says "their" vs. there. They must be living and breathing LOL. I'm going down to my cd storage and ask them what their state of mind is today...LMAO

I'm in love with my discs
They are a sliver dream
Can u hear the drive a spinning
They give such a noisy aural scene.........
 

spiritofmusic

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I remember being in Tower Records in the late 80s as cd shelves were burgeoning and vinyl lp shelves were shrinking, and cursing the cd.

Now as Tidal dominates and cd shelves shrink I find myself cursing streaming LOL.

My idea is to buy as many, if not more cds and lps, as before, and purely rely on Tidal for genre finds not on disc.
 
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BlueFox

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If I can't find a high-res download of an album I want on HDTracks then I will buy the CD. Then it gets ripped, and added to my music server.

Never used any streaming service.
 

CKKeung

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I remember being in Tower Records in the late 80s as cd shelves were burgeoning and vinyl lp shelves were shrinking, and cursing the cd.

Now as Tidal dominates and cd shelves shrink I find myself cursing streaming LOL.

My idea is to buy as many, if not more cds and lps, as before, and purely rely on Tidal for genre finds not on disc.
You must try to arrange a trip to Tokyo.
You must visit the CD/LP shops there.
They are heavens!
 
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morricab

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I just thought it was fascinating that a guy who's heard a lot of servers and dacs and is a natural consumer of streaming concluded cd had a marked advantage in SQ.

Noone pro cd is arguing against the convenience, choice and l/t economies of streamed music. The Q here is purely SQ and John feels there is sufficient margin in favour of cd to reactivate it as a collector's format in his life.
I have noted the same as Mr. Darko...a good cd transport with a good jitter reduction interface is tough to beat with digital.
 
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morricab

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I remember being in Tower Records in the late 80s as cd shelves were burgeoning and vinyl lp shelves were shrinking, and cursing the cd.

Now as Tidal dominates and cd shelves shrink I find myself cursing streaming LOL.

My idea is to buy as many, if not more cds and lps, as before, and purely rely on Tidal for genre finds not on disc.
BTW, we are finding Qobuz to sound better than Tidal...LOL!
 
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Al M.

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I have noted the same as Mr. Darko...a good cd transport with a good jitter reduction interface is tough to beat with digital.

Same here!
 

Al M.

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BTW, we are finding Qobuz to sound better than Tidal...LOL!

Yeah, that's what I've heard from several people now, a pretty clear consensus.
 

spiritofmusic

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Al, what I liked about this video is a few things.

First, Mr. Darko agreed w me. That's always a good start in my book LOL.

Second, he's not claiming any definitive verdict, just an interesting finding.

Third, that finding challenges his worldview, yet he's happy to consider what it all means.

Fourth, he's changing his habits to follow what he feels he's learnt.

Fifth, this is not at some esoteric level of gear. He's heard most out there re good quality and affordable streamers, servers and dacs. And his experiment here goes against the grain.

Sixth, he postulates a possible explanation that certainly sounds tenable.

--
He's one of the more interesting breed of new social media commentator and reviewer of real world gear, I've always read his words with a lot of interest. This article was really interesting.

A sidebar, it showed me I need to be open minded too, but in the opposite direction. I certainly need to break my self imposed vaguely irrational midset and start to embrace streaming. Not because I'm gonna love the SQ or "journey"/interface. But because I stupidly disadvantage myself from the simple outcome of enjoying more music if I don't get involved.
 
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Bodhi

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Bodhi says cd's are a niche market and then he says "their" vs. there. They must be living and breathing LOL. I'm going down to my cd storage and ask them what their state of mind is today...LMAO
I'm guessing you were the guy who took names in high school when the teacher was absent?
 

spiritofmusic

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I just read a comment on another forum stating an audiophile with a very impressive system feels the sound from his cdp is worse when choosing a track via remote control. He always chooses manually.
 

Hi-FiGuy

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I just read a comment on another forum stating an audiophile with a very impressive system feels the sound from his cdp is worse when choosing a track via remote control. He always chooses manually.
This just about had my soda running out my nose!
 
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