CD players = dead?

Just want to put my 2cts in. A year ago i sold my cd player, a Linn Unidisk SC. I had the chance to go all digital. I am familiar with DBpoweramp and tag&rename. Works like a charm. But i bought a new CDP instead. Got a great deal, and was sad to let my cd collection go on the 2nd hand market.

In the same year I had Roon for a month to try out. It is great in every way, as we all know. Software interface and music exploration is the bomb. BUT.... i mis the feeling of listening with concentration. With Roon i skip/swipe/search as a madman (and listen). With a cd i’m more in the music. And listen front to back with patience. Also the (bargain)hunt for a new cd is for me thrilling. I compare the whole cd experience with reading a news paper on Saturday morning. Or reading a good book. You can do it digital, but the real deal gives you something extra.

I hope i can get a Roon server up and running this year. Because in 2017 you can have your cake and eat it, and that’s the beauty ;) Also i'm gonna save for a high end cdp 2 maybe 3 yrs. I can wait. 

It does not matter if it's CD, streamer, blu-ray, sacd, tape, or vinyl, same rule applies to all: garbage in garbage out.  It's all in the mastering.  Most sound engineers now mix recordings so that they sound loud at low volumes.  The reason why hi-res files sound better, or there's a return to vinyl, it's in part because the original recordings are remastered more carefully to sound good with a higher dynamic range rather than mix everything to the limits within 2 or 3db dynamic range.  Just take recordings downsampled in mp3 and their remastered version for mp3... world of difference.....
Anyway, as long as we  don't burn cds, players will be around...

In this days you have pure CD transports that can be connected to an external DAC with amazing results now you don't have to be depend on the internal dac built in the CDP (usually not great ones ) and you can choose any dac you want based on your personal taste ,I bought mine cambrdige Audio CD transport a year ago connected it to my Macintosh pre/dac with astonishing results ,I don't have any desire to move on to a streamer.

That loudness war compilation of good and bad dynamic range does not square with many of the CDs I feel sound very good in my system.  Don't let it throw you off something you want--have to listen to it.  

Jafreeman
That loudness war compilation of good and bad dynamic range does not square with many of the CDs I feel sound very good in my system. Don’t let it throw you off something you want--have to listen to it.

I agree, sort of. For example, Dylan’s Modern Times sounds very good - clear, musical and the playing is great. But it’s dynamic range is quite compressed according to the official dynamic range database. It’s a subtle thing sometimes, but when you hear a CD that has very good dynamic range, you know it. It hits you in the face. And there are other aspects of sound to admire: frequency response, transparency, air, etc. so dynamic range might not necessarily be a deal breaker.