CD"S

I have a bunch of CDs, some SACDs, and no vinyl. I have no desire to pop CDs or SACDs into a player and play them. I don't even own a CD or SCAD player and don't plan to waste my money on them. 

Instead, I rip the CDs and SACDs and load them onto my Roon server. Then I can play them in my 2 channel listening room, my kitchen, my garage, and my backyard. All controlled with an iPad or iPhone.

I have played with expensive CD and SACD transports and have found they don't sound better than the ripped files played through my Roon setup. So why spend the money or take the time to deal with the transports? Plus, I can store my CDs and SACDs out of the way instead of having them all over the house.

I am also a used CD buyer/ripper/Roon advocate. My PC was setup once and is reliable, I rip right to the Roon watched folder, auto-backup to the cloud (IDrive), manually to an external USB drive, and store CDs in sleeves. I don’t miss facing 1200 CDs on my rack to choose something, and extra bonus: jazz listeners especially will appreciate the ability to shuffle an artist, who could appear as a sideman on many recordings you might not even know about-try doing that with physical media!

Like many folk here, I own a large CD collection (alongside a large vinyl collection) and still buy new and used ones (as I do for vinyl). I thought of ripping all of them, but it's time consuming and over the years I've had more issues with hard drives breaking down than CDs going bad. So I thought: "what would be the point of ripping CDs and then keeping them as back-up?" When my CD player died a year ago, I replaced it with Hegel's Mohican (plays only Red Book CDs). I've been very happy with the sound it produces.

I have about 800 CD's, including about 80 SACD's.  A few months ago I realized that my interest in them was being deflated by three things--the mediocre quality of some CD's, a lack of information to help me remember which ones I preferred, and difficulty finding them on the shelf.  So I created a spreadsheet and spent some time overhauling and expanding the collection. 

I now have about a hundred CD's sitting nearby waiting to be sold or donated to Goodwill.  The survivors--at least the ones I care most about--have been researched to find and acquire the best version.  I have a Denon DCD-A100 SACD player, so SACD's are an option.  While I love the detail and nuance of the SACD format, I have found the hard way that mastering needs to be considered before format.  Mastering issues are a minefield, but if you invest the time, they can be overcome.  Expect also to make some mistakes.  A few days ago I had to retrieve a redbook CD from the "sell" pile and replace it with an SACD that I had purchased, which had much poorer dynamic range.

As was said above, CD's are cheap right now.  SACD's, not so much.  Try to find the hybrid SACD of Peter Gabriel's "So" album under $80 from a reputable seller, for instance.  One thing to note, however, is that the condition of used CD's for sale can only go downhill over time.  Eventually the supply of good-quality used CD's will play out.

Proper CD protocol - always store CDs vertically. Keep the majority of CDs in a separate room, only keep the current rotation in the listening room. Always treat all of your CDs to a couple days in the home freezer. You’ll get better sound and your CDs will thank you. 😊