Current CD playes and transports

Elizabeth has a point on DACs. There are some DACs though that may not be 24 or whatever bit, but they still sound better. Having a good balanced analog like sound with good timing does not require 24bit resolution. As far as transports, they will not go obsolete very quickly.

Well, I certainly have stepped on some toes with my comment (I'm surprised no one suggested to get some cheese to go with my 'whine'); however, I am not predicting the demise of the cd format; only the onslaught of units capable of playing both the newer cd formats like sacd and the redbook variety; really, does anyone really doubt that sacd sounds better than the current cd standard; and if the availability of sacd titles rapidly expands, who wants a cd player/transport that does not play sacd or any other competing format; A similar situation would have been having to replace the home theater processing unit several years ago -- how much value would you place on dolby surround only processors knowing dolby digital was on the horizon (back to you, garfish and cornfedboy)

I'm beginning to feel sorry for the CD boys & girls out there is audiophile land. It will take a few years, but the CD format will lose its position as the dominant audio format. MP3 formats coming from below and DVD from above. The middle will not hold. CDs will not die, but they will enter the undead world of vinyl and cassettes. Fortunately, the newer disc based formats will maintain backward compatibility. Most of you are in denial.

Mig; The gist of your thread was bitching about people not pricing their CDPs and transports to YOUR satisfaction, not really about looming technologies. I mostly agree with Hwy61, except that I don't see anyone that's into music as being "in denial". SACD has not been very successful, and when DVD-A truly becomes a viable format (meaning with lots of software titles available), I will happily purchase a DVD-A player and I suspect many others will also. But, in the meantime I'm going to continue to enjoy CDs, thankyou.

........one other thing, no need to feel sorry for "CD boys and girls" as when the DVD format really becomes viable, they will be some of the first to adopt it, IMO. Do you really think that you're the only one that knows that DVD-A players will also play CDs?