I Sold my CD Player!!! Streaming sounds so incredible!!!

Hello all.  Thanks for all your insightful responses to my post.  I just want to emphasize the fact that, I didn't sell my CD player because I didn't think it sounded excellent, I sold it because I found something else I liked better.  Happy listening.

Streaming is awesome and so are CDs for me. There is...one thing that can make it better...and in some cases much better. You do need a CD player and a low-cost disc.  Ayre, which is a respected high-end company, came out with a System Enhancement Disc some years ago dubbed 'Irrational but Efficacious'. Ayre doesn't know exactly why it improves system performance but was so impressed with the results that they made the disc available to the public. Since then, several other companies have come out with similar products. 

I rarely listen to CDs these days on my main system, but the idea came to mind to use Track # 7 to see if it made a difference even though the CD player had been turned off for several weeks/months. After playing the Ayre disc, everything in the system improved...and not just a little bit.

Conclusion...Don't ditch the CD player, if for no other reason than to tune up the system occasionally so I can better enjoy the very excellent streaming results I am getting through Qobuz.

My streaming sounds great, but there's no way to play my large collection of CDs without a CD player (also no way to play my vinyl without an analog rig...it would just sit there)...my current system for that is a Schiit URD into a Schiit Bifrost 2/64 (utilizing their "Nexus" USB connection...well done Mr. Moffat) and that combo yields astonishingly superb results. All these options sound too good to exclude anything...I'm amazed that analog works at all...dragging a tiny MC stylus through some plastic...amazing.

Quoting Mahler 123:  itturns out that there isn’t a single software program that I’ve encountered-and I’ve tried many, including Roon-that can organize Classical Music. I can find CDs faster on my shelf than in the media libraries. Also many of these recordings were not big sellers-perhaps 20,000 units- and some are recordings dating back decades. The availability of these recordings in the services such as Qobuz is spotty as their availability ebbs and recedes.
 

Replying to Mahler123>

Like you I listen to Classical Music, both opera and classical music.  As an audiophile with a very well outfitted Roon system and duplicated on the Naim Uniti Core that I started on by ripping my CD collection and editing the metadata and with a CD Collection of over 4000 albums, I have a little experience. I started with LPs in the 50s, graduated to tape cassettes, then CDs, I go back a few years.  I struggle to believe that you can file and find your CDs any better than you can organize your metadata in Roon and other systems that curate metadata.  Classical music has inherent problems that make it virtually imposslble to have a perfect file system.

But my real point isn’t to argue about that but to say that streaming my CDs is the best thing I’ve done.  I made the mistake of refurbishing my Bang & Olufsen turntable so I could return to using my vinyl collection.  It’s in complete rebuilt condition, sounds as good as a Beogram 4004 can sound and I’ve played it four times in 12 months.  The reason is so obvious, it’s that streaming is so ridiculously convenient, I can’t be bothered to struggle with handling the physical copy.  It takes awhile to locate a physical copy and set it up to play.  It takes less than a minute to start the same music selection streaming.  And my physical CDs no longer take up space in my house.  I even bought an expensive Ayre DX-5 DSD for my SACDs.  I’ve had it a year and play it almost never.  For the same reason.  And not only is streaming ridiculously convenient it sounds equal to or better than my expensive Triode CD player with optional tube.

i don’t need Tidal or Qobuz because my CD collection has most of what I want.  If I want something new, I buy the CD.  And because I only have to rip it once, I don’t need to buy new.  When I buy a CD, it costs almost nothing.  
 

I admit I haven’t made the logical next step, which is to donate or sell my CD collection.  For unknown reasons, I like to own the hard copy too, though I’ve never once turned to a ripped CD to listen to it again.

My vinyl collection is impossibly large.  It is always a lengthy ritual to find and prep a vinyl recording to play.  I just hate doing it.  So I don’t.  Luckily much of my vinyl has been professionally dubbed and if I have something that has t been dubbed,  I’ll buy the CD.  I ought to sell my Beogram 4004 but I probably won’t.

It turns out that there isn’t a single software program that I’ve encountered-and I’ve tried many, including Roon-that can organize Classical Music. I can find CDs faster on my shelf than in the media libraries.

There was some method to the madness on how physical CDs were organized on the shelves. Set up a categorized folder tree (on NAS) that mimics your preference for sorting/viewing/browsing. Browse by folder only, i e., navigate through the folder tree you set up to locate your music. If your software restricts you from doing the latter (a simple browse by folder), throw it in the garbage.

Roon..or Schloon can’t cater a whole lot to your personal tastes when a collection becomes too big...only you can organize folder trees to your personal taste.