I agree with Edorr.
I still have my disc transport, but I only use it for DVD concerts. Anymore, I really don't even considered listening to Cd's via a mechanical lazer/transport. |
Even better yet, buy a SACD player with a digital input. Go squeezebox to the players input to avoid buying a stand alone dac. Money saved. |
i sold my rega apollo, thinking i was done with cds. a few months later i bought a sony xa5400es. it turns out i like having options and use the sony and my squeezeox and laptop for listening.
just buy a new cd player and don't sell it. :) |
Howard, Buy a CD transport!! Stop torturing yourself. There's so many for sale here on Audiogon. I'd recommend a half size transport like I've seen from Stello, Bel Canto or the like. Plug the transport to your DAC (If you want SACD playback you'll need an SACD player). The smaller size will be less annoying to look at in your rack. Use your server as much as possible but when you need to throw in the cd, just do so.
Best, |
I picked up a new Tascam CD-200 because of the excellent transport within. A mere $250 from Amazon. Digital coax out to my external DAC.
I will never eliminate a CDP (transport) from my system; I will always listen to CDs this way, even though most of our collection is ripped and in a hard drive, accessible through the Squeezebox Touch. |
Touch a new CD only once. Ripping a CD takes 3 minutes. I went the same route, only regret is why didn't I do this sooner. |
i agree that being tethered to the computer and having to rip everything is something of a hassle at times. with the ascendance of computer audio and bluray, you can now get very serviceable older universal disc players--say a denon or integra--for a hundo or less, which gives you the flexibility to play the odd sacd or sample a disc you got at the library. |
"Respectfully: Which is more fuss...burning a new one to your library...or constantly searching through hundreds of cds for a specific cd or a song when the mood strikes you?"
That's a false choice. Here's an example of what I was talking about: Got two CDs in the mail yesterday. If I had a CD player, I could have popped one in and started listening a couple of seconds after I'd shut the mailbox door. As things stand now, here's what I'd have to have done: Go upstairs, which is where my music server happens to live, rip one or both (which would take, say, five to 10 minutes), then tell the Logitech Media Server to look for new and changed music (which would be pretty quick, but I'm including it as another step, since it's there and all), come back downstairs, plop down in my listening chair, launch iPeng on my iPhone, and start listening. In all, we're looking at probably 12 to 15 minutes (and one trip up and another down the stairs) just to hear some music that arrived in the mail. Versus, say, 15 seconds if I still had a CDP.
Now, I use the Squeezebox all the time, and don't intend to stop. Once the new discs are on the server, I'll likely never put either into the CDP again -- unless one or both happens to have been encoded using the HDCD process).
My post wasn't offering the type of either/or choice you suggest. I was only saying that there are times when it would still be nice and easy to have a CD player. Not many times, and not as a replacement for the music server, but times. And yesterday happened to be one of 'em.
Respectfully,
Howard |
If you use dBpoweramp it will decode the HDCD to 20 bits, which gives you much of the advantage of HDCDs. You do not get the HDCD filters, but the bit expansion helps a lot.
I still have my Classe player, but it is now in my bedroom system and I have not had any reason to move it back. |
We have all our music on hard drive bur rarely listen to it that way, Hard to beat the sound and experience of a good transport. |
Recently I added a sony cdp cx355 changer which stacks 300 cd's. Works and sounds great in my office system. Since these can be 'chanined' I'll look for another so I can move up to 600 cds. I do have stuff ripped to mp3 for my portable player, but see no reason to move up to a computer based player. I have three other stand along cd/sacd players which use in other systems. |
I just use digital out off my DVD player and send it to my DAC for the times I just want to pop in a CD. Most of the time I play it off my computer, ripping it first. |
Why not have both? Olive and Naim offer players with both a transport for a quick play and an internal hard drive to rip your CD to. So far, pretty good reviews in the audio press. There is also the new Memory Player MP64 from Nova Physics which uses flash memory for playback. |
Except when I get a new CD and just want to listen to it. Having to rip it first sometimes feels like so much damn fuss. My CD player's transport has been malfunctioning for about a year and I haven't missed it. I still play music via the players DAC, but I haven't missed spinning discs. In fact, I hardly even buy CD's anymore. I've ripped my whole collection to hard drive, so its at my fingertips when I need it. When I want to listen to new music, I just access the CD via Rhapsody or MOG and save it to my favorites and I can listen to it anytime I want - for free but for the monthly fee, which is less than the cost of a single CD. As long as I have access to the music via MOG or Rhapsody, I don't really seen the need to "own" most music anymore. I'm happy to just "borrow" it via these various streaming services. |
It will be a long time before I am done with Redbook.
Tgrisham, If you're using the Minimax DAC (reviewed for Dagogo.com), you gotta Opamp roll that DAC! The stock unit is nowhere near its potential. Also, you may want to try the easiest tweak around; use SS output and remove the tube altogether, as it seems to make the power supply more robust. And try your other transports with it as this also affects the sound significantly. With the right cdp acting as transport, the right coax cable and Opamp rolled EE DAC you have a LOT of uphill potential sitting in front of you! :) |
That scenario is the very reason I will always have a cd player. And have a turntable as part of my system. As time goes on they get used perhaps less, but I have too much music not transferred to give them up. Besides the convenience of the quick occasion playback, I still get a kick out of using my older gear at times. My fear is when they break will it be worth it to buy the best I can to replace them. Probably not. |
Forgot to add...
I don't own any SACDs, HDCDs, etc. |
I've gone to an Apple TV Gen 1. Thought I would miss having a CDP, so I kept my XBox (mainly used as a DVD player) in the system. Haven't used it as a transport yet. It's been about 2 1/2 years.
I do understand the itch to hear that new CD ASAP. I don't and could never wait to get home - they always play in the car on the way! |
I did the same. I was lucky and found an older CDP-the Sony SCD-CE595 direct from Sony which plays great 2 channel SACD and CD for $60. I can also run the digital output to the same DAC I currently use. It's a good option to just throw on a CD, or in my case 5 of them, and sit down to enjoy. Or, if someone comes over with CDs or when a new one arrives in the mail. There are many fantastic older CDPs out there for great prices. I keep a nice CDP, the Marantz modified Ah Tjoeb tubed output player in another room and an older Oppo in the bedroom to put on a CD quickly if the mood strikes. ;) |
NO regrets, NONE.
Respectfully: Which is more fuss...burning a new one to your library...or constantly searching through hundreds of cds for a specific cd or a song when the mood strikes you?
I'm the opposite, I'll NEVER EVER go back to a CDP. And believe me I'm a "set in my ways" type of person, who resisted 'digital music.'
I've achieved much better sound with a lossless source a Vlink and a decent stand-alone DAC that I ever did with stand alone CD players of comparable or even greater value.
If I want to hear something immediatey, without burning to library...I have that option too.
I have yet to think of a single drawback... there's nothing nostalgic to me about cold plastic media. |
