The CD player is dead.......


I am still waiting for someone to explain why a cd player is superior to storing music on a hard drive and going to a dac. Probably because you all know it's not.

Every cd player has a dac. I'll repeat that. Every cd player has a dac. So if you can store the ones and zeros on a hard drive and use error correction JUST ONCE and then go to a high end dac, isn't that better than relying on a cd player's "on the fly" jitter correction every time you play a song? Not to mention the convenience of having hundreds of albums at your fingertips via an itouch remote.

If cd player sales drop, then will cd sales drop as well, making less music available to rip to a hard drive?
Maybe, but there's the internet to give us all the selection we've been missing. Has anyone been in a Barnes and Noble or Borders lately? The music section has shown shrinkage worse than George Costanza! This is an obvious sign of things to come.....

People still embracing cd players are the "comb over" equivalent of bald men. They're trying to hold on to something that isn't there and they know will ultimately vanish one day.

I say sell your cd players and embrace the future of things to come. Don't do the digital "comb over".
devilboy
In a group that generally believes in tiny differnces in the sound of a single resistor or wire, I am puzzled by claims that data from a hard drive equals data read from a great cd transport. Data has to get onto that HD in the first place. Measurements prove that there are significant differences in the error rate of data read by various disc transports. Don't we all recognize that data with a high degree of error correction applied does not sound quite as good as data read with fewer errors in the first place? Isn't that why expensive transports exist? Is there some doubt that data read off a cheap plastic cd drive in the electromagnetic storm inside a computer is unlikely to as error-free as data read off a great transport? (disclosure: I use a Genesis Time Lens for an even better data stream.) So unless you wish to rely on that cheap plastic cd drive in your computer (sadly, plextor is no more), don't you need an excellent transport to get cd data to your hard drive at the highest qualify level? [I don't think we're debating whether high-bit-rate-downloads can sound better.] Why are some of you claiming that data that arrives at a dac via cd transport to hard-drive to dac is equal to data that goes straight from a cd-transport to a dac, when audiophiles are almost universally aware that every time you introduce another electronic device in the chain, there is a decrease in quality?
So, in one scenario you need to pay $2,299 for a harddrive that is quiet enough to be placed the listening room. This is a "high end solution" according to a "high end" retailer named goodwins. I think this reality adds to the "explain why" cdp is superior to harddrive. The $2,299 doesn't even take into account the DAC needed. Or the knowledge and time needed to set up and transfer.

So...I don't want to jump to conclusions but I think its easy to see how owning a pocket watch is preferred.

enjoy!
Apparently Oakleys' computer has some sort of Pratt and Whitney aircraft propeller as a fan. You've got to be kidding me. I'm standing directly in front of my Mac as music is playing (with preamp muted), and I can BARLEY hear anything. My listening chair is about twelve feet away.

Also, it appears that the title of my post (about the cd player being dead), offended some people. Honestly, I did it because I had a feeling using those words would result in a higher volume of responses. Looks like I was correct.

My main objective was to find out why people prefer cd players over a computer/dac combo. That's all. Maybe next time I will choose my words more carefully as not to offend the sensitive members...
For me, streaming from my computer to a Logitech Duet to my DAC was inferior to using a CD/DVD player into the same DAC spinning a standard CD. Sure, the computer approach was convenient, but it didn't deliver the sonics I wanted. Now, I fully realize that a computer based front-end could outperform spinning an actual CD, but it seems like a lot of effort at this point. I'd probably have to get something like a dedicated server with backups and some way to get the music to my DAC. Would I like the interface? Depending on the solution, I'd maybe have to get something like an iPod Touch for remote control. Then, it still has to equal or outperform what I already have. Actually, if I'm going to have the extra effort and expense, then I'd want it to outperform my current setup. Also, I dread the amount of time it would take to rip my entire collection. I'm sure I will go this way at some point, but I'm not sure when for the reasons I've stated.