Why CD players will never be dead

I a not with Steve on this one. My computer audio front end and others I have heard do not sound as good as a great CD/SACD player in my experience. Not yet anyway. I love the convenience however! I love Spotify and Pandora etc...

The battery operated DAC section in my modified Sony CD player (TRL) still sounds better than the Apple/$1000 dac options I have tried.Perhaps I need to spend more on the DAC to compete with my CD player? Don't know. I expect at some point I will like the sound of computer audio better, but this far no.

Grannyring,

Funny you should mention TRL in this thread. I have owned one of their modded Sony players for several years now. It has beat up some pretty expensive seedee players in this time.

I just put together a modest system of SB Touch and MHDT Havana DAC. I have to concede that this does indeed sound better than my cdp. The TRL will be for sale in the near future. This is the best digital sound I have heard in my system.

Shakey

Shakeydeal, his mods vary and mine is the latest with the battery power supply and all (modified last year). Tell me about yours? Love to know how (what program) you use to rip CD's? I have not had as much luck as you getting computer audio to sound as good. I also use the Squeezebox Touch and a good Bel Canto DAC? No way it sounds as good. I stream wireless to the SB Touch however.

This is the issue I have with computer based audio. So many ways to cobble out the final sound that perhaps I could be doing SOMETHING better? That something is confusing and a royal pain to me....

Granny wrote: "My computer audio front end and others I have heard do not sound as good as a great CD/SACD player in my experience."

You just need to buy the right computer interface. There is no reason why it should not beat both your CD player and your vinyl.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Yes, I must buy the right one and every other step in this whole process must also be sorted out and done the best way possible. I swear it is this bottomless black hole of cobbled together computer audio with all of its twists and turns that confounds me. One says I need a better dac, another says I need to rip with this other program, and yet another says I need to store in this format on this device. On and on and on...

I guess I am doing something wrong or not the optimal way it seems. My $1500 CD cannot sound better I am told, but is does so what now? I so want to like computer based audio and use my CD player as my 2nd choice as I love the convenience of playing my music on a computer. Thus far I have not heard better sound then my CD player however. I won't spend $5000 either, no more than $1500.