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Who listens primarily to Redbook CD?

My primary (only, actually) source is a CEC TL5 Transport feeding an Audio Note Kit 1.1 NOS DAC through a Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme AES/EBU digital cable. They are both decked out with CT GE power cords, Synergistic Research Quantum Black fuses, Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfeet isolation footers, plus other misc. tweaks.

Sounds great, and I have very little desire to add another source. Pretty much all the music I want is available on CD, and is usually quite cheap. I hope to upgrade to an AN factory DAC (3.1x/II, or better, would be nice), and a Teo Audio liquid metal digital cable (I have their Game Changer ICs, and absolutely love them!) in the future.

Who else is happy with Redbook CD as their primary source?
tommylion
dsnyder0cnn
65 posts
 
What is the alternative? Vinyl or or tape?

If you're primarily listening to digital, you're also primarily listening to Redbook CD resolution source material...discs, files, or streams. Kind-of the only option for now. MQA streaming is coming along...we can argue if there's any sonic benefit to the format vs. CD. SACD is legacy and mostly dead. HDtracks is mostly a waste of money given no provenance information.
ethiessen1's avatar
ethiessen1
61 posts
 
One issue with cds relative to a copy perhaps sounding better may have to do with the computer drive reading the disc while it's being ripped having better error correction and/or simply reading the disc more accurately than the cd player the user normally played their cds on. I found that DVD players, even the inexpensive ones, often sounded better than some dedicated cd players did due to their (often) superior error correction, etc as needed to read DVDs.
tommylion OP
874 posts
 
I like what Audio Note did. They listened to the available DAC chips and chose the Analog Devices AD1865 based purely on sound. When it was discontinued, they bought up all the remaining stock, so they wouldn’t be forced to change over to a sonically inferior one.

They are are currently working on an R2R DAC using discrete resistors, which, reportedly, sounds much better than the AD1865.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/TomBerry/0728b2915ce0892e44fe42934e521cd9_zpsmqay4v8m.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/TomBerry/b53e6cb9d8ac3cdf036c3da279a3b8d8_zpshk0zdrci.jpg


leotis
183 posts
 
Schiit Yggdrasil is a modern R2R ladder DAC that will play hi res PCM.
Uses a very accurate chip designed for military applications but adapted for music by Mike Moffet, the developer of the original stand alone DAC. It sounds way better than any sigma delta DAC that I ever heard (though I haven’t heard any of the super expensive ones.) See what Robert Harley has to say about the Yggdrasil in the current TAS. Seems I now have little use for my many SACDs because CD on the Yggy is spectacular.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
I found that DVD players, even the inexpensive ones, often sounded better than some dedicated cd players did due to their (often) superior error correction, etc as needed to read DVDs.

You’ll find focal length and width distant is different for each. Look at the bottom of the graph.
Each is best for it’s own format/purpose.
https://wiki.metropolia.fi/download/attachments/61608878/Comparison_CD_DVD_HDDVD_BD.svg.png?version=1&modificationDate=1355147497000&api=v2

Cheers George

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