High resolution digital is dead. The best DAC's killed it.

Erik, I can't believe how good Redbook and 16/44.1 streaming sounds. It took so many years for DAC technology to finally reveal how good those silver discs can sound. Just in time to see CDs being phased out as a dead format.

And it doesn't take many thousands of dollars to buy a good DAC. I find it so interesting that manufacturers have been concentrating on R2R ladder DACs rather than upsampling to the very high rates of a few years ago.
 

Redbook indeed is at a new stage of awesomeness.  High Rez will not die because:
1) it’s marketed at Audiophiles, and we are always looking for tat sonic holy grail.  The general public could care less.
2) while not all high Rez recordings are true improvements, there are enough of them that once heard, continue to whet the appetite for more.  When it’s possible to close your eyes and really imagine that you are in the room with the musicians, as I have with several DSD recordings, then I feel that I have crossed to the other side

Totally agree Eric.
I was truly shocked a couple of days ago when I put my Sony Discman back into my system and fed it into my Ayon S3 streamer/DAC.
It really let the music flow in a way those silver discs have failed to do in the past for me.
May have to pull my cds down from the loft where they are stored.

Agree. VEry good and affordable DACs have abounded now for several years. My digital sounds great, has now for years. High res is just a novelty for me. No need.  CDs get ripped and streamed,never played.