2. digital
  3. 155183-122613

Why Does CD Sound So Good?

Over the years, I’ve tried countless variations of system components in order to find the best sound. CD players, CD transports, DACs, streaming DACs, iPods, iPads, phones, computers, amps, tube preamps, you name it. System types include home audio, car audio and headphone audio. There has been a consistent recurring trend: After I’ve played around for a long time and mixed and matched components, I always find a CD player to deliver the best sound.

Sure my laptop computer and DAC sounds really good in my 2-channel rig, but my much lower priced CD player sounds more musical and more listenable, which is really what matters to me. 

In the car, I’ve got radio, XM Radio, streaming through my phone, playing files off my phone, etc. and yet the CD sounds best.

In my headphone rig, I’ve tried fancy DACs and headphone amps, tube buffers and preamps, better power cables and power supplies, etc. and yet a portable CD player has gone the furthest in making my headphones sound the best.

The CD consistently outperforms any streaming player I’ve tried. Don’t get me wrong, there are non-CD based solutions that sound fabulous, but I find myself always going back to the CD in the end. I find a properly setup CD-based system to have non-fatiguing highs and tight, accurate bass; the former being an absolute requirement for me. I don’t care how good the system measures or how expensive the gear is if the sound is fatiguing in any way. That’s a hard line I draw in the sand and one I refuse to negotiate on. It can’t be fatiguing and it has to be musical.

Where I’m lost for an explanation is the “why” behind all of this. In theory, a CD player shouldn’t be so good. We’re spinning a (usually wobbling) disc at many RPMs and trying to track it with a laser and then error correcting what we can’t read. A solid state hard drive or even a normal hard drive should have a walk in the park acquiring the data and should sound better because of it. My phone should sound excellent having solid state memory, being battery powered and having very short signal paths between the memory, DAC and output stage, and yet a cheap $25 portable CD player blows it out of the water.

So why does CD sound so good?
128x128mkgus
andy2
1,555 posts
 
I have an Ayre QB-9 DSD streaming from my labtop USB and an Arcam CD23, but the QB9 is definitely better than the CD23 so I don’t know if it proves anything.

Theoretically the underlining technology should not be different in term of converting 1’s and 0’s to analog. The only different is the CDP gets the 1’s and 0’s from the spinning disk, whereas streaming getting from either a hard drive or some type of memories. Once the 1’s and 0’s are obtained, things should be exactly the same for CDP or streaming.

From what I’ve heard from professional reviewers, CD sounds more musical, whereas streaming sounding more "exact", "clearer" and "cleaner" .... well you get the point. Personally I don’t understand since they should be the same.
pjr801's avatar
pjr801
192 posts
 
I'm in the boat as stated above that it depends on individual CDs --Poor mastering or copying a less than perfect source especially CDs at the beginning of the cd era. It's improved so much from the early 80s. I really disliked cd in its infancy but have found it has come of age. I still think good vinyl can show it a clean pair of heels.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
My opinion after all is said and done is that stock off-the-shelf untreated CDs played on stock untweaked systems generally sound thin, overly cleansed, bass shy, rolled off on top, brittle, hazy, congealed, dry, two dimensional, boomy, compressed, discombobulated, generic, unmusical, Meh, synthetic, unresolved, irritating, disappointing, boring, and like papier-mâché.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
Geoff, tell us how you really feel. 🤣 I know you appreciate the CD medium, so what tweaks help to avoid all those things you listed?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I’m not sure this is really the time or place. 😛
More to discover