I realize that everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion. BUT this thread gives me the impression that some contributors are in a time warp writing as though it’s 10 or 15 years ago. Physical media has really gone the way of the 8-track tape, except for delivering the media to you, but not to your DAC.
The music can be entirely yours if you copy your disks, buy new ones and copy (though I prefer buying used CDs) or download music files from commercial sites. Most who commit to hard disk have a backup disk. They’re cheap enough. You will also have the opportunity to stream. Some like to do that at intervals to try out music for eventual purchase.
Also, not all bits are the same. It matters how the bits are managed as they flow into your DAC. The "bits are bits" argument was settled a long time ago. It is simply not true. A very good disk player that would be required to meet your standard will be quite expensive, is already obsolete, and can be outperformed in SQ by more up to date devices once your media is on hard disk.
Finally, as so often happens here, many are advising you buy what they have bought and what pleases them. You have to figure out what you what in a digital set-up to meet your needs. It's easily as complicated these days, maybe more, than picking a TT, arm, cartridge and phono pre.
The music can be entirely yours if you copy your disks, buy new ones and copy (though I prefer buying used CDs) or download music files from commercial sites. Most who commit to hard disk have a backup disk. They’re cheap enough. You will also have the opportunity to stream. Some like to do that at intervals to try out music for eventual purchase.
Also, not all bits are the same. It matters how the bits are managed as they flow into your DAC. The "bits are bits" argument was settled a long time ago. It is simply not true. A very good disk player that would be required to meet your standard will be quite expensive, is already obsolete, and can be outperformed in SQ by more up to date devices once your media is on hard disk.
Finally, as so often happens here, many are advising you buy what they have bought and what pleases them. You have to figure out what you what in a digital set-up to meet your needs. It's easily as complicated these days, maybe more, than picking a TT, arm, cartridge and phono pre.
