CD format war and resultant music players

Well then, would somebody be willing to talk about where real audiophile equipment manufacturers are at with computerized music. I am not talking about mp3, ipod, or any mid-fi companies. I am talking about, if such exists, of people at the caliber of Levinson, Meridian, Linn type. I am the traditionalist into disc players, preamps and amps, thus am unfamiliar with exotically new technologies. It would help knowing about the technology and how far on the horizon might it be. Thanks.

This is not exotica, basically the computer just replaces the transport. Computerized music is the same as CD music in the sense that it is the same data so it doesn't matter if Levinson gets on board or not. It just a more convenient way to store and manipulate the data. It also has the advantage that ripped with the proper software you can get an error free copy stored on your hard drive. Once you've ripped the disc all you have to do is add a DAC that the computer can talk to via the USB port. There are some like Wavelength's and modified products from Emperical Audio that are USB compatible, or you can get a USB - spdif converter and use any DAC you want, including a Levinson.

Don't underestimate this technology, it is very mature. Computers and DACs have been around for quite a while and the only thing that could be considered "new" is the USB interface, and this is also really just a mature technology being used in a slightly new way.

Very true Herman. I don't understand what the big deal is with computers and audio. My computer has a digital out as well as firewire. I have a computer with my sound system and it is connected to my DAC with the digital output. It works like a regular DVD or CD player except it is a pain in the arse to use like a computer is prone to be. I seldom use it for CD playback but have stored a few CDs on it just because I could. It comes in handy for playing DVDs from other regions as well as PAL discs. Of course you need software like DVD Regionfree from dvdidle.com for this to work.

The next "audiophile" media will be vinyl. Oops, its already happening. Vinyl and vinyl playback systems are booming, and CD and SACD sales are dropping.

The transport from the hard drive itself into your DAC involves a number of components--the hard drive cable, the motherboard, the soundcard, the I/O between the sound card and the DAC, and all sort of computer components that could general noises to the line. And I don't know about performance differences between various multimedia softwares regarding their reading of these digital information. One would think that pure "1" and "0" binary numbers from your hard drive are just that until they are converted into analog signal by your DAC. Yet CD transport is a technology by itself. So what about hard drive transport? It would help if the real audiophile manufacturers say yeah or neh as opposed to relying on the computer geeks.

So then, now we just have the top end CD players and turntables. Only a few years from now, somebody decides to turn a reader that just reads CDs into one that reads CDs and hard drives. The player could be an independent box hooked up to your DAC or preamp. Or it could be an audiophile computer. Will I have to invest in such music player all over again, after doing something about my system now? I rather think not. The point is that hard drive is rich with space. A lot of digital information could be stored per song to make it sounds good relative to redbook CDs. So the general public have their boring computers to download music. While these audiophile companies turn the hard drive transport system into good sound producting computer. And who knows what kind of preamp it takes to receive such signal from the hard drive transport.

This hard drive thing is a serious contender. It's not just us amateurs talking here. I read an article in Sound and Vision a few hours ago discussing the shrinking market of CDs in light of music download. The professionals already started throw up out number of years before possible disappearance, complete or partial, of CDs. That article even mentioned certain bands who won't release music into CDs. Instead it would strictly be for downloading. Somebody complained about how the recording studios took all their money through CD mastering and distribution.