Is it worth upgrading a CD player?

In my mind, CDs and streaming should always co-exist. I stream plenty via Tidal Hi-Fi Plus and other services (through a Bluesound NODE 2i), but most of my listening is spent with CDs (lots of jazz, but other genres, as well). A couple years ago I decided to upgrade with a CDP that would complement my Rega Elex-R integrated; I picked-up a used Rega Apollo CD player and haven’t looked back.

An important consideration about modern streaming is that when we stream a classic album, we’re usually hearing the record company’s latest remaster. That can often mean a louder, more distorted reissue when compared to the original and/or earlier remasters. Those earlier versions are rarely available to stream, having been replaced by the remaster of the moment.

Having collected CDs since 1985, I have many original issues, including many Japanese- and German-made discs, which mostly sound superior to remasters currently streaming. So to answer the original question, yes it’s absolutely worth upgrading a CD player!

+1 on getting a transport, if you are happy with your present DAC

Thanks again for the comments. I’ll look into which transports pair well with the Audiolab M-DAC+.
 

+1 Charles1dad

@ghdprentice I think you misunderstood my post.  I meant that a streamer must work hard to deal with dropped bits and upgrading your streamer is key.  I have gone to an Innuos Zenith Mk3.  But I think the CD transport has much less tendancy to drop bits and thus any good solid well designed CD transport should get a good stream of bits to your DAC.  However, I am not sure about that and was hoping someone could confirm that CD transports drop very few bits.

Jerry