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why still buy a cd player?

I'm relatively new to the audiophile world, and I'm trying to understand why anone who has a sonos system (or alike) and has stored his files on a server in a lossless format would still want to buy a CD player for best audiophile music quality.

here's my thinking:

if a lossless rip format is used, the data stored after ripping on a digital hard-disk is as good as cd quality - by definition-,...

with sonos i can get that data anywhere in the house without errors

so the only thing that matters is the conversion from digital to analog and the follow-up amplification.

Now,

i can go from sonos to a pre-amp using a digital port, then the pre-amp determines the DAC quality.

or I go from sonos to an amp after using the DAC in the sonos (and use the analog connection to the amp)

If I were to have a CDP connected digitally to a pre-amp, the pre-amp DAC would determine the quality of the sound. In that case I might as well skip the CDP and fall back on my sonos and connect it digitally to my pre-amp.

So the only benefit from a CDP player would come from using the DAC and thus the analog out of the CDP. Is my logic correct?

If this is correct, than I would only have better sound quality with a CDP if the DAC of the CD player exceeds the quality of the DAC of my sonos and of my pre-amp. Is my logic correct?

If it is, and since I can imagine that most $500k CD would have better DAC than a sonos, the real comparison is to figure out of the DAC of my pre-amp is better than the DAC of my CDP. If it does, than no need for a cdp, just use sonos. If it doesn't then a cdp would still provide better quality. Is that correct?

So, the decision to by a
I can imagine that a good cdp would exceed the
mizuno
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
I wrote the Sonos article for Dagogo.com, and I tested for those very things. Bottom line, a good high end cdp is still better than Sonos, even when Sonos is fed via digital coax to an outboard DAC.

Both the cdp's on board DAC and signal fed to the same outboard DAC as the Sonos used were superior.

For my casual listening I use the Sonos, but for critical listening I return to the cdp. The difference is not night and day, but enough to merit continued use of a good cdp.

Now, a $500 cdp as transport? Well, that might be a wash in terms of performance. If you get a very good older cdp it still has a chance to outperform Sonos.

I am not a fan of the "cheap transport and expensive DAC" club. The lack of quality comes through in the end result if the cheapo cdp is used as transport. So, if you're going to do it, put as much as you can into the transport; you'll get the return on it in sound quality.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
It depends on the DAC being used. If the DAC reclocks the signal, it is my understanding that there will not be huge, if any, difference in the source (transport). I certainly do not have a lot of experience in this, but I do not agree with Douglas in "put as much as you can into the transport".
cruz123
586 posts
 
The issue I have with PC/hard drive based audio is simply the complexity of getting to the end result. I.e. I have to figure out storage, what format to use to copy the music, the copying of the music, how do I get the music from the hard drive to my system, etc. When I think of all of these issues, I find my the simplicity of a CDP remains awfully attractive. Plus, as Mr. Schroeder states, whether you can actually surpass the sound quality of a high quality CDP is debatable.
kgturner's avatar
kgturner
663 posts
 
i use a squeezebox 3 connected to a 47 labs shigaraki dac. i could not tell the difference between the sb3 and the shigaraki transport i was previously using. the 47 labs transport and the sb3 were compared using a supratek dual cabernet preamp, yamamoto a-08s, and von schweikert dB99-SE speakers.

no matter how many times i tired, i could not tell the two apart. all my cd's are ripped to .wav using eac. the way i saw it, if the sound quality is identical, why keep the more expensive and less convenient piece of equipment? now, i'm considering upgrading to a transporter/emm dcc2 combo. i should be able to head to head my 47 labs dac and the emm dcc2's dac.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Plus, as Mr. Schroeder states, whether you can actually surpass the sound quality of a high quality CDP is debatable.
Everything in this hobby is debateable, and is.

The goal may not be to "surpass the sound quality", as you say, but rather for convenience. Can it be done with no loss of performnce? In my opinion I see no reason why not; and my limited experience bears this out.

Like you, I found the thought of creating a hard drive based system a bit daunting, though I believe this is (and will be) improving. This is why I found the Wadia i170 so intriguing when I first learned of it, as it was a way for me to do such a thing that seemed easy enough to me, and was. (That said, it lacks some great features of a PC based setup.)

I see no reason one has to rule out either option, although the future seems to be hard drive based.

Brian
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