Not because of better sound quality, but my CD collection includes content that Qobuz does not. Unless you have a high-quality CD/DVD drive, economical digital transporters like the MXN10 can easily outperform it.
Why Do ~You~ Still Play CDs?
I'm curious why you still play CDs in the age of streaming. I recently got back into CD listening and I'm curious if your reasons align with mine, which are:
- Enjoying the physical medium—the tactile nature of the case, the disc, the booklet, etc.
- Forcing myself to actually listen to an album, versus being easily distracted by an algorithm, or "what's next" in my playlist.
- Actually owning the music I purchase, versus being stuck with yet another monthly subscription.
Others?
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- 105 posts total
@soix im not sure i fully buy the noise argument. Along those same lines, what about noise from signal transmission within servers at Tidal, transmission to my house etc? The McIntosh CD transport is the shortest and least tampered-with signal IMO. I’ve heard plenty of streamers including on my own speakers (Wilson Audio) at the dealer and to my ears, it’s inferior to CD and vinyl. |
I'm a "vinyl guy", but used CDs are cheap and plentiful and nearly indestructible. Once I have them, I make a backup copy to my network, making it easy to stream them. They are more convenient than vinyl, you can pause them, skip tracks, etc. They take up a lot less space than vinyl. And I have an excellent CD playback system. Actually two now, I recently bought a converter to send the audio from my Oppo HDMI out to the i2s input of my Rockna Signature Wavedream DAC. The Rockna Wavedream NET server also provides excellent CD playback, but it only does Redbook. The converter lets me play the DSD layer of SACDs from the Oppo through the Rockna DAC. Some of the SACDs are really great. |
- 105 posts total