The CD player is dead.......

Aplhifi, I think you're conflating several issues into one. A cheap CD drive is perfectly capable of delivering a perfect bit performance as far as data goes. If it couldn't, it would be useless in a computer. Corrupted data is no more useful to computer program than it is to a music system.

Of course, the drive may also be producing digital hash that gets picked up by the analog circuiting.

If the cheap and electrically noisy CD drive is side-by-side with the fancy audio electronics, it will likely influence the sound.

An, if a cheap drive has its output rebuffered, then it can't be blamed for a jittery signal - the buffer isn't doing its job.

If that cheap CD drive is in a computer far away from the stereo and is only being used to transfer data to another storage device, I become far more skeptical that there is an issue.

I rip my CDs to a music server (as noted earlier in this thread) and I've gone through several computers and optical drives over the years. I've yet to come across a situation where I can tell the difference between a file ripped on a Sony drive versus an Lite-On or other drive. Same thing with hard drives. I don't go "boy that Western Digital drive just doesn't have the same tone as my old Seagate...."

Of course, I keep my computer equipment away from my stereo in a different room.

Once again, in your next to last paragraph, you comingle two separate issues - jitter and noise. Jitter is a timing error that occurs when the data packet is converted to an analog sound. Jitter can be caused and addressed by several different issues.

EMI is a byproduct of the operation of digital circuits and other electrical devices. Good practice dictates that care be taken in circuit design to minimize that issue. It's tough to do that right in cheap products.

Finally, please do not put me in the "everything sounds the same" box. I've spent a lot of years picking out the equipment I like.

And I've also never said a word about MP3s in this discussion. The bulk of my collection is ripped to FLAC and I download very little music. Less than one-quarter of 1% of my collection is downloaded. Approximately 40% is material I've converted myself from LP and open reel to digital. (I'm in my 9th year of converting my analog collection to digital and working on another album as I type this.)

So to wrap this up, if you are going to have a CDP sitting on your system rack, it is important that it is a well designed piece of kit. If you are going to tell me that I can't get a bit perfect rip using the Sony drive in my DAW, then I guess we'll have to disagree.

I resent being classified as being "lazy" because I choose to do other things with my time, rather than spend it on an activity that I consider immature and unreliable.

Alex - I'm pretty sure that most of CDP don't spin faster and FIFO buffer is filled in real time just to take out jitter (while PLL keeps same average of both clocks). $19.95 Pioneer is not necessarily much worse then $6000 Esoteric since Pioneer is produced in milions. Also Esoteric drive alone doesn't cost $6000 (more like $600?).

Computer CD Drive doesn't have any particular speed during ripping process - it is program controlled and changes from 1x to about 20x on my Mac.

Server based system and mentioned Esoteric might sound different because of different electronics. Use top quality DAC in the system and to many it might sound better then Esoteric.

In my setup computer noise induced jitter doesn't make much difference since data is send to Airport Express not as a stream but as files/packets. AE decodes data and spits it out with its own clock achieving, according to Stereophile measurement 250ps word clock jitter. Dacs have usually some means of reducing jitter (like PLL). Benchmark DAC1 does even more but some people don't like upsampling or oversampling converters.

Mlsstl- the 90% was never mine, the stats were never mine, and I was never the source of the Propaganda. Neither was I the source of any facts, distorted or otherwise. The Source is a little group of obsessive, compulsive braggards who want to control what everyone else listens to! These People claim to ME, that THEY are the 90% therefore I should shut the hell up and do what I am told, convenient! What is also convenient is YOU laying respondsibility for THEIR propaganda at my feet, can you read, I never claimed ownership of that either! On the contrary, I think that it is insightful into how their little minds, and yours, work. You go on worrying about Stats all you want, I'm talking about intent here! What is the intent behind those who want to get rid of the CD Format? Why are they so desperate to lie, cheat , and steal to accomplish their goal? What is your intent behind laying their intent at my feet? That is really sweet trying to hide your intent behind Stats, nice try. Blaming me for the misinformation of others, now THAT is REAL special! You didn't really honestly think that this was going to work did you? I would say nice try, except it was way too transparent even for that. What was that attempt, a 200 LB. cockroach crawling across a white rug? REAL suttle there Mlsstl, with the finese of a Chimpanzee performing Brain Surgery. I would almost be tempted to believe your rant, except for one very important thing. The fact that you are ranting it tells me that I am hitting a nerve. Was that your honest opinion of me, or were you just squealing in pain? Why do those who believe themselves to be part of their delusional 90% squeal the loudest when they can't get their own way with CD? I can see that I am going to have to keep on pounding on that nerve till I get some answers! Why should you even care what happens to the CD Format? What is it to you? Don't try to couch your answers in Stats, what IS the CD Format to you guys anyways? Is it the most dire threat to Downloading, a clear and present danger that absolutely MUST be eliminated at all costs? Why should you guys even care WHAT Format others are listening to? Conspiracy, nah!
You guys can't EVEN keep a secret. You have your intent written all over your face! If you are trying to perpetuate a Conspiracy, this is the worst bumbling that I have ever seen since Richard Nixon or the Keystone Cops! You can drop the pretence, we ALL know what it is that you guys really want, and it is NOT to help or enlighten the rest of us. It is not about Sex, Music, Formats, Stats, it is about P-O-W-E-R! If you can't have it (CD) you will end up running home crying to your Mommie! What part of NO (CD), doesn't your child like brain understand?

You're a real slice, PO! And the acronym is appropriate, too.

See you around...