Another CD-Player vs. PC question:

"Mapman, just curious, have you had an audiogram test recently?"

Yes, have you? That could be why the CDs sound bland to you.

They sound fine to me, at least when played on good gear that is working properly.

When I first heard a CD(Ride The Lightning of Metallica) in late 80's, it realy sounded bland. I felt like I'm missing half of what I heard from vinyl. Than I've got some Jimi Hendrix reissues on CD which were simply a joke. Than long long time I refused to deal with digital media until mid-90's when they started to become descent.

Czarivey, good observation. Early CD were often recorded from not properly corrected tapes and digitized with jittery A/D clocks. This type of recorded jitter cannot be suppressed and the only way out is to digitize again, assuming that analog tapes still exist. They also went insane with number of microphones, since digital recording allowed for many more tracks. Microphone technics changed over time and everything matured but it took, as you noticed, many years. Today I have some recordings that are simply breathtaking showing no inherent flaw in the media.

Perhaps vinyl can be superior sounding, but I find it impractical. Investing and optimizing one system instead of two seems better to me since there is a lot of music not available on LP.

I understand now, And I agree about how digital recordings are alot better these day's. It kills me to try to listen to some old disc!

As a whole, CD quality is much better since mid 90's. I have read of various technical factors since then that account for this and observe this in practice as well.

I may not like how all modern CDs are mastered and put together by the producers, but the technical quality of the content overall is much more consistent and the best recordings perhaps also just a tad superior as well. The technology has matured fully these days I would say.