CD players are back ?

[sandyk]

3 minutes ago, new_media said:

 

...which is essentially a highly specialized computer. 

 However, it also has a way better than internal CD Rom and Transport area and ONLY has to worry about disc contents saving and playback. Neither does it use an SMPS. It uses a linear PSU with an A.C. voltage input for the selected market.

[matthias]

1 hour ago, NOMBEDES said:

The best CD "player" in the world is the PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport and DAC (IMO).

 

On this thread they came to another conclusion:

 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/if-you-still-spin-cd-s-their-is-a-reference-level-transport-for-reasona

 

Matt

[NOMBEDES]

9 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

On this thread they came to another conclusion:

 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/if-you-still-spin-cd-s-their-is-a-reference-level-transport-for-reasona

 

Matt

 

That is what is so great about audio, we all can enjoy music 🎼 at any price point and any format!

[mansr]

48 minutes ago, matthias said:

How did you come to this conclusion?

He looked at the price tag.

[fas42]

53 minutes ago, NOMBEDES said:

 

On my system, yes.

 

People should tattoo that phrase on their back, IMO. Getting the "best" components, and hooking them together with whatever else you have has close to zero chance of instantly making a rig 'magical' - It's the System, Stupid!  .

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, NOMBEDES said:

 

That is what is so great about audio, we all can enjoy music 🎼 at any price point and any format!

 

 Did I miss the part where the cheaper transport also  played files from System Memory ? (I may have )

[Miska]

1 hour ago, sandyk said:

 However, it also has a way better than internal CD Rom and Transport area and ONLY has to worry about disc contents saving and playback. Neither does it use an SMPS. It uses a linear PSU with an A.C. voltage input for the selected market.

 

What I checked the pictures yesterday, that one seemed to use normal SATA connected CD/DVD/BD drive. So it's ripping the disc on the fly, like I do too.

 

[sandyk]

4 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

What I checked the pictures yesterday, that one seemed to use normal SATA connected CD/DVD/BD drive. So it's ripping the disc on the fly, like I do too.

 

 

I guess that it mainly comes down to how much is stored in System Memory at a time ?

WRT the earlier model PWT that I previously mentioned, I now recall that my friend made further improvements in the PSU area that lifted it's performance higher, as Audiophile Neuroscience reported after hearing it as both  standard, and after the modifications.

 I haven't been able to find out yet which DAC was used in conjunction with the PWT originally though.

 

[NOMBEDES]

I would direct your attention to the PS Audio web site where a full explanation of the transport and DAC is presented. 

 

1 hour ago, sandyk said:

 

 Did I miss the part where the cheaper transport also  played files from System Memory ? (I may have )

 

Programable DAC, No USB, etc, you get quite a bit without way way high priceing

 dCS, I am looking at you!,

 

 

[ajay556]

I think people are thinking CD devices are inferior. But the problem is most cd players today use CD ROMS or SACD devices which degrades CD playing . Moreover, if you have a clock that handles several formats 44,96, DSD it degrades the clock for RBCD 

 

 

I just compared a new digital source and dac/preamp $12k to a

Dedicated new CD player (it only plays CDs at 44 and nothing else) with separate preamp - $12k

So my comparison here is primarily what you get for same price - 

The CD player was more musical.

 example - i do play the piano and very familiar with the sound - CD was much closer to the actual piano sound.  The difference was not subtle but rather very signficant.

I don't want to reveal the brands as i feel it will upset a lot of folks.

 

 

[mav52]

I still enjoy playing CD's.

[fas42]

43 minutes ago, ajay556 said:

.... Moreover, if you have a clock that handles several formats 44,96, DSD it degrades the clock for RBCD 

 

 

I just compared a new digital source and dac/preamp $12k to a

Dedicated new CD player (it only plays CDs at 44 and nothing else) with separate preamp - $12k

So my comparison here is primarily what you get for same price - 

The CD player was more musical.

 example - i do play the piano and very familiar with the sound - CD was much closer to the actual piano sound.  The difference was not subtle but rather very signficant.

I don't want to reveal the brands as i feel it will upset a lot of folks.

 

 

 

Having multiple clock capability is a generic weakness, IMO - unless extremely well engineered it's highly likely to be audibly noticeable.

 

The simplicity of the CDP will win through, all else being equal - digital playback currently is still too 'fragile', and the 'musicality' of the presentation is the first thing that suffers.

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

On 1/11/2019 at 10:23 AM, sandyk said:

 I haven't been able to find out yet which DAC was used in conjunction with the PWT originally though.

 

It was likely the Bricasti M1. Dennis eventually changed to  Rockna DAC (bad move IMO). Dave kept his PWT and bought my Bricasti (which he modified) when I changed to Kalliope.

[The_K-Man]

86 all this fancy crap I'm hearing about on here lately - Rockna, Bricasti, Kalliope, Colostomy etc - I just use a good ol Sony carousel changer from 20 years ago!  Like I said: a great album will shine through on anything.   I'm not 'in love with my equipment' aka audiophile - I'm 'in love' with the music!

[sandyk]

15 minutes ago, The_K-Man said:

- I just use a good ol Sony carousel changer from 20 years ago!

 

The question needs to be asked : Why are you a member of an Audiophile Forum other than to be a Troll ?

You obviously have no interest in the latest technology !

[The_K-Man]

21 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 

The question needs to be asked : Why are you a member of an Audiophile Forum other than to be a Troll ?

You obviously have no interest in the latest technology !

 

All I'm saying is:  If everything is properly hooked up, and it's not some cheap fisher price bookshelf stereo, but a decent set of components, you're good to go.

 

On the other hand, if you got only two strands of a speaker wire hooked up on one side, a ripped speaker cone on the other, a cracked or worn solder mother board inside your receiver or playback components, a faulty ground system in your house, or staticky knobs and switches when you operate them, THEN you'll hear a difference in the sound!

 

Or perhaps lots of noise.. Or nothing at all.

 

Be grateful for what you have, and stop trying to run a mile to gain an inch(or a km to gain a cm if you prefer!)

 

Grab the most worn out scratchy vinyl you can of 'HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY' by George Jones and put it on some kiddy recor-player.  That song'll make you choke up no matter what you play it on!

 

If it doesn't then I can't help you.

[jabbr]

5 hours ago, The_K-Man said:

86 all this fancy crap I'm hearing about on here lately - Rockna, Bricasti, Kalliope, Colostomy etc - I just use a good ol Sony carousel changer from 20 years ago!  Like I said: a great album will shine through on anything.   I'm not 'in love with my equipment' aka audiophile - I'm 'in love' with the music!

 

If you were actually only in love with the music, then you wouldn’t be opposed to using new technology that eases the process of listening. Perhaps you’d like Spotify or YouTube like the millennials, or in my case I have a collection of thousands of discs I’ve accumulated over the years, and keep them in my home library (NAS) and can access them wherever I choose to sit in my house. Or I can load them onto my phone for when I’m out of f the house. If you actually were just in love with the music why would you want to get up and look for a specific CD? or record? My favorite vinyls would be horribly scratched and worn by now. If you were actually only in love with the music a carousel changer would be horribly limited.

[The_K-Man]

2 hours ago, jabbr said:

 

If you were actually only in love with the music, then you wouldn’t be opposed to using new technology that eases the process of listening. Perhaps you’d like Spotify or YouTube like the millennials, or in my case I have a collection of thousands of discs I’ve accumulated over the years, and keep them in my home library (NAS) and can access them wherever I choose to sit in my house. Or I can load them onto my phone for when I’m out of f the house. If you actually were just in love with the music why would you want to get up and look for a specific CD? or record? My favorite vinyls would be horribly scratched and worn by now. If you were actually only in love with the music a carousel changer would be horribly limited.

 

We share a lot of the same methodologies.  It's my sources though, that matter:  Mostly original CDs, a few 'remasters' I keep around to demonstrate and remind others that - at least for the popular genres(pop, hip hop, country) - they are little more than just compress-or-limit and crank-em-up jobs(!).   

 

Tracks from those CDs follow me everywhere I go, as higher bitrate mp3s on my phone or iPod.

[Allan F]

8 hours ago, The_K-Man said:

All I'm saying is:  If everything is properly hooked up, and it's not some cheap fisher price bookshelf stereo, but a decent set of components, you're good to go...

 

Grab the most worn out scratchy vinyl you can of 'HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY' by George Jones and put it on some kiddy record-player.  That song'll make you choke up no matter what you play it on!

 

So what you are really saying is that you have no interest in sound quality. Therefore, your talk about not being able to hear differences between MP3 and higher quality formats is meaningless. You start convinced that there is no difference and you don't want to hear a difference, so you don't hear any - a classic case of expectation bias. Given that, what conclusion can be reached other than that your presence on an audiophile forum is simply to troll? Your statement about "spreading science" is nothing more than a false justification or distraction.

 

[The_K-Man]

6 minutes ago, Allan F said:

 

So what you are really saying is that sound quality means nothing to you. Therefore, your talk about not being able to hear differences between MP3 and higher quality formats is meaningless. You don't want to hear a difference so you don't. It's called expectation bias.

 

My goal is to hear and listen to the MUSIC, not the medium. 

 

And yes, I have the common sense, when listening to a record, to expect an occasional click, pop, or some hiss, because I know, with reasonable certainty, that I *did* pull a large round black disc out of its sleeve, and not a small shiny metallic one.  That when in a car, to expect a reasonable amount of road and wind noise, and to not expect the same bass extension from the car's factory stereo as I do from my home rig....

 

...Unless I wanted to spend a couple $thousand upgrading the car head unit and speakers so that system sounds more like the one at home. But then I'd be an audiophile to do that.

[Miska]

20 hours ago, ajay556 said:

Dedicated new CD player (it only plays CDs at 44 and nothing else) with separate preamp - $12k

 

There's no way I'm going to spend $12k on an old school CD player (or vinyl rig for that matter). Sorry. If it costs that much just to get data out of silver disc "properly" (with same SHA256 checksum as BD-drive rip), then it is really horribly bad engineering. You can exceed the theoretical technical performance of RedBook with hires and $2k computer + DAC.

 

I'm not even buying CD's anymore.

 

[The_K-Man]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

There's no way I'm going to spend $12k on an old school CD player (or vinyl rig for that matter). Sorry. If it costs that much just to get data out of silver disc "properly" (with same SHA256 checksum as BD-drive rip), then it is really horribly bad engineering. You can exceed the theoretical technical performance of RedBook with hires and $2k computer + DAC.

 

I'm not even buying CD's anymore.

 

 

'Proper' CD playback can be had for less than  $30 at the local Savers or Goodwill.  And I'm sure Best Buy or another electronics big box will sell you a new changer or single CD for under $200.   Plus any DVD or Blu Ray still plays Red Book for cryin' out loud!  

 

Making some minor adjustments to your listening space will yield far greater gains than spending thousands per CD or vinyl deck.  Ave Maria... !   

[Miska]

4 minutes ago, The_K-Man said:

Making some minor adjustments to your listening space will yield far greater gains than spending thousands per CD or vinyl deck.  Ave Maria... !   

 

Not to even mention something like digital room correction or other things that DSP can bring...

[semente]

4 hours ago, The_K-Man said:

My goal is to hear and listen to the MUSIC, not the medium.

 

Accuracy takes you closer to the sound/music.

[ajay556]

 

11 minutes ago, semente said:

 

Accuracy takes you closer to the sound/music.

 Yes that should be all be everyones goal here regardless of what technology we use and what notions we have.