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The Compact Disc Revival?

Large and butt-ugly?

And computer-grade transports not designed for real-time audio streaming from a CD.

Give me my “classic” Sony or Philips real-time transports any day.

My problem is that I see that as my new stuff, not as my vintage stuff. Very few of my CDs were bought used.

Rick “considering an outboard DAC, though” Denney
 
GChief said:
They had a resurgence for me over the last 6 months. This will be the 3rd and last time I try to go CD's instead of Vinyls. Already gave my player away now its time to pass along the CD's.

:beerchug:
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I like that pass along the CDs. This has been the greatest addition to my software in the last 5 years but it is hard to argue with CL Free, 100 CDs, of which 17 in the picture are already become part of the collection with the rest getting a play before the decision is made and then friends moving on and making their discs available. CDs are cheap right now, Like records 15 years ago, time to collect the music you want. But when folks come over they bring records...time to have the Reel to Reel ready with fresh tape.
 
I doesn't really matter which format you choose. LP, Tape, CD, Streaming, etc etc etc. Its all about the performance. If care was taken with artistic integrity and technical sophistication and care, the results will be satisfying depending on your tastes. Classical has been around for a long time giving the people trying to capture the sound plenty of previous successful recordings to imitate with newer performers or too surpass with care, years of study and practice to advance the art. I come from the school of KISS. Keep it simple stupid. The fewer gadgets in the recording chain seems to please me the most. Sheffield Direct to Disc, old Mercury living Presence, Telarc, and Reference Recordings. Even some of Commands classical recordings were fantastic as was their POP stuff if the Ping Pong was left at home. Verve did some real nice things, some not so nice. Its like all things in life when it comes to sound. Participate in any way you can to expand your hearing knowledge so you can recognize great performances captured faithfully by any format. Remember all formats are flawed. Don't believe all the sales hype. We are still along way from perfection. Take A piano for instance. Maybe you prefer the sound of a Piano Forte in a large concert hall or church sanctuary. Maybe you prefer an intimate sound. Maybe you want a dynamic performance by Oscar Peterson, or something more laid back by Count Basie. Maybe you get out a kick from listening to Lang Lang, maybe you don't. Don't worry about the Hertz, or the Ones and Zeros. its about the performance and how it was captured.
 
Lossless said:
Cool... Did those models ship with the Wolfson DAC also? Just curious.
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According to Wikipedia, all standard iPod models up to the sixth generation model (when it began to be known as the 'iPod Classic') used Wolfson audio chips; after that, they switched to using chips by Cirrus Logic, who eventually acquired Wolfson (and still provides audio chips for Apple's iPod Touch). Wolfson had also made audio chips for other manufacturers' MP3 players, including Microsoft's ill-fated Zune.
-Adam
 
Although I don't use a CD player any more, it's sure nice buying used ones dirt cheap for ripping purposes. I gave my collection to the local library.
 
AdamAnt316 said:
According to Wikipedia, all standard iPod models up to the sixth generation model (when it began to be known as the 'iPod Classic') used Wolfson audio chips; after that, they switched to using chips by Cirrus Logic, who eventually acquired Wolfson (and still provides audio chips for Apple's iPod Touch). Wolfson had also made audio chips for other manufacturers' MP3 players, including Microsoft's ill-fated Zune.
-Adam
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I kinda miss my old ZUNE. :(
 
My thoughts are doesn't a format have to die before it can be revived? I believe the CD format is on life support but it ain't dead yet. My prefered format of listening is vinyl but if I find something I don't have, and want a buck or two for a CD from a thrift isn't bad for a music freak like me. All you guys, keep ripping your CD collections and dumping them so I can keep buying them up for cheap. :P
 
CD never went away for me. I remember not eating school lunch so I could save the money and buy one CD every two weeks or so. Now I get a kick out of hitting the markdown bins at the used book store and leaving with a whole stack. I inherited the Marantz universal player that was part of my pop's home theatre. It was bought new around 2002 or so. Loading up a CD in it kind of rekindled the flame, and took me back to that broke high schooler that was drooling over all that stuff.
 
I saw this post just as I am considering getting my Reference Audio Mods CD player back into service.
It sounded better than my stand alone DAC with a MacBook Pro as the server, but I have gotten lazy and like the convenience of easily accessing the 300 CD's, which I ripped into Tunes in full WAV files.
I was having a difficult time maintaining my CD collection in good condition, so I got into the habit of copying new discs and playing them instead of the originals.
When I could afford a good system, I had a talk with myself and decided, based on past attempts that I couldn't maintain a vinyl collection in good condition. One snap, crackle or pop was the end of an album for me. I kept buying new copies of my favorite albums, which is why I entered the digital domain.
 
I don't know about a revival. Maybe it's a little early for that. It's still a format in decline as far as I can tell. Availability of discs and players is still shrinking in my part of the world.

CD is not the format of my youth, either. It was 1983 or 4 when I bought in. I would have been around 27 years old. But...when I bought in, I bought in big time and whole hog, and have never looked back. I did try out the DVD-A and SACD formats, but we all know how that story goes. I love the compact disc! Best thing since sliced bread, audio-wise. Streaming is cool and no doubt that's where the herd's going, but I'm too old to keep up with the herd. Plus, I prefer to own, not rent, music that I love. So, I'm still bullish on CD's and players.
 
I
rollcentre said:
CD never went away for me. I remember not eating school lunch so I could save the money and buy one CD every two weeks or so. Now I get a kick out of hitting the markdown bins at the used book store and leaving with a whole stack. I inherited the Marantz universal player that was part of my pop's home theatre. It was bought new around 2002 or so. Loading up a CD in it kind of rekindled the flame, and took me back to that broke high schooler that was drooling over all that stuff.
Click to expand...

I remember skipping lunch in school on general principle (mystery meat was one of the worst).
I also remember being amazed by CDs in the 1980s, and buying them with what little cash I could scrape together. I bought my non-audiophile ADC player with the suspect drawer with summer job funds. I kept that thing for 10 years.
 
CDs never really went away for me but took a back seat to vinyl for a while until I purchased a Parasound top-load, belt drive player and Bel Canto outboard dac.
Now I'm going broke buying Japanese import CDs of my vinyl collection and new-to-me artists.
Never any mercy!
 
55Redneck said:
I believe the CD format is...
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In truth, Redbook CD is *not* a format. It is merely one of many different media choices to house PCM. Just a very low capacity one.

As for me, I enjoy being able to store my 950 album digital library (including lots of 24 bit high resolution PCM) on one of these:

sd.jpg
 
To me the CD is a vehicle (or maybe vessel) that delivers lossless tracks to my NAS drive, nothing else. I prefer downloads nowadays but sometimes CD's can be a better bargain although that seems to be changing.
 
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dosmalo said:
Now I'm going broke buying Japanese import CDs of my vinyl collection and new-to-me artists.
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The Japanese music market is the second biggest in the world and, as of 2016, still have 70% of its music being sold on a physical medium.

There are many catalog albums by American and European artists that aren't released or re-released anywhere else but in Japan.
 
soundboy said:
The Japanese music market is the second biggest in the world and, as of 2016, still have 70% of its music being sold on a physical medium.

There are many catalog albums by American and European artists that aren't released or re-released anywhere else but in Japan.
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Plus I like the mini-LP sleeves and artwork as opposed to the jewel boxes.
And I thought buying and switching gear around was bad!o_O
 
I can remember when the local radio stations here installed their first cd players, and was pushing that the
new format was going to be the cleanest sound you've ever heard over the air. No more popping, hissing
or scratchiness, and they were going to be gradually replacing vinyl with the new format. One station here
was actually having a countdown to the day and time the first cd was being played over the air.
I am like most others. Cd revival? Maybe in the newer generations. In 1990 you would have never
convinced me that vinyl would make a great comeback and have the huge following like it has in recent
years, but it has, there's no denying that.
 
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