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Why are CDs the current hot topic?

Mart Mccall said:
No but brand new it's £14.23 delivered. Not mega money.

The cheapest on vinyl is £25.43 delivered.

I've paid over £30 for a rare CD (used) a couple of times but mostly never more than £4. But I suppose if you are exclusively into obscure music you won't find much in the bargain bins.

Case damage is no problem, I have a boxful of new cases which was not expensive.
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Yeah, might not be mega money but $18 is not cheap, and it definitely can be purchased for less in the US. I paid $10 a few years ago.

Been lucky a few times either in used bins, or new. Jef Gilson New Call From France, Sonny Simmons Staying On Watch. Miles Davis Directions. Was always looking for unusual Japan CD's with OBI's in bargain bins.

I did pay $40 for this a few years ago on Ebay.

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And $30 for this on amazon after finding the original LP at the thrift.

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Oasis8 said:
Just thinking about some that have expressed poor sounding CDs at the advent of CDs, and a factor that could have been relevant at that time in the poor sound, maybe have had nothing to do with the CDs and everything to do with players that used Sony's first 16 bit chipset that was woeful sounding.
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Somewhat. Some were bordering on needle drops. I still have two black face copies of Dark Side Of The Moon. They are collectible and are not very good. I listened to one last night through a Sony NS999ES so it's not the player, or the Hafler 220, 101, or the Yamaha NS 1000's.
 
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malden said:
I agree with your entire post (#44) except "less player maintenance"

I have in my collection about a dozen vintage turntables, most of which work. I also have about a dozen CD players, but only one works and it is a very recent NAD.

I don't yet have the guts to open one of those malfunctioning plastic, integrated circuit contraptions to figure out what the problems are. Nonetheless, I enjoy my NAD and my vast collection of CD's
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I was really alluding to TT usage compared to the CD players. Just wanted to be cryptic as others had made related "comments" on the disc source for sound. Analog players can be more temperamental.


Q
 
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Oasis8 said:
Just thinking about some that have expressed poor sounding CDs at the advent of CDs, and a factor that could have been relevant at that time in the poor sound, maybe have had nothing to do with the CDs and everything to do with players that used Sony's first 16 bit chipset that was woeful sounding.
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The loudness wars also factor into this, as well as perhaps inferior ADC & DAC units that were available over 40 years ago, compared to what's available today, especially with regard to pro recording gear. yes, CDs came out 43 years ago and the technology is slightly older than that. by comparison, stereophonic long playing vinyls format was just 25 years old when CDs were introduced and mono vinyls are just 9 years older than that.
 
Late to the party (I only listen at home to CDs, vinyl, FM). I just ordered more vinyl (Living Stereo reissues) and SACDs. But, unlike some of you more-seasoned audiophiles, perhaps, I find it very difficult to discern the sonic differences between earlier and later pressings when I have lit fireworks lodged between my butt cheeks.
 
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"lit fireworks lodged between my butt cheeks"

I attended this large CD release party, April 18th, 1998 in Athens, GA

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Gigantic said:
The Smithsonian “Ethiopiques” collection is outstanding.
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That is good stuff, though I can't say that I've heard all that much of it. There is some 30-40 recordings in the series and I only have a couple of them. I like the vocal stuff that I've heard, but I particularly dig the instrumental material by Mulatu Astake, which as obscure as it surely was when it was recorded in the 70s, is oddly popular now, as I've heard this music in moves, on the radio, and have had friends bring it up. I had to look it up, but it appears that these series wasn't put out by the Smithsonian, but by a French label, Buda Musique.
 
I'll just say that this whole CD revival thing, if it really even is a thing (I'm not yet seeing higher prices in my area), is kind of funny to me. I get that preferences of format are for all sorts of reasons, and certainly not purely sound quality, but I find it amusing that something that's a little more on the objectives side of things, the actual sound quality, has been so controversial. I can remember so many years ago when CDs were first becoming a thing and the general consensus, at least among all I knew, was that this format was vastly sonically superior to the LP. Looking back on it though, there were certainly issues with the SQ, like poorly transferred recordings and less sophisticated players (though I understand that high end players of that era sounded very good). Now that there is more awareness by the companies about sound quality issues in transferring masters to CD (the brick-walling off more popular stuff notwithstanding, though this is sure a factor with LPs versions as well) and so much attention has been paid to the digital-analog transfer side of things, with DACs being a kind of mini-industry all it's own, lots of folks are saying that LPs are sonically superior. I could imagine that if this CD revival thing really happens that lots of the same people that were diehard vinyl fans, who were all about the "analog sound" will jump on board...
 
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RunOutGroove said:
That is good stuff, though I can't say that I've heard all that much of it. There is some 30-40 recordings in the series and I only have a couple of them. I like the vocal stuff that I've heard, but I particularly dig the instrumental material by Mulatu Astake, which as obscure as it surely was when it was recorded in the 70s, is oddly popular now, as I've heard this music in moves, on the radio, and have had friends bring it up. I had to look it up, but it appears that these series wasn't put out by the Smithsonian, but by a French label, Buda Musique.
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I really like the ones from Mahmoud Ahmed, Alayu Eshete & Samuel Belay. For some reason, I’d attributed it to the Smithsonian, their folkways records were out around that same period and my memory is decidedly poor of late.
 
sanford12 said:
I've got CD's that are unlistenable due to poor recording. One in particular is Dave Mason's Like You Never Left. CD or LP the SQ just sucks which is made worse that the music is quite good. Bought a Japanese CD of it, nope just as bad.
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It happens. I had one CD that was a compilation of 'The Outlaws' songs (Willie, Waylon, and the rest) that was almost unplayable a few years back. Another one was a Bob Seeger album. A third was the sound track to 'Zorba the Greek', and the recording itself was unbelievably bad. But I have probably over a thousand CDs that I've had no problems with. Certainly, the failure rate I've had with CDs is lower than what I had with vinyl records before I gave them up for good. Everyone has their reasons for how they prefer their music. To each his own. But I had vinyl from the early 60s when I was a little kid, to 1985. I gave it a shot, and decided vinyl was no longer for me, and I'm sticking to it. I don't do streaming either.
 
This thread has inspired me to listen to my CDs, I have about 250, mainly from 1995-2003. Here's my take: they offer the inconvenience of vinyls with less of the tactile qualities that make vinyls appealing and offer the SQ of average rate streaming. I guess it's ok, but if I'm going to be getting off of my sofa every 30-70 minutes, I'd rather play vinyls and in many cases, streaming sounds a little better and generally, not worse and I can change what I'm listing to from my seat. I had planned on selling most of my CDs for credit at my neighborhood record store and I'm still torn on keeping them or trading them for more vinyls. :dunno:
 
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Gigantic said:
This thread has inspired me to listen to my CDs, I have about 250, mainly from 1995-2003. Here's my take: the offer the inconvenience of vinyls with less of the tactile qualities that make vinyls appealing and offer the SQ of average rate streaming.
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Being digital copies, they offer the exact sound quality of whatever master tape or file they were taken from, so don't really understand this comment.
 
Mart Mccall said:
Being digital copies, they offer the exact sound quality of whatever master tape or file they were taken from, so don't really understand this comment.
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A significant amount of streaming content from Apple Music is hi-res, 24 bit, 96kHz or 192kHz files, taken either from the analog masters, in the case of classics like Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, or in the example of new releases from the original digital masters. It is noticeably better in a revealing system than 16 bit, 44kHz Redbook CD audio.
 
This thread has inspired me to begin thinning out the vinyls and CDs I no longer enjoy listening to... steaming is nothing I am interested in , but I do plan to hook up an external FM antenna so I can enjoy some free audio.
 
Gigantic said:
A significant amount of streaming content from Apple Music is hi-res, 24 bit, 96kHz or 192kHz files, taken either from the analog masters, in the case of classics like Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, or in the example of new releases from the original digital masters. It is noticeably better in a revealing system than 16 bit, 44kHz Redbook CD audio.
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How much of the content on Apple Music is taken from different sources than the CD version? (Or in the case of new stuff, the lossless version I can get on Bandcamp)
 
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