Why are CDs the current hot topic?
- Thread starter H2oman7.62mm
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Late Boomer
Super Member
Because it has been designed to exceed human capabilities in frequency range, loudness and sensitivity to wobble. It is good enough. More than good enough. Everything that came later was merely either a response to consumers' want of something "new and better" just what you have expressed above, or it was a way to prevent people from copying CDs (SACD), or it was a way to ensure consistent output no matter what DAC is used (also SACD), or it was merely a money-making enterprise.
In the mid 1950-s RCA advertised Hi-Fi audio up to 15 kHz, 65 dB and W&F 0.45% (granted, it was a different way of measuring it that those adopted later by DIN and JIS). Still, it was underwhelming.
20Hz - 20kHz, 100 dB, with less than 0.001% W&F is more than enough. Human ears haven't evolved in 50 years for this spec to need improvement.
bluesky
Lunatic Member
Another OUTSTANDING thing about CDs now, as all us CD collectors know, is you can go to the GW and get 15 of em (if ya get 'crate diggin' lucky!!) great-titled, M- perfect, not a fingerprint on them, CDs for $30. At the SA they are down to a buck each now, and they have tonnage - 15 for $15!!!
I mean, 15 M- 'great titled albums' for FREE really!! It's an 'outstanding time' for physical album CD 'collectors' - kinda hard to beat it!!
Even swap the covers out to put a like brqnd new minty cover on! That takes all of about 45 seconds. It's fun anyway!! Part of 'the game'!!
Simply UNREAL.
And... on your way out, pick up a couple 'like brand new], designer T-shirts ~ or designer shirts !
! Found a brand new John Varvatos polo shirt ' WITH TAGS ' last time out crate digging at the GW, $6, & picked up 2 CDs - $4. Total: $10.
That's big time 'doable' fun!!!
The shirt was $6 because I guess they had no idea who John Varvatos is.
Guess they thought it was a Walmart brand or something. So Cool. 
It's all Big Fun!!
I mean, 15 M- 'great titled albums' for FREE really!! It's an 'outstanding time' for physical album CD 'collectors' - kinda hard to beat it!!
Even swap the covers out to put a like brqnd new minty cover on! That takes all of about 45 seconds. It's fun anyway!! Part of 'the game'!!Simply UNREAL.
And... on your way out, pick up a couple 'like brand new], designer T-shirts ~ or designer shirts !
! Found a brand new John Varvatos polo shirt ' WITH TAGS ' last time out crate digging at the GW, $6, & picked up 2 CDs - $4. Total: $10.
That's big time 'doable' fun!!!
The shirt was $6 because I guess they had no idea who John Varvatos is.
Guess they thought it was a Walmart brand or something. So Cool. It's all Big Fun!!
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bluesky
Lunatic Member
Absolutely! If you hit it at exactly the right time - it's a bonanza. Like when someone is dropping off their collection.
Same with LPs too. I can go months without finding an LP, or only 1, but then I walk in and BAM - 6 Jazz LPs, all M-. It's just being there exactly when they put it/them out. One of the secrets is to frequent the GWs & SAs, In & out. 'Scan' everything super fast. When you ' see it ' - it will ' POP '!! It's so much fun!!
Happy Hunting!!
RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
I find that garage sales are pretty good for CDs. Not always the greatest selection, of course, but folks are usually wanting to get rid of them and price 'em cheap.
Also, check out record stores that specialize in vinyl. Those places, if they have CDs at all, usually won't have too many, but what they do have, they price to sell...
Also, check out record stores that specialize in vinyl. Those places, if they have CDs at all, usually won't have too many, but what they do have, they price to sell...
M70AB2
Well-Known Member
Yes, and I bought all of the Clapton CDs.
RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
I stopped bothering with LPs at Goodwill. They rarely seem to have anything I want and when they do it's usually really scratched... and they want something like $4-5 per LP. All of the Goodwill locations must not price that high, but perhaps because I'm in a market where a lot of folks collect vinyl (there are a lot of record stores here), they price accordingly. CDs are a better bargain, but they aren't dirt cheap at $2.
With other stuff, anything that's really desirable, electronics or otherwise, it seems to me that they auction the stuff off online so it never gets to the sales floor.
Damn, what a score! There's some real gems in there. I was just listening to The Cramps the other day and really enjoying it. I have just one of their albums, on LP, Bad Music for Bad people, but great stuff!
bluesky
Lunatic Member
I went to a garage sale once and the guy was selling ALL of his CDs for $1 each. Must have been 200 at least. At the time. I wasn't looking for CDs, but I did 'scan' them. I wasn't into his type of music but I did get a Bad Company 'Greatest Hits' double CD for $1. AND... a really nice Modelo beer glass, the kind used in the commercials on TV, for $1!! Very Cool. It's a FAV.
I really should have looked at ALL the CDs slower and more in detail.
I probably really missed out on some great CDs. Yeah, I know it missed out but happy to get what I got!!
J. Rob
Member
I buy physical copies if I really like the album and want to support the artist. Vinyl has gotten way too expensive IMO (I still buy a few a year though), cassettes are cool but inconvenient and lo-fi. CDs are about the half the cost of vinyl and sound just as good as streaming to the untrained ear (and if your streaming service doesn't offer hi-fi, CDs will sound better).
Not trying to start a war, but cassettes on a professionally restored Nakamichi are definitely not lo-fi. I sometimes purchase the vinyl reissue due to the OG tape being too expensive. Also it wasn't until I once obtained a nice CD player did I find out CD sound quality and mastering engineering actually made a big difference. BTW, that CD player **** the bed years ago so I'm constantly on the hunt for a great replacement.
Mart Mccall
Well-Known Member
This is true. There's a big sonic gap between the serious machines and all the rest.
I miss having a tape deck but now CDs are so cheap it's hard to justify getting one. And the top quality ones have never been inexpensive and still aren't.
Yep totally ridiculous now.
Late Boomer
Super Member
The major reasons for cassettes were that they were recordable and portable. With recordable CDs and with portable CD players appearing en masse in the mid-1990s the raison d'être for cassettes disappeared.
intro6
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure what you mean by a serious machine but IMO you don't need a Nakamichi or one of the other small handful of top end decks to still get great sound. A middle of the line cassette deck will also perform very nicely. In fact, I was just listening to such a deck the other night and it was a blast. It was an Akai from the 1980s (recently repaired) playing an old Type II mixtape that I hadn't listened to in quite some time and I've gotta say, it sounded fantastic!
Mart Mccall
Well-Known Member
Nakamichi were always a solid choice as they never made a bad deck. IIRC there were some expensive duffers from other brands.I'm not sure what you mean by a serious machine but IMO you don't need a Nakamichi or one of the other small handful of top end decks to still get great sound. A middle of the line cassette deck will also perform very nicely. In fact, I was just listening to such a deck the other night and it was a blast. It was an Akai from the 1980s (recently repaired) playing an old Type II mixtape that I hadn't listened to in quite some time and I've gotta say, it sounded fantastic!
Akai and Aiwa, and to a lesser extent Technics made some very good decks but not at the cheap end.
It's just not possible to make a good, cheap tape deck, there's too much mechanical engineering involved and that can't be done at low cost.
I had a couple of cheap decks, a JVC, and a Sony, spent hours listening to them, they were not awful by any means. Only when I compared back to back against serious machines did I realise what was wrong with them.
Mart Mccall
Well-Known Member
They were also the way - pre streaming - to get a lot of music cheaply. I had a friend who would check CDs out of the library and copy them to tape. He had a huge collection of albums that way.
We'd also tape each other's records and CDs. One person would buy the album and loan it out to be copied.
That was in the 80's through to the late '90s when a CD would cost £10 new - or about £25 in today's money - and a quality blank tape was about £1- or less if you bought them in bulk.
That all really stopped - at least this is my memory - when Napster and file sharing in general happened. I never got into that but I knew people who had tens of thousands of albums on hard drives that they got via file sharing. Those people rarely bought anything on CD or any physical format.
