How many still use cd-player?

Oddly enough, about 5 minutes after my post above, the house went dark and quiet, power cut. It came back about 10 minutes later, but I then had to nervously restart the HDX worried the drive might have been corrupted, and check the NASes, not a worry when I used silver discs. Must buy at least one UPS. 

Still my main source, better higher overall sound quality than streaming to my ears.

I still believe vinyl and CD are the top quality format when sound reproduction and not convenience is the goal.

Sold my CDS3/555 some time ago...100% vinyl atm .

Very little interest in streaming . 

Vinyl and streaming of cd quality and hi-res files from my NAS for me, supplemented by streaming from Tidal.

Quite apart from the overwhelming convenience of streaming solutions, I have never heard a CD player that sounds as good as my current streamer. I no longer have a CD player in any of my three music systems.

Although I still purchase the odd CD to rip to my NAS, I feel absolutely no regret about consigning my CD collection to my loft. 

Alba1320 posted:

A CD player is my main source, though, sadly, I have yet to find any CD replay that's as natural, convincing and musically satisfying as even modestly good vinyl replay (no experience with modern vinyl, though).

Computer audio offers no advantages for me, so no interest in it at all.

+1.

A CD555 and an LP12 does all I need. I enjoy seeing and handling physical media. It's part of the pleasure of owning a music collection for me.

John.

I have tons of CD's and recently picked up a Unitiserve which I guess comprises a CDP but I tend to stream from that to my UQ.  I will never sell my CD's just in case!

I have a Rega Saturn-R that functions as a cd player as well as a dac. The rest of my system consists of a Nait 5i-2, Proac Response 1sc speakers and a Sonos Connect. I think discs have the edge over streaming/ripped discs in my system. If i knew that an upgraded dac would give me superior sound over the Saturn-R I would consider that. I also wish to retain all my physical media. I kmow it's possible that a stand alone dac might produce superior sound, but having grown up with vinyl spinning discs feels right. I also don't want to commit to having to rip every disc before playing. Maybe not great reasons . . . but not ready to give up my cd player just yet. 

Polarbear posted:

I placed a CD in my cd555, pressed play and wondered why you would want to use anything else?

 

CD still has so much to offer 

I completely agree.  CD555 and Superline vinyl is what we do.  My wife streams Pandora from her iPhone and it makes us love the CD and vinyl all the more.

We also enjoy some of the new HiRes downloads on music we do not have already. The new music sounds vastly superior for sound, but nobody at my house is whistling that music on the way home.  It will never replace "Fat Man in the Bathtub" turned up to 11 or 12 on vinyl or CD.

If they lower the price of cd555 I will buy one, I still use my cd2x with txps, with streaming I tend to skip tracks and album, with cd I listen all album in one sitting, with vinly I have to get Up!  

I bought some Japanese platinium wonder formats they are far better sounding then hidef versions, try midnight blue...

I stopped using CD players a decade ago.

Having said that, the CD555 is the best CD player I ever heard, it is wonderful.

Agree with Polar bear, why would you want to use anything else?

A CDX2 into 555 into NDac. What's not to like? Once you drop that disk in you're magically transported to the venue. Then, when the system is really singing, it's like having your own personal time machine that'll take straight to a recording studio back in say 1965 while the Beetles lay down a couple of tracks for you! Love it!

Geko posted:

A CDX2 into 555 into NDac. What's not to like? Once you drop that disk in you're magically transported to the venue. Then, when the system is really singing, it's like having your own personal time machine that'll take straight to a recording studio back in say 1965 while the Beetles lay down a couple of tracks for you! Love it!

I presume 555PS is on the nDAC....
As to the Beatles - now try the original (or remastered) vinyl in mono talk about the warp-speed time machine 

Polarbear posted:

I placed a CD in my cd555, pressed play and wondered why you would want to use anything else?

 

CD still has so much to offer 

Last Saturday I visited PB. Played Ali Farke Toure/Ry Cooder on said CD555.  Words cannot describe how sublime it was

the cdp is now dieing on its feet,  play cds when ive just purchased them they are ripped to my collection.  I Have contacts with dealers that say new sales of cdp is nearly dried up. The plus side of the c.d.  is there are good bargains to be had very cheap boxset etc

The CDP has, so we have been constantly told,  been dieing on its feet for 10 years or more now.. Its doing a pretty good at being alive despite being supposedly dead!!.... (whilst other format players have become extinct in that time such as the minidisc player). I suspect as long as the format is around high end CDPs will exist for a niche market. It is hard to beat the convenience of CD for fuss free playback - i.e. no ripping, NASs, metadata etc. Also great for the car - i find media playback from the phone or even my 3G streaming service is ok but is either a faff, out of signal range or below par quality.

But then for many perhaps these won't be issues.

I think the market for low end and lower mid market CDPs has probably dwindled and now mainly exists in bundled players such as cars etc. Mrs SinS only buys CDs now for the player in her new car.

Geko posted:

A CDX2 into 555 into NDac. What's not to like? Once you drop that disk in you're magically transported to the venue. Then, when the system is really singing, it's like having your own personal time machine that'll take straight to a recording studio back in say 1965 while the Beetles lay down a couple of tracks for you! Love it!

If I am an honest if you are feeding the CDX2 into a NDAC you are streaming the CD - so you might as well use either an NDX, NDS or CDX2.2 - its whether you want a carousel of CDs or one at a time. For me the real beauty of CD is the sound from the players - such as the CDX2

My wife is only using the CDPlayer since she understands it. Streaming is too complex.

I'm committed to the CD format and today demo'd an Esoteric K-05 as a replacement for my CD5X. The Esoteric was impressive in every regard - build quality, transport mechanism, and overall sonic control. Add to that a stellar reliability record.

There are plenty of manufacturers still producing leading-edge, high-quality CDPs and most are future-proofed because they'll also work as stand-alone DACs.

CDPs dying? Maybe in the mind of a streamer. There's actually quite a vibrant upper-end market with many choices to consider. I guess it's a matter of what you choose to focus on.

I use CD555 on main system and CD5X, DVD5 + Rega P3 on bedroom one 

As i already told in other posts, being myself an avid record collector in first istance, nothing can beat the sheer pleasure and sense of occasion of handling silver and black discs 

I used a HDX for a while and the experience was quite annoying 

I wish Naim will continue to build silver spinners for a long time, after all if big Japanese companies have still a wide pletora of CD & SACD, it will be for a good reason, do you ?

Regards

Roberto

I still use CD as my main source Naim CD5si, Project Turntable as second,i prefer CD/Turntable over streaming.

If there's one company that will carry on building Cdp, it's Naim, it may only become a niche market when we have inhabited Mars???, but look how Vinyl has stayed the course, they will still play that on Mars one day???��.

Still using the LP12 and CD555 as main sources. Which I use is determined by my approach of, if I'm certain I like/will like a whole album, I get it on vinyl, whereas if I'm not sure, or have just heard 1 track on the radio I like, I get the CD for less than half the price. (Sometimes if it's a good shout I then get the vinyl as well and use the CD in the car!). Do have an NDX as third source, with all my CDs ripped onto a US, but largely to stream to other amps around the house (mostly Arcam), but also for the Web, FM and DAB radio functions too.  Will have to try downloads from Tidal et al when I've got a strong enough inclination to start! The NDX compares quite well on the main system, especially considering the cost differential vs the CD and LP12, and have yet to connect it to a recently acquired non DR 555PS, so that will be interesting...

Neil

I use CD : 555 and 2x 555PS. I tried NDS and it was good but not better than the CD, so for now I remain CD-only replay.

I did use Vinyl a few years ago but found that I hardly ever wanted to use it as the CD replay got better with each upgrade, so I have not seriously used Vinyl for many years now.

I like the idea of streaming if I hear it sound better than the 555, but so far it does not, just different and a bit worse in some aspects I enjoy done right. Another driver for streaming would be so-called hi-def content, but that has also been disappointing. The only thing hi-def about it seems to be that it uses a format that should support better quality playback, but to date I hear does not, probably due to changes in the mastering equipment used which seemed to come in around 2000 where computers are used for everything.

I hear the best quality content in terms of resolution, dynamic range and low noise from many CDs mastered between 1980 - 2000 and can mostly guess correctly the mastering date of an unknown CD played on my system from the presentation: late 1980s have a clarity and life that is different from the mid-1990s material which is better in other ways - then it all gradually gets worse after 2000 and is sporadic good now but nowhere near what was achieved in the pre-2000 material.

I find this sad, but it is just the fact of what I'm hearing. The new mastered material - leaving aside if it has been compressed, presume it has not - has poorer resolution and higher noise-floor, as if mastered on poorer equipment, which I'd guess is the case, as the target market is low-resolution music on the move.

So... back from this possible deviation from the CD player question - but it is why I'm using CD, as although I'd love streaming to be better, to date I find it can only render ripped CDs not quite as good as my 555 and 'HiDef' content is worse it terms both musical and HiFi. When and if that changes and I get a demo of that change that impresses me - I'll change my CD source.

DB.

CDS3 is used as main source, although Nak cassette and B&O turntable get periodic use. CDS3 sounds great, I have 1300 cds and am not ready for streaming yet.

ljudpuff posted:

Just a little curious, am I crazy? how many here use CD player as their main source these days?

What I find weird in this thread (a perfectly legitimate and proper one), is the tone like if the OP was asking who, among us, is still using typewriters. You know, those with the spool of inked tissue. And yet, the world of audiophiles is serenely into a technology (LP) which dates back to 1948.

Anyway, I use a CD player and, so far, have no interest at all in alternate storage and replay systems. In either of its two main forms, a Mac with a USB cable or a NAS into a network. I have heard a few streamers, but I still have to hear one that sounds better than an HDX, btw.

M