Due to a needed understairs cupboard tidy up, I happened upon a few hundred CDs and my old Marantz 6000se KI signature.
Just because I could, I set it up with a coaxial out into the NDX2/282.
Sounded rather good. Did some comparison with the same album on cd/hi res stream/vinyl. Stood up very well.
I ought to caveat this by saying the last time the cd player saw use was 10 years ago through a tired Arcam Alpha 8
Got me considering a reasonsble transport like the Audiolab.
Has anyone resurrected their CDs…is it a temporary novelty?
Will a decent transport into the NDX2 outperform say a CD5si direct into the 282?
Due to poor broadband when the wife is streaming netflix I get issues streaming and another alternative to spinning some vinyl is appealing until we get fibre sometime in the next decade…
If using the CD’s digital out, the result is the same digital 16/44 data as is online (assuming the same masters and resolution), so no difference is exactly what one would expect. The additional data of Hires (again assuming same masters) buys very little - which is only a surprise to those who refused to believe the facts of the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem
I recently came across an Arcam Alpha 5 Plus that I bought as a bit of fun intending to move on again once I’d convinced myself I didn’t need a CD player
It isn’t standard Arcam internally but it impressed me so much that earlier today I bought a recently serviced and very splendid looking CDS3, it seems the madness never ends…
I dug out my CDs a little while back to rip them to my Auralic Altair G1. It has a feature where you can plug any old external CD rom into the USB and use it as a ripper and transport. To be honest, it was fun for about ten minutes and then I realised a lot of my favourite CDs were scratched to bits where they’ve been hammered at parties and such back in the day. I decided to stick to ripping them and putting them promptly back in storage. I pretty much hated CD as a media and I don’t think this little trip changed my mind on that!
CD as a source never went away for me just couldn’t get into this streaming thing it all seems far to complicated for an old git like me especially when your internet connection is suspect, I’m using a CD5 XS as a transport into an nDac with an XPS 2 and the sound is absolutely wonderful, if the CD5 packs up a Cyrus transport will replace it so no streaming for me.
Convenience and choice. Put something like David Gilmour Live in Pompeii and enjoy from start to finish without having to swap CD half way through Then there’s access to almost any album ever made with Qobuz/Tidal. My CD player has been in a box for two years now, never been tempted to get it out again since I got my ND5 XS2
So if i dont want to go overboard…a new transport like the Audiolab 6000 or an older higher end player? The classifieds are full of hardware that was beyond me when new.
Using CD player, turntable, cassette deck and streamer here. What’s with all this single source stuff. All the sources have their uses and their charms. Live it up a little fellas!
I’ve been a big fan of CD since the 80s when a CD player was an unthinkable expense for a teenager. The lack of surface noise compared to vinyl was a huge selling point in those days in particular.
More than three decades later, I’m still astonished what this 1970s technology is capable of, just like it’s amazing what the 19X0s (debate exact decade in your own time) technology of vinyl can do.
But, for many reasons, it’s still CD for me in 2022, despite it currently being the very antithesis of cool. Give it another ten years or so and it’ll suddenly be retro-chic, you mark my words.
