The great cd player con..........Your thoughts please!
I will be doing just that tomorrow thanks.......just getting some ideas and peoples views on here first.
Cheers!
It EDITED isn't. I hadn't realised you were even on this forum when he was using that name...
I will be doing just that tomorrow thanks.......just getting some ideas and peoples views on here first.
Cheers!
if you demo the Rega Im sure it will tick all your boxes!
I think some of his chicks have come home to roost - rumour has it he heard a difference between the DAC in his iPhone and the one in his laptop. When not so long ago, this was theoretically impossible according to, ah, Max of the Flinn...I had to raise a smile. 
As to this link from our OP, well, I read the first line "....there's no logical reason to continue with optical based disc players in 2010...". Oh no? Well, let's see. A hi-res download is no guarantee of a great recording simply by virtue of it being a hi-res download. See also SACD (or the other hi-res formats).
Not every mastering is available on hi-res, so it is highly convenient to be able to obtain the one you particularly want to have, rather than the one you are limited to.
Until the "disc based media is dead" crowd can get their little heads round the above two, then buyers like me will continue to spend on the specific CDs I'm after. Particularly when you've some excellent labels like Union Square turning out great packages that cut the cost-per-track price down to less than 20p in some cases (as against 79p on iTunes for instance). Or second hand sellers (such as the excellent Zoverstocks on Amazon) that offer discs for less than a £1. Shrewd buying can net you some excellent sounds, with excellent sound quality if you know what you're looking for, for very little outlay.
I think the article gets some stuff right; there isn't a massive difference in some digital hardware to me, so my Sony TA-F 630ESD amp from 1990 with its onboard DAC can stand up to modern day digital sources or DACs quite comfortably. Otherwise, too much opinion, which is fine to some extent, but doesn't bear up to scrutiny across the board (IMO).
To the OP, if you want a real challenge for your views, go post it over on the Steve Hoffman Forum's Hardware section. I'll sit back and watch the rest... 
Could not have put it better myself.
Thanks for the Zoverstocks advice, haven't found them yet.
Although hi-res downloads (that are actually hi-res) may be the future it certainly is not the now. Download sites are limited and if you can actually find what you are looking for then they are invariably expensive.
Until all recordings are available as a decent (not resampled CD quality) download then things are going nowhere.
At the moment I'm sticking with my hi-res vinyl and the odd SACD disc or two! 
All components in a hifi system can sound different, even when they perhaps shouldn't, if designed properly. The differences that do exist in many cases are not so great as some would have you believe.
The fact that some differences exist would need to be taken into consideration and the only way to ensure that you get something that you like, is to demo the kit at home.
For me, any old disc spinner would do as a transport, the DAC is what will create the sound.
Be wary of subjective opinion, it's only valid for the person giving it.
It EDITED isn't. I hadn't realised you were even on this forum when he was using that name...
I wasn't, unfortunately I was on the other.
It EDITED isn't. I hadn't realised you were even on this forum when he was using that name...
I wasn't, unfortunately I was on the other.
Well don't wish him back here please, there's plenty of people glad to see the back of him.
He will now email another forum member asking them to pass on a message to me, which I won't reply to. Again...
It EDITED isn't. I hadn't realised you were even on this forum when he was using that name...
I wasn't, unfortunately I was on the other.
I was, as well as "the other" and I share your sentiments in that regard.
Hoorah! At least some of you are bothering to read the link instead of jumping straight down my throat just because I (unknowingly) have rehashed an old subject that has been discussed before.
It does make sense what this chap says and is indeed eye opening. Basically, he is saying the biggest differences will be found in Amplifiers, Line Stages, Loudspeakers, Subwoofers, Turntables, Cartridges and Phono Stages. In other words; anything that is analogue in nature will make a considerable difference to the overall performance and to Spend your money in these key areas. Digital components reveal the least differences per pound spent
I read through the link and this stood out, only because a DAC chip is an analog device 
Yes, and it just so happens he sells those self same items. Quelle surprise!
It EDITED isn't. I hadn't realised you were even on this forum when he was using that name...
I wasn't, unfortunately I was on the other.
Well don't wish him back here please, there's plenty of people glad to see the back of him. He will now email another forum member asking them to pass on a message to me, which I won't reply to. Again...
Good grief.....calm yourself down please. It was a throwaway sarcastic comment on my part.
If cd players are the same & just a big con, why dosen't goodmans ever get recomended then. 
The Woodster chuckles. So early in 2013 and folk are already riled, surely not!
If cd players are the same & just a big con, why dosen't goodmans ever get recomended then.
Because they're poorly built, look and feel incredibly cheap, and in stand-alone form sound very ordinary.
I dare say that using a Goodmans CD player out to a good DAC would yeald the same sound Q as any transport; providing a Goodmans player would even have any kind of digital output - which I doubt.
These kind of posts are getting incredibly tedious, with the same kind of stuff rehashed and repeated week after week, month after month, and nearly every time a new similar thread comes along, the person who starts it thinks they're the first.
Expensive speaker cables are a con, let's argue. Expensive interconnects are a con, let's argue. Mains-conditioning devices and specialist mains cables are a con, let's argue. Specialist supports for your electronics are a con, let's argue. Expensive HDMI cables are a con, let's argue. Expensive USB cables are a con, let's argue. All CD players sound the same, discuss (even though they very obviously don't). All amps sound the same, let's discuss (even though they very obviously don't). Different CD transports don't influence the sound. Streamers are better than DACs attached to computers. DACs attached to computers are better than streamers. WHF tests are worthless because they're not double-blind. High-res music is a con.
What other regular contentious issue have I missed that we can perhaps get over and done with?
Top man ................... ditto
Origin Live Aurora Gold+Illustrious Mk2 arm+Zyx R100-02/Stello CDT200+Stello DA220 Dac/Tom Evans Groove Anniversary/Tom Evans Vibe Preamp/Linear A power amp/Acoustic Zen Adagios/ Chord cables