Would you bother with a CD player?

My Bryston BDP-1 will play cds from the BOT-1 transport for which I've substituted a LG dvd burner at 1/10th the price.

 

Also, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to sell the original media and keep a copy. It’s essentially pirating.

 

Exactly!

Of course, but then who has?

Then again the Linn is about £19k worth of kit so might be a little out of the reach of a few of us. So while the subjective comparison is entirely valid for you, others, myself included, might have to take a view on kit from a slightly less rarefied strata. Certainly with a nominally £4k CD-Player I have not yet heard a streamer in that range that gets too close to it.

 

My CD player is used when I don't feel the urge to hook my laptop back into my system. I take it to work each day and unless I am going to be spending a lot of time listening, I'll just power up my gear and spin a CD or record. I also use the player while I am ripping CDs. I have an outboard DAC that is used by both the CD player and laptop so it's not like using either sounds dramatically (or at all) different. One of the first things I do on Friday when I get home from work is integrate the laptop into the system for a weekend of listening. I'm not quite to the point yet where I want to be without a player. When this player eventually dies I might reconsider.

 

It's certainly more than a little out of reach for me too, but I do think that a £4k CD player would have to be very good to outperform one of the better, similarly priced digital music player.

I simply mentioned the Klimax DSM because it is extremely good, for those who think that playing files is simply about attaching a DAC to a computer and that it is impossible for a file to sound as good as a top-end CD player.

 

I bought an Yamaha CD-S3000 two years ago.
Like it a lot.
From the moment I am totally sadisfied, why should I rip my CD's?
It's only a question, a friendly question.
Why shoul I rip my 3500 CD's?

 

Sure it is.
Don't understand why people say, in a way or another "I steal music"
Don't even know what drives a man/woman to WRITE it?

 

The cd player is very good indeed and the rrp was a bit over £4k quite a few years ago now. I have experimented with a few streamers in my system but none has satisfied yet. I have heard the Moon Mind 2 informally/not in my system and that shows promise, currently at around half the rrp.
The thing about streamers is that it is a relatively new implementation of technology so they will only get better and cheaper.
When I compare I do use the same DAC for both CD and streamer.

And ...

...
Absolutely!

 

I'm sitting in my comfy chair last night. With my Quad tube preamp/headphone amp, my HifiMan Arya's and my Bluesound Node2 streamer. I have 1200 cd's at my fingertips (on the NAS on my network) plus my streaming services all right there without getting out of my chair.

Why would I buy a cd player?

 

Same position as the OP here; no cdp currently in my system with all of my cds in plastic containers in a basement closet.

I do have an old Oppo player in a box...

 

I've never felt comfortable about having important stuff residing on computer equipment. Historically speaking, I've lost all kinds of data from various software/hardware glitches or transitions. It only has to happen once and it's gone. I've had my LM-215 CD player for many years without two seconds of a hiccup. I use it as a transport now.....it's so straightforward to enjoy music this way...

 

I have a player in the den if you count the Oppo BDP, but i cant telly when the last disc of any kind went in it. I do stream to it though. CDs get ripped immediately and boxed up. If i was gong to rip them and them resell them, i might as well go online and find a download.

 

If you're going to actually use the CD player, it's worth getting. If not, don't buy one. I use my CD player almost every day. The only time it doesn't get used is when I'm not home.

 

As you can see there are going to be lots of opinions and it does come down to some degree of personal preference.

(There is no doubt a top of the line CDP with an incredible internal DAC will best a lowend digital player with a bad DAC or paired with poor components. But why condemn your digital file chain to such a poor setup? There are some sweet options available.)

Some of it depends too what your resources/budget are.

My story which is similar to many is that I wanted the convenience of digital playback AND sonic improvement.

The approach to achieving this is to have lossless rips played through the best DAC, amp and speakers you can afford. The nice thing about computer audio and digital files is it lets you forego the cost of a CDP and spend the budget in the other areas.

I made the jump about 10 years ago and haven’t looked back. I absolutely love the sound I get from lossless CD rips played through a dedicated external DAC — and unless you like the physical experience of holding the discs, booklets etc, I believe you can get as good if not much better sound with digital by choosing the right components.

 

People do also use external DACs with CD players too. I am one of those that does.

 

Yes, for sure.

 

10/23/19? Talk about your Reminiscing...

 

Yes.

 

Love the deep Pioneer gear theme!

 

I bother so much I just spent a grand on one to replace my moribund CDP. I only play files I used to have on CD-Rs. The rest (vast majority) I play original CDs. Love them.

 

Just buy a cheap DVD/Blu-ray player with a digital out. They're dirt cheap and you'll have a player just in case.

 

To avoid blood clots?

 

I think there are people who just haven’t thought about it that way. They think, I bought a legitimate copy, then I sold property I owned, so what’s the problem? Of course, the problem is the record label and artist are only getting paid one time for two (or more) people to have a distinct playable copy of the music. Whether you sell or keep the copy, it’s piracy just the same. But I can understand someone not realizing that, when they aren’t selling illegal copies.

 

I still buy and play CDs because used CDs is one of the cheaper ways to discover music. Also, I like the sound from the DAC on my CD player.

 

Beyond me. Unless CDPs become extinct during my lifetime, I ain't ripping them.