An end to CD Review ...

[Stunsworth]

I am intrigued how high quality downloads are then listend to with out loads of spurious noise from the equipment used to stream download and all play them

In my case a USB cable goes from the computer (I use a Mac Mini which is acoustically silent) to my DAC (an Audiolab M-Dac). The DAC then feeds my power amps directly, and they in turn are connected to a pair of Quad ESL-63s.

There's no spurious noise.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

What is this threepenny telly of which you speak, Alpie?

You're just showing your age now, A51.

[MrBear]

The very least you'd need is an uninterrupted high-speed broadband connection, surely - no hiccuping when the fridge kicks in and such like

Yes I have at present only internet through my smart phone tried connecting to my stereo just doesn't seem to work
When I have tried with a PC found the fan noise too irritating and the quality of the sound so so I assume the soundcards are just not that good


I really embraced cd I thought it was possible to get a much better sound
with cheaper and easier to use equipment, cds soo much more practical and robust than lps but for me it was a choice of either about 1989 and I had only a few classical lps

[amateur51]

You're just showing your age now, A51.

[pastoralguy]

... and they in turn are connected to a pair of Quad ESL-63s.

[Old Grumpy]

Like previous contributors to this thread, I was an early adopter of CDs. What is it with Vinylists? Is the reproduction (or authenticity [loaded word, I know]) really better than CD? CDs are just so much less faff (all round) than vinyl.

Agree re: downloads though. I do have some, but far prefer the CD medium and the booklet/packaging etc - in all genres.

OG

[pastoralguy]

Mrs. P G and I bought a turntable recently having hesitated for a very long time. We love playing pop discs from our distant youth and I buy Lps that have never been released on cd. (Manoug Parikian playing the Beethoven concerto or Hugh Bean playing Beethoven violin sonatas).

I can honestly say that, even with very good equipment, Lps always sound inferior whereas the first cd I ever bought (Uchida and Tait playing Mozart's 20th and 21st piano concertos) sounds as good as on it's first playing.

[MrBear]

Thank you Stunsworth
Sounds like a very nice set up I only have a pair of modest little Rogers speakers
Have been looking at getting a DAC my current source is a ailing Panasonic DVD/freeview/harddrive which does sound surprisingly good

[Flosshilde]

And, of course, there is the problem when one's mp3 player's battery dies (as mine has) & one has stored all one's downloads on it (as I haven't, not having any downloads).

[HighlandDougie]

Having been very sceptical to start with at the idea of storing music files on the hard disk(s) of my MacBook(s), I've become utterly hooked on the sound quality which can be achieved using a DAC (in my case small USB DACs) as an alternative to the built-in sound card, decent cables (although they are not essential) and very simple to load/use software (Audirvana Plus in my case) which offers a significant (make that massive) improvement on the sound quality achievable with i-Tunes, while retaining the convenience of i-Tunes as a music library. I'm typing this listening to Nina Stemme singing Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder which I've just downloaded from e-classical.com in 24/96 format (and which cost about £7.50 for the complete BIS CD) - and it sounds glorious.

[Stunsworth]

Having been very sceptical to start with at the idea of storing music files on the hard disk(s) of my MacBook(s)

As an aside, one of the standard Mac screensavers displays a contantly changing patchwork of album covers from the iTunes library. How many are displayed, and how often a cover changes, can be controlled from the screensaver settings. I've stumbled across several CDs that I'd forgot I had. A nice touch is that any of the displayed albums can be played by clicking on them.

[richardfinegold]

Like previous contributors to this thread, I was an early adopter of CDs. What is it with Vinylists? Is the reproduction (or authenticity [loaded word, I know]) really better than CD? CDs are just so much less faff (all round) than vinyl.

Agree re: downloads though. I do have some, but far prefer the CD medium and the booklet/packaging etc - in all genres.

OG

I also viewed the cd as a Godsend, and still listen to polycarbonate discs about 95% of the time. I did fall for the vinylist propaganda and reinvest in turntables and lps a few years ago. I still find cds superior.
This past weekend a neighbor who just retired and is downsizing brought me some classical lps that he wants to get rid of. Amongst them was Kempe's Death and Transfiguration. The records were in immaculate condition and since I have the same recording on CD I played the two recordings back to back. The vinyl is nice but the CD sounds so much more dynamic.