Do You Still Play Compact Discs?

[K3RMIT]

His comment on servers has some merit to it. But a well made to be voiced server like taiko is beyond most CD players
newer dacs re clock spidif inputs so it may be why I like mine as is.
steve mentioned it in his re clocker posts. What an honest man he must be
in business.
servers in generally have a sound and keepiig it this way is why taiko is a great product
any part effects the sound so good luck keeping it the same unless you do as taiko does
new updated players effect it

 

[Kingrex]

Al, the people on audipphile style know the technical reasons. In the most general sense, i believe there are 3 reasons a CD/SD should outperform a server.
1 No CPU
2 Much simpler software
3 I could be wrong here, but I believe SPDIF is a more direct connection between the 2 devices where USB goes through the CPU. I could be totally wrong there.

How about for.the 34 rd I just say, there could be truth that USB while very good, is not as good as the others.

Ben with Mojo is a pretty smart guy. He tries a lot of stuff. He digs in, in a more technical way than an audiophile. He told me when I upgrade my DAC, get the optimized SPDIF, as I will find a good CD will far outperform files stored on a server. Even the best servers won't sound as good as a decent CD.

Of course I stream a lot, like many others. So I want streaming to be as good as it can. But we all seek peak performance at times. For peak I am balking at a pile of disc. I have enough tape and vinyl in my room. But a SD card I can ceeate and play playlist from with the thousands of akbums I have on a NAS. That becomes interesting to me.

These are the reasons I commented in the Wadax thread. Why spend $100k on a Wadax server if a well executed SD drive may beat it. Keep the Taiko for streaming and use a SD for optimum digital.

 

[Al M.]

Yes, USB can be problematic. It is now common knowledge that the first generation of my Yggdrasil DAC had an inferior USB input (USB Gen 3). This means that all reviews and reported user experiences that were critical of this first generation DAC's sound quality, but which were based on using the USB input, can be safely dismissed as not representative of the Yggdrasil sound at its best. I have used the AES/EBU input in the past (Yggdrasil first and second generation) and am now using the SPDIF via BNC, from the reclocker after the CD transport. I never used USB.

The newer USB Gen 5 and USB Unison inputs of the Yggdrasil are reported to be much better. However, one owner who also uses AES/EBU, but once tried his USB, hated the metallic sound that he got from it. I think he has the USB Gen 5 input.

Interesting that the preferred connection between Taiko server and DACs is USB.

 

[Kingrex]

Mojo Audio spent a lot of effort making the USB on my server and DAC the best it could be. And they do sound very good. But Ben is now telling me when I upgrade my DAC, get the SPDIF optimized unit. I won't want to listen to stored files anymore. He started off suggesting this as he has hot rodded the power supply on some spinners and found a $4k spinner will outperform pretty much any server that cost $20k. Then he said to me he was messing with SD card readers. Probably because people such as myself don't want to mess with silver disc. And we also want to play high rez files as well as DSD. All of which a SD reader can do.

I'm pretty sure I am going to try a new DAC with SPDIF optimized and a Soundaware D300REF SD player.

D300REF Reference Level Next Generation PCM&DSD Network Music Digital Transport-??????????

www.soundaware.net

 

[Al M.]

Mojo Audio spent a lot of effort making the USB on my server and DAC the best it could be. And they do sound very good. But Ben is now telling me when I upgrade my DAC, get the SPDIF optimized unit. I won't want to listen to stored files anymore. He started off suggesting this as he has hot rodded the power supply on some spinners and found a $4k spinner will outperform pretty much any server that cost $20k. Then he said to me he was messing with SD card readers. Probably because people such as myself don't want to mess with silver disc. And we also want to play high rez files as well as DSD. All of which a SD reader can do.

I'm pretty sure I am going to try a new DAC with SPDIF optimized and a Soundaware D300REF SD player.

D300REF Reference Level Next Generation PCM&DSD Network Music Digital Transport-??????????

www.soundaware.net

Recently I heard natural sounding computer audio at a friend’s house. But his DIY setup now used a Berkeley USB converter, which he found just sounded better than USB:

Alpha USB — Berkeley Audio Design

www.berkeleyaudiodesign.com

He connected to the DAC from the USB converter via BNC SPDIF.

 

[DasguteOhr]

My Favorite even extremely good cd transports benefit from the Mutec, for example wadia 7, forsell, spectral 3000 , with computer amazing organic sound.

MUTEC – Digital Audio Equipment – High End | Professional Audio - MC3+ USB

MUTEC Germany - Manufacturer of Digital Audio and Video Studio Equipment

www.mutec-net.com

 

[Kingrex]

I don't know enough to preach. But this is my perception of digital.

You have to consider the whole chain. Ben also mentiones USB to SPDIF converters would excel into an optimized SPDIF input on a DAC. But you need a DAC that has optimized the SPDIF input. If your DAC has high attention paid to the USB input such as dedicates PS and isolation of noise. Proper clocks. USB is going to sound real good. That is the way my current server and DAC were configured.

Now if your DAC had attention and detail focused to the SPDIF input, an Alpha USB to the SPDIF converter could really shine. And a CD player would also shine into that input.

If on the other hand the DAC you had was designed for USB linked to a server and the SPDIF is nothing more than a twisted pair to the mother board, fed from general mother board power, a CD player might sound inferior to a server into a high performance JCat card USB card with isolated power supply.

I think you need to asses what the DAC you have was designed to work with best and focus on that input source.

 

[Al M.]

My Favorite even extremely good cd transports benefit from the Mutec, for example wadia 7, forsell, spectral 3000 , with computer amazing organic sound.

MUTEC – Digital Audio Equipment – High End | Professional Audio - MC3+ USB

MUTEC Germany - Manufacturer of Digital Audio and Video Studio Equipment

www.mutec-net.com

Re-clocking in general seems a good idea after at least the vast majority of CD transports.

 

[Birdwatcher]

Maybe 2 or 3 Mutec MC 3+ in row as a cascade, and additional a Mutec REF10 reference frequency. This is a fine solution for CD transport and server/renderer.

 

[FT251]

Still spinnin disc's on my CEC TL1 transport, will soon be getting a Dinafrips Gaia DDC that will go between that and my Dinafrips Venus II DAC. I cannot get my streaming set up to be better than CD's. I have thousand plus CD's and several hundred LP's.

 

[facten]

I haven't ventured into streaming other than to checkout tracks via youtube of new album releases to decide if I want to purchase the CD. I listen to cds via a Mojo Audio EVO DAC and Simaudio 260DT transport connected via a Mojo Audio AES/XLR digital cable

 

[facten]

Still spinnin disc's on my CEC TL1 transport, will soon be getting a Dinafrips Gaia DDC that will go between that and my Dinafrips Venus II DAC. I cannot get my streaming set up to be better than CD's. I have thousand plus CD's and several hundred LP's.

FT251 Please post your experience with the Gaia DDC after you get it into your system and have time to assess its impact

 

[Alrainbow]

Re-clocking in general seems a good idea after at least the vast majority of CD transports.

Thanks bro got a spidif n one more cable too. Shiny discs rule again lol. Now I have buy more good ones lol . Some great some run me out of the room .

 

[Sunny]

I still love CD's especially my new @CH Precision D 1.5 that also plays MQA CD's. Just awesome fidelity.

 

[Alrainbow]

MQA is cool too many get upset as to what it is . To me it's just great sound of music we know we'll period

 

[Phillyb]

Heard the newest Terminator DAC Defrips with streamer and again my CD sound better and it is easy to hear. I get the hipness and convenience of streaming but for me to burn in 1,500 CDs and more due to many being 2-5 CD sets is not worth the time which I don't have or the obsession to do so. for what? So I can use an app to play them, I rather walk to my CD shelves and pull the CD I want, Clean them, and use my wax to do so and protect it, hit play and sit back and enjoy 75 minutes or more of wonderful music.

I grew up on vinyl, had a very large collection of mint 1st pressing, and never went back once CD technology advanced from the early days that the marketing magazines keep bringing up. Well, they need to get past 30 years ago, like saying how vinyl sounded in the 1920-30s compared to the sound in the '50s and '60s. I think turntables got better even.....Smile!. Nothing wrong with vinyl or CD format, I continue to buy CDs and 1/3 the cost of today's vinyl. Streaming is great also if starting out to build your music collection, it is #1 in sales volume by far, lots of good streaming sites also. But not for me.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Yes!
cd
vinyl
HDD
Stream
WWW
dont own tape
not a format snob, just want to enjoy music, if it sounds good i dont care what the source is.

 

[CKKeung]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/feb/04/they-just-worked-reports-of-cds-demise-inspires-wave-of-support

I'm onboard with the CD revival – it might become punkest music format out there

Are the allegedly indestructible discs really due a comeback back to rival that of vinyl? Our columnist hopes so – for his own sake

www.nme.com

Hurray !!!

 

[djsina2]

I recently got a vintage Marantz CD-15 modified by Audio Tekne. It’s great! I’m only listening to CD now.