Benefits of a CDP over a decent DAC for ur computer...?

[orkney]

I'm new to computer audio, but with a newborn in the house I had to relocate my headphone rig. I had an extra MacBook lying around and it took all of ten minutes to set it up with an Apogee Duet. I ripped about 40 gig of lossless music, backed it up to an external drive, and now use it as my main headphone system. I wake up the Mac in the morning and put it to bed at night and it makes beautiful music.

This system lacks the elegance of my old iMod and some of the convenience of a CDP solution but it

a) sounds a whole lot better than the old Oppo 970 I was using
b) eliminates keeping a hundred or so CDs to hand in my tiny office
c) is luggable anywhere I take my laptop

For me, the slightly irritating interface is outweighed by the advantages for my office system. I much prefer using my Rega Saturn in the speaker rig and prefer the sound substantially as well. So I'd say it's a question of horses for courses. Either, carefully set up, will do a good job of music-making.

best,

o

[morphsci]

Well I also run a CA840c as my CDP and my DAC. I feed FLAC rips of the CD's from my squeezebox. To me this is the best test of what is better, a CD or a music rip. On my system the ripped FLAC's are indistinguishable from the CDP's. So using the exact same DAC, and either the internal CDP transport or the coaxial input from the SB3, I absolutely cannot distinguish any difference between them. I do not think it is a resolution limitation of either my electrostatic or balanced rig. I really do not see why anyone would expect a difference as long as you did an accurate rip?

Anyway, I am between the era's now. i still enjoy spinning a disk, but the convenience and ability to have my whole music collection available at my fingertips is winning out. Music servers are the way of the future and I'm not even a youngster .

[Asr]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

cd players sound better.

Says who? The gods of audio? You might be able to speak for the CDPs you've heard versus the USB DACs you've heard but you can't speak for all CDPs vs all USB/coaxial/optical DACs. I guess Audio Note, bel canto, Electrocompaniet, North Star, Theta Digital, Wavelength Audio, et al, can all go home too if it were true.

Oh wait, and sound is subjective.

[fhuang]

because it cost more than a cd player? a decent/good computer with let say over 500gb cost at least 2000 dollars us(or 15000 hk dollars) of course unless you build it your own one but still that will cost you close to 1500(or 10000). for 1500 dollars, you can get a pretty damn good cd player. plus i haven't bought/build a pc for the past five, seven years. a laptop doesn't have that much space.

most cd players look better

[m3_arun]

A good computer (good enough for playing music) can be built for ~600. Also, no one needs to buy a whole new computer just for their audio system. You can just use the computer you already have and add an external hard drive to keep extra music.

Cost is definitely not the problem. I think the reason many CD players are better is that reading CD's is an art that has been perfected for over 20 years, whereas using computers as high-fidelity transports for audio is a relatively new thing. There are already effective means for reading CD's very accurately, while asynchronous USB audio connection is a relatively new technology. I for one am considering burning my FLAC collection to CD's and using a middle to high end CD player as my main source just because I am tired of the fatiguing sound that comes from low cost USB DACs. Or just ditching digital audio altogether and starting a vinyl setup.

PS By the way, the only reason you can say "sound is subjective" is that no one can actually go and hear the artists in their recording sessions and then hear the reproduced version on their own gear. If they could, there is definitely an objective standard for ACCURACY to the original sound. Of course when you are talking about what sounds "better", people have differing opinions based on their auditory perception.

[classicalguy]

The convenience of being able to switch between tagged tracks can't be beat. I NEVER use my CD player anymore, and it was the most expensive piece of equipment I own. Kind of a sad purchase. It's very inconvenient to physically switch disks. If you enjoy the inconvenience, have at it. I want to listen to music as conveniently as possible. And the SQ is as good as whatever audio equipment you have.

[jp11801]

Originally Posted by fhuang

because it cost more than a cd player? a decent/good computer with let say over 500gb cost at least 2000 dollars us(or 15000 hk dollars) of course unless you build it your own one but still that will cost you close to 1500(or 10000). for 1500 dollars, you can get a pretty damn good cd player. plus i haven't bought/build a pc for the past five, seven years. a laptop doesn't have that much space.

most cd players look better

this is simply not true
mac mini $599
500g HD $169
apogee Duet $500
total $1270 for a kick arse system that also acts as my DVD player and feeds my HD tv through a 25 ft dvi to hdmi cable.

If you wanted a different dac no sweat you still have a budget of $1230 for a dac with this system. If you don't dig macs for a computer don't think of it as such it is a media hub. Again I would put this up against any $2k cdp and then some. Next week I am integrating a Kora Hermes dac into this system with the use of a hagusb to convert usb to aes

[jp11801]

Originally Posted by m3_arun

I think the reason many CD players are better is that reading CD's is an art that has been perfected for over 20 years, whereas using computers as high-fidelity transports for audio is a relatively new thing.

are you basing this on fact of pure conjecture?? Reading a CD is not an art in any sense of the word reading a cd is simply getting the data off the disk in the most accurate manner possible. Using a computer allows for multiple reads and rechecks to get the most accurate data transfer to the HD. CDs perform error correction to get the most accurate read possible there should be little difference.

[White Mike]

Although there is rarely room for the moderate point-of-view on these forums, this is definitely a case of neither being better than the other... just different.
Those that push a particular case any further are only seeking validation.

[grawk]

I fail to see how saying a computer can make a good transport is an extreme position.