[indysmith]

Basically i don't see any benefits - the PC can archive and organize all your digital music in one unit and a great DAC is MUCH cheaper than a great CDP.
Why do CD players still exist?

 

[Morph201]

Quote:

great DAC is MUCH cheaper than a great CDP.

Keep in mind that when you refer to a great CDP, you're probably talking about a all-in-one box (i.e. DAC\transport)... So, investing in a great DAC alone, usually requires investing in a great transport.

I personally never had any luck using my PC and ASIO4ALL (?) connected to an external DAC. It was too much of a hassle to keep it configured properly, and usually I had a gazillion processes going on. Keep in mind that this was on a decent processor (I suspect Windows to have been the culprit).

I do think that music servers are the way of the future, but also there are people like myself that enjoy having something tangible. I think cd players will be around for a little longer, considering turntables are still being manufactured with, probably .2% of the market purchasing vinyl.

 

[PFKMan23]

For me, it's actually less convenient as I'd have to run a dedicated music server. In addition, most of the mainstream DACs don't interest me at all. To get a level of performance that would prove satisfying for me and worthwhile enough to replace my CDP, I'd actually have to spend at least twice as much as my current CDP on the DAC alone, in addition to purchasing a dedicated music server.

 

[trains are bad]

there are no benefits. CD players became obsolete right around the time hard drive space got cheap enough to make ripping them practical. If you want the visceral experience of spinning disks, spin vinyl.

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by indysmith /img/forum/go_quote.gif Basically i don't see any benefits - the PC can archive and organize all your digital music in one unit and a great DAC is MUCH cheaper than a great CDP. Why do CD players still exist?

I agree with you, but the investment in some audiophile CDP's is so great that it will be quite awhile before they let go.

 

[JimP]

or something like a CA 840c

I run it as a DAC optical out from a macmini. But I also use it as a CDP when I don't want to fire up the computer. It depends on user patterns, for me, I own a large CD collection and I primarily listen to albums (as opposed to songs or customized playlists). Even though I have the bulk of my CD's ripped to lossless flac, I enjoy now the convenience of throwing in a CD for a listening session. Enough so, that I recently purchased a cheapo Panasonic DVD/CD player as transport to my DHA3000 dac/amp.

 

[IceClass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimP /img/forum/go_quote.gif or something like a CA 840c I run it as a DAC optical out from a macmini. But I also use it as a CDP when I don't want to fire up the computer.

This is exactly what I was thinking of doing but I found myself wondering if the DAC in the CA 840c might not be a bit much and wasted on files from a computer.

Might I ask how you connect the MacMini to the 840c?

 

[VeipaCray]

I run both. I agree with the connivence of the CDP and I like to look through the CD booklet while I'm listening to the CD. I have a single DAC with a optical / coax switch on it so I use that to switch between my CDP (really a transport now) and my computer. My player is also capable of reading SACD / DVDA. Having the single DAC is somewhat nice as the computer and CD now have a very similar sound.

 

[JimP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceClass /img/forum/go_quote.gif Might I ask how you connect the MacMini to the 840c?

macmini optical digital out to 840c, generic cable but it seems to work fine

 

[Roam]

With a CD player, a hardware failure won't wipe out all your music.

 

[vcoheda]

cd players sound better.

 

[nick_charles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif cd players sound better.

Maybe, but why do they have to ?

With an external DAC my PC and CD/DVD players sound identical. Really CD playing devices should sound identical, the whole point of CD (was) to be utterly flat from 20 - 20K and to recreate the waveform "perfectly" with bugger-all noise and distortion, once CD playing devices start having a sound you might as well buy a turntable

Having said that my newish DVD player and Vintage (Onkyo) CD player are different from their analog outputs, measurably so in fact so there goes that theory...

 

[trinkus79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roam /img/forum/go_quote.gif With a CD player, a hardware failure won't wipe out all your music.

That's what a $200 external Hard drive is for

 

[PFKMan23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trinkus79 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's what a $200 external Hard drive is for

And yet I've seen many more hard drive failures than overall computer failures. I would consider a hard drive a device much more prone to issues than a transport or laser. Going back to another point though, I would agree that many CDPs sound better than most computer as source solutions. It's true they don't have to be, but at the moment I would give CDPs the edge. And just going back to myself, the advantages that the OP cites, really aren't in my case. If anything they are deterrents. And yes, I've mucked around with a computer as source rig.

 

[JohnerH]

There's a few things to remember here when comparing CDP to PC/DAC combo...

It's not all about how you -play- things but it's also how you -read- them.

Yes, you can rip your whole CD collection have it on FLAC and then replay it. I for one am of the opinion (and I might be wrong here) the quality depends on a great many factors.

1. Quality of your CD/DVD-ROM in readying the data.
2. Your Rip software/Encoding software.
3. The format/quality of which your saving your stuff in.

Another thing to remember is that CD's were not designed to be read in and converted to digital formats (ie.: flac, ogg, mp3), it just happens that a means was made available to do so.

When CD's were encoded they were/are designed for CD players.

Another thing you have to remember is that a CDP is designed for one thing, playing CD's, and that's it's dedicated function, they have technology to correctly read and transmit the information from the CD to the output plugs/devices. Depending on the quality of the CDP it get's better or worse...

The difference between PC + DAC vs. CDP is enormous if we do a pound per pound comparison.

In some circumstances, it is better to have a CDP + DAC, because some CDP are better transports then players (I remember cyrus has such combinations).

Going back to your original question, I would say without a shadow of a doubt that a good CDP (or a crappy CDP transport + DAC) would always beat a PC + DAC combination, IMO. And I say this through experience...

I have both situations setup at the moment in my room, and the CDP always produces more then the PC/DAC does (quality wise that is).

Anyway,

my 10p,

J