[jamesino]

Which one would give better sound quality: Flacs on a laptop to USB out, Flacs on laptop to line-out, or a high-end CD player?

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Depends on the DAC and the CD player.  Lets assume that the FLAC file was ripped from the CD you'd be comparing it too, making the data essentially the same; it would come down to the DAC in the CD player vs the USB DAC you're using.  The superior DAC would give you a superior result.
 
At least that's how I understand it to be.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Which one would give better sound quality: Flacs on a laptop to USB out, Flacs on laptop to line-out, or a high-end CD player?

FLAC on the laptop line-out would be the worse
It would be more cost effective (for a given audio quality) to add a USB DAC to the laptop, then to buy a "high end" CD player.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

If u play from laptop ud need a dac or use the cd players dac

 

[jamesino]

  Depends on the DAC and the CD player.  Lets assume that the FLAC file was ripped from the CD you'd be comparing it too, making the data essentially the same; it would come down to the DAC in the CD player vs the USB DAC you're using.  The superior DAC would give you a superior result.
 
At least that's how I understand it to be.

 
So the reason people pay thousands of dollars for a high-end CD player is partially for the integrated DAC inside? Would you say that nowadays, most high-end audiophiles have switched over to listening to FLACs via a laptop instead of CD players?

 

[hmorneau]

I don't hear any difference between a flac or a 256kbps mp3. I guess a good cd player would be very close as well.
 
Some review say that the most recent DAC at around $1000 perform better then the old 3000$ cd player.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

It depends I suppose.  From either a CD or from a file on your computer, at some point a digital to analog conversion has to take place.  In the case of a CD player, that can happen in the player and you can run analog outs, or you can run a digital out to a preamp (in the case of a traditional stereo) and use the DAC in the pre amp.  At least that is it in a the simplest sense.
 
There is more to it though...  I don't believe you could take a cheap CD player, run the digital coax out to a high end preamp with a good DAC and the get same results as you would with an expensive CD player.
 
I think most audiophiles still use CD/SACD's fro their source, but I could be wrong.  In my experience, getting high quality files is hard and inconsistent.  Discs or vinyl are still the way to go (I find).
 
I would imagine that new DAC's out preform more expensive DAC's from the past.  That's the way technology goes.