[Uncledan]

There are many software format in the market and everybody has his own reason to choose.

Assuming reasonable Recording quality, pls choose one. Pls just vote and don't make comment in this thread. Let's see what interesting result it will be.

LP :
CD :
XRCD :
SACD :
DVD-A :
MP3 :

 

[cannedheat]

You may want to add "HDCD" to this listing.

 

[superjohnny]

What's the vote about? Sound quality, ease of use, cost, value, preference???

 

[Uncledan]

Just pick one format which you will invest your money into.

 

[soundboy]

Based on title availability, compatibility with my hardware, ease of use, sound quality and convenience, I chose CD (first vote for CD). Given that, I am still a SACD supporter.

 

[xantus]

ditto soundboy

 

[DrOctagon]

CDs for me.

 

[chillysalsa]

Summary of my opinion of each...

LP : too much surface noise without religious cleaning, channel separation is terrible, but this can act like a natural form of cross-feed which is good for headphone listening, sound is very coloured compared to CD
CD : convenient but all too often sterile and lifeless sounding
XRCD : injects warmth and life into the CD medium largely as a result of very meticulous mastering, the highest from of redbook playback
SACD : theoretically should be better, than CD, but on a good redbook player the CD can sound just as good if the CD mastered well
DVD-A : haven't heard enough to judge...
MP3 : ok for just background music.. as someone else put it, you can vary the quality / encoding rate from levels ranging to 'why listen', to 'why bother'

 

[jjcha]

I voted .mp3.

Yes all my music comes from CDs I've purchased, and I actually rip them into .wav or Apple Loseless. But the latter two aren't options, and if I had to choose my CD collection or all my music on my HD/iPod/iHP140 in a good .mp3 format, I choose the latter.

And this is from a guy who collects vinyl, SACD/DVD-A and owns a high end CD player.

Best regards,

-Jason

 

[Leporello]

Redbook rules.


LP: inaccurate sound, not high fidelity

XRCD: not really a different format

SACD, DVD-A: too many marketing bits

MP3: fine at higher bitrates, but no gapless playback (essential in opera etc.)


Regards,

L.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I voted LP - if only because every single currently available digital format is severely compromised. I can clearly hear artificially-induced digital artifacts on Redbook, and even Hi-Res isn't quite enough. The only way that I can enjoy Redbook on a particular album is if the vinyl copies of that same album are poorly mastered.

 

[Ferbose]

As a supporter of SACD, I will invest most in CD because if software availability.
I will only go for SACD if it is classical or if the price is the same as CD. But SACD has its sweet side, though.

DVD-A: only if it has 96/24 PCM for my outboard DAC. But in my limited exposure to the medium I have not found the same sonic appeal as SACD.

LP: I have little experience with it, as I grew up in the CD age. Too much hassle to go back and invest in the medium, although I acknowledge that LP is at least as good as CD for hi-fi.

XRCD: I have only one (XRCD24), a very fine one indeed. The price is too high. I could get 4 Naxos CDs (280 min) for 1 XRCD (40 min)--I want more music.

MP3: Not into that thing right now, because I don't need portable listening. No doubt this is a big trend in audio. People can adjust the level of compression optimized for their use (SQ vs file size), but music piracy is worrying.

 

[akwok]

I voted for MP3 because that was the closest thing to Lossless files (which should be close to CD.. but without the hassle of changing discs)

 

[Wmcmanus]

I like them all and am glad that we have choices.

I've not yet delved into vinyl but it defintely has a lure. Can't beat the sound quality in a good system and a good, clean pressing. It still seems like a big headache to me though. Maybe one day.

I've not bothered with MP3 either, although the convenience is amazing so I'll never say never.

I've not done much with DVD-A either, and although I like the ones that I do have, I don't yet have a high quality universal player that will show me what DVD-A is all about. This will happen soon by accident to meet my DVD-V needs for HT purposes (I'm eying the Denon 5910). So I'm sure the DVD-A's will start piling up.

SACD is my favorite medium in the sense that it combines the SQ and ease of use factors, but tends to be quite expensive. I've got a zillion of them, so if I'm a fan of anything it would be SACD.

I've also got a lot of XRCD's but the selection is very thin, and they are also pricey.

Redbook CD's are fine for backfilling your collection with music that you love for the sake of the music itself (which represents the bulk of my collection). But unless something has been WELL remastered, I've been passing on a lot of standard redbook releases of late. At some point you have access to so much well recorded music, why bother with the blah blah?

 

[Alu]

I voted for CDs, because I'm only buying those. Vinyl is too uncomfortable, and my LP system isn't as decent as my PC setup. MP3 is lossy. Don't have enough speakers for the SACD

. Never listened to DVD-A and XRCD before.

Now I would've voted lossless if that would have been a possibility, as I rip all of my CDs to my hdd as soon as I get 'em.