[brother love]

I dont think there is any question playing digital with an optimised CAPS computer with high end USB card running HQ player and quality DAC will kill any redbook player. Using HQ player and upsampling your files to 352 PCM or DSD raises this to even higher level, but it is a HUGE rabbit hole.

I agree digital is superior to CD (in my case ethernet cables w/ a remote PC music server & a mini PC Network Audio Adapter) esp. w/ HQ Player upsampling. But it is "a HUGE rabbit hole" indeed ...

[HAL]

There are also PDF's of the booklets with a lot of downloads of HiRez from HDTracks, HDTT and others for that reason.   Nice on a 23" LCD monitor to read the notes.

I still have all my CD's.  Just find they sound better on replay via PC.  That and $5 will get you a cup of coffee.  Listen to what you like.  All media can be well done, just depends on the investment you want to make.

I still have vinyl as well, but have not used the rig in years.  Oracle Delphi MKI with MKV upgrades table, SME 3009 Series 3 arm with Shure Ultra 500 cartridge, feeding a DSA Phono One unit.  Decent vinyl rig, but surface noise, pops, clicks and mistracking are all part of the analog sound.  Yeah, I have a record cleaner as well, have a lot of vinyl.  Still prefer HiRez digital done correctly. 

And if I do play vinyl again it will be via A/D at 24/192KHz with a minimum phase front end. 







 

[Ex JL Rep]

Hi Res audio can be very affordable, if you think outside the box.

For example, youtube has some his res videos. In fact, many of the official and VEVO music videos are hi res (however, streaming knocks the sound quality down a tad).

Also, there are tons of DVD-Video (not talking about DVD-Audio) (and also Blu-ray) music video and concert discs available, both new and used. The minimum standard for DVD-video is 48khz. It can make a world of difference and sound head and tails above CD's. Search your favorite music store........under music, search "DVD". See what you find.

As a bonus, you get video too! What's not to like?! 

[rollo]

  Well it depends. Depends on what you use. For me CD is better with transport. Transport feeds DAC with Ethernet cable. Server feeds DAC with USB cable. CDs ripped into server sound great. CD played on dedicate transport sounds better. Hi-Rez unless recorded in Hi-Rez sounds like crap to me. DSD recordings mastered in DSD sound excellent in SACD better yet. Using a 31K modular future proof digital front end. USB cable TWL, Ethernet cable TWL

charles

[audioengr]

Depending on your source, digital can easily beat any CD player or transport and DAC.  Adding a good reclocker between the transport and a DAC without reclocking in it (such as a Metrum DAC) brings things more in alignment however.  The main problem is jitter, as it has always been.  The digital source depends a LOT on the player software.  You will probably not get there with Roon or Jriver IME.

[Early B.]

  Well it depends. Depends on what you use. For me CD is better with transport.

Many years ago, I hardwired my home instead of relying on a wireless network. Glad I did. To this day, I'll choose hard wired over wireless, in spite of the technological advancements wireless has made over the past 15 years. IMO, it's the same with digital.

To get digital to sound decent , you have to add extra components such as reclockers. Plus, you gotta be a damn near software engineer to control it all. The primary value of digital is convenience, not improved sound quality.  Keep it simple -- a CD and a transport.

[mcgsxr]

I never owned a high end cd player, but did use outboard DAC's.

Since moving to 100% digital music leveraging a Rasberry Pi/Allo transport, and using my Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-11 I'm still happy.

Too long ago that I spun discs, so I cannot comment on fidelity - but the ability to access an entire ~50K FLAC collection from my phone and play it is excellent to me.

[audioengr]

To get digital to sound decent , you have to add extra components such as reclockers. Plus, you gotta be a damn near software engineer to control it all. The primary value of digital is convenience, not improved sound quality.  Keep it simple -- a CD and a transport.

Re-clockers are needed to achieve good performance, but only for transports and jittery sources, like Sonos. Not needed for good USB or Ethernet digital sources.

Steve N.

[Photon46]

I found Srajan's 6moons review of Jay's Audio CDT2 Mk. II transport to be an interesting take on his perspective of physical vs. virtual media playback quality. (Yes, we know many hate 6moons and suspect their integrity because of their "pay for play" editorial ethos.) For what it's worth: http://6moons.com/audioreviews2/jaysaudio/1.html

I think a fair paraphrase of his conclusion was that high resolution files could eclipse the sound quality of physical media, but only under ideal circumstances with well mastered material. Even then, the margin of superiority was slim. To quote, "For Cd resolution files, USB/networking decks like the recently reviewed LampizatOr Superkomputer (6,000 euros) or Lumin X1 (13,000 euros) do compete head on with the CDT2 Mk. II disc spinner. To my ears, the simply don't outperform it. They just match it."

[rollo]

Re-clockers are needed to achieve good performance, but only for transports and jittery sources, like Sonos. Not needed for good USB or Ethernet digital sources.

Steve N.

  Music servers as well benefit from re-clockers. I do have a clock input on my DAC. Neve tried it. The server used will be getting a clock shortly. We shall see I mean hear.

charles

[Elizabeth]

After upgrading I find there is a lot of life left in CD. All depends on the quality of the original performance, and the mastering / remastering.
Nothing matters nearly as much as that.
I have performances on CD, that sound like I am in the same room as the performer(s). Other sound like the singer or musicians are playing in a bathtub to an old kiddie 3" tape recorder. And all sorts of places in-between.

[Jon L]

I think a fair paraphrase of his conclusion was that high resolution files could eclipse the sound quality of physical media, but only under ideal circumstances with well mastered material. Even then, the margin of superiority was slim. To quote, "For Cd resolution files, USB/networking decks like the recently reviewed LampizatOr Superkomputer (6,000 euros) or Lumin X1 (13,000 euros) do compete head on with the CDT2 Mk. II disc spinner. To my ears, the simply don't outperform it. They just match it."

I hate to quote 6moons, but the sentence I would pay attention to is this:
"If any conclusions can be drawn from so isolated a test, I'd suggest that production/mastering quality trumps sample rates by a fierce margin."

And I would add that in order to "outperform" physical CD, they would have to figure out a way to get rid of the USB cable from server to outboard DD converter/bridge and also the spdif cable from bridge to outboard DAC.  Then, it can be done IME 

[charmerci]

After upgrading I find there is a lot of life left in CD. All depends on the quality of the original performance, and the mastering / remastering.
Nothing matters nearly as much as that.

+1


If I thought that screaming and yelling that would make a difference in the music world, I would. But they don't give a s.... mostly and wouldn't listen anyway.

[audioengr]

I hate to quote 6moons, but the sentence I would pay attention to is this:
"If any conclusions can be drawn from so isolated a test, I'd suggest that production/mastering quality trumps sample rates by a fierce margin."

And I would add that in order to "outperform" physical CD, they would have to figure out a way to get rid of the USB cable from server to outboard DD converter/bridge and also the spdif cable from bridge to outboard DAC.  Then, it can be done IME 

There are already two ways to do this:

1) Ethernet with a good Ethernet cable and Switch
2) USB regenerator:

https://sotm-usa.com/products/tx-usbultra-regenerator

[rollo]

As I mentioned when the USB re-clocker arrives I will let ya know the difference.  Using an Ethernet cable from transport to DAC as mentioned before.

charles

[AKLegal]

I don't know why anyone is looking for digital to "surpass" cd quality.  It will at best be equal with identical source material given that the actual cd transport is in good working order.  If the cd transport is subpar the digital transport will be better.

I hate to quote 6moons, but the sentence I would pay attention to is this:
"If any conclusions can be drawn from so isolated a test, I'd suggest that production/mastering quality trumps sample rates by a fierce margin."

And I would add that in order to "outperform" physical CD, they would have to figure out a way to get rid of the USB cable from server to outboard DD converter/bridge and also the spdif cable from bridge to outboard DAC.  Then, it can be done IME 

I second what audioengr said about Ethernet.  You could also use a broadcast / audio engineer level sound card like:

https://www.lynxstudio.com/products/e22/

OR

https://www.digigram.com/production-and-sound-cards/vx222e-stereo-pcm-sound-card/  (I own this one.  AES out to my dac)

The Hegel H360 I own has a Ethernet input that allows the H360 to output a digital to any dac.  This is also better than any of the dozens of USB solutions I tried over the years.  I owned a Rednet D16 AES (Ethernet) a few years ago and that was better than any USB I had heard but not on the level of the cheaper Digigram on direct comparison.

A DigiOne signature will also get you there without resorting to USB.   

[Jon L]

To clarify my point, I am talking about getting rid of Physical cables altogether, e.g. USB cable, ethernet cable, spdif cable. 

Case in point, witness those $$$$ audiophile ethernet cables that promise huge improvements, not to mention $$$$ USB cables, which to my ears still sound FAR from transparent when compared to a simple USB connector/adapter. 

A huge problem with those "pro" sound cards is their Craptastic DB25 breakout cable looms which completely degrade transparency.  I still have several DIY breakout cables I had to make in order to make my Lynx sound card half way decent. 

[yakbob]

Yes digital has surpassed CD, check this article: MQA is the best, the DXD master is 2, and CD is at the bottom:

https://www.audiostream.com/content/supplementary-listeners%E2%80%99-notes-2l-test-bench

The moral of the story is get the new iFi MQA Black Label DAC when it becomes available.
Yo can always use your CDP as a transport.

No offense intended, but that is a press release submitted by partners with a financial stake in the success of MQA.
I'm not saying its not possible,  but in the age of false information, one has to consider the source.

Regardless of the delivery of ones and zeros, it still comes down to the talents of the recording engineer. A bad recording is just that.

[mhconley]

I use Volumio on a 2GB Raspberry Pi4 feeding a Topping DX7s DAC via USB playing my collection of ripped CDs, SACDs, needle drops and downloads. I have hundreds of albums in 16 and 24 bit FLAC with bitrates of 44.1 to 192 kHz and DSF at 2.82 MHz stored on a NAS accessible on a WiFi mesh network.

I got rid of my last disc player in my stereo years ago. I believe the sound of my collection easily equals if not surpasses CD quality.

Martin