Why do CD Transports cost so much?

[ChrisHamilton]

The solution with CD is buy used, you can get some excellent players, and transports on eBay for very little money.

Facebook marketplace is really good as well.

 

[EJasonC]

But if you want to use the dac of the cd player you will have to use analog in?

Because..when you spend lets say 500 Euros i think you want to use the dac in the cd player and can that be better then the dac of a amp? Because when you use the optical in the dac of the cd player gets bypassed.

Yes its about clock,dac,jitter,transport and so on but i think we may not forget that the disc itself is only storing data isnt it?

So where is the difference when ripping a cd, blu ray to a hard drive? If one says there is a difference you could also say the playback from a 'expensive, blu ray player can produce a better picture then playing the same data( from the disc) from a hard drive with _ lets say_ the Nvidea Shield..

How can there be a difference? If you compare i think you must listen to the same music, master.. dont you think? I mean when listening to the cd or playing it from a HDD. So that you ripped the cd in high quality on a hard drive, usb stick.
Im no expert on this maybe it is better but its good to have a discussion on this i think..maybe to agree to disagree but with having respect for each opinions. Again i dont have a good cd player..im no expert and dont have the opportunity to compare a properly ripped cd with a good cd player.
So who am i to say it isnt better.. but a decent discussion on the subject is a good thing i think. The essential question is: Is a cd,br player better then when playing the data stored on a disc( Film,audio) _ripped properly without data loss_ transfered a hard drive , and playing it on a very good mediaplayer(Nvidea Shield for instance) or DAC, AMP( audio).

Ripping of audio needs to be done properly for instance with EAC. I someone hasn,t ripped the data properly you cant compare it i would say. It has to be ripped accurately that obvious i think. 'Excact Uccurate rip' has to be in use when choosing EAC.

That why i say..illegal downloading is still in place its naive to think its not. I want to pay and support the artists.
Why not offering downloads in high quality in stead of the physical media. Yes illegal downloading is still there but it always has been and still a BR or CD can be ripped and ripped properly without loss of quality.

If they would provide good quality with payed downloading with the artist booklets and so on ..i would pay for it. Maybe _ if possible_ i a better quality then a cd could provide. Yes a cd is a sweet spot but if you can provide , better, why not providing the best as possible.
Its to simple you wont hear a difference..that my personal opinion.

I would never download but pay and support...how could you pull in the younger generation with physical media? I think you could pull them in...and some will pay for good hardware acchieving excellent sound. But staying with physical media i think its a problem..

"How can there be a difference?" I'm not sure exactly why there's a difference between sourcing from Redbook CD and sourcing from HDD. However, I have experimented with just that; ripping a CD bit for bit - in essence an exact copy - onto HDD. Even from the same device, namely an Oppo BDP-105, playing back from the CD still sounds better than the identical music that has been ripped onto HDD connected to the BDP-105. Comparing those same sources being fed via digital out from the BDP-105 to another external DAC; again I always get the same results. CD playback sounds better than from HDD. My best guess is that there's something going on in the HDD as opposed to the CD transport. And by the way the HDD is Solid State, so eliminates the issue being noise from a spinning drive. Which baffles me because the CD is obviously a spinning disc. After all the experimenting with my current CD collection and even downloading some Hi-Res samples from HDTracks, I have all but given up! I simply buy CD's and play them back via Transport to DAC and enjoy the music. No more wasting time for me ripping CD's to HDD!

 

[amix]

Probably noise from the PC.

 

[wiimamp user]

I dont know what the difference is between a transport cd player of a cheaper one. Again when using optical out.
Its difficult to say for me..cant compare.
I saw this video recently. But in another there was said one could hear a difference between a expensive and a cheaper one.
Its a difficult discussion i suppose i cant compare because i don,t use a cd player anymore even if i have hundreds of cds..
Im the person who hasn,t a problem to pay more..if you could hear a significant difference. More details even tiny i woud pay more but when its lets say more then 1000 Dollars more for a very very little difference thats a whole other discussion.
I cant say anything about it because i dont use physical media anymore.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

In controlled double blind tests, people can’t hear the difference.

 

[wiimamp user]

In controlled double blind tests, people can’t hear the difference.

I think when you pay for instance 800 to 1000 Euro,s for a cd player and compare this to a cheaper one i would indeed see them pick the expensive player out in a blind test. And not with difficulty..but within an instant hearing the difference between the expensive against the "cheap" one.
Maybe there is a difference but there had to be a blind test. Again i cant say anything about is because i dont use a cd player anymore.

 

[WiiMer SJ]

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

I think when you pay for instance 800 to 1000 Euro,s for a cd player and compare this to a cheaper one i would indeed see them pick the expensive player out in a blind test. And not with difficulty..but within an instant hearing the difference between the expensive against the "cheap" one.

Matrix HiFi --> Blind testing high end full equipments

 

[wiimamp user]

Matrix HiFi --> Blind testing high end full equipments

Yes that would be a problem. I would pay way more ..even for tiny differences. I think speakers are also important overall.
But if its a huge price difference of lets say 1000 or 10.000 Euros and the differences arent that big..no i would not pay such a amount more. It would be a problem i would say..the point of dimishing returns crossed..
Maybe some would disagree with me.. i can understand this and i respect it. But when i pay lets say 1000 Euro more i expect i would here the difference every time again when doing a blind test. And not where a have to guess which one is "significant" better or where i could hear tiny details more..
Thats my opinion.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

Yes that would be a problem. I would pay way more ..even for tiny differences. I think speakers are also important overall.
But if its a huge price difference of lets say 1000 or 10.000 Euros and the differences arent that big..no i would not pay such a amount more. It would be a problem i would say..the point of dimishing returns crossed..

That’s not even diminishing returns. More people felt the cheap version was better. That’s negative returns.

 

[Smartplug]

I have noticed that too. Since there are few people buying them and hardly making a profit so selling them at higher cost would make up the item sitting on shelf collecting dust on warehouse. Buy a dvd player and use a digital out to feed it on dac instead a dedicated cd player.

 

[wiimamp user]

Another thing ..why don,t they offer a file to download in stead of a cd? Its fun having the cd, the booklet and so on ofcourse.
I would still buy a cd of vinyl don,t get me wrong.
But i would appreciate it if they could offer me the data in the best possible quality. Lets say better then a streaming service could offer.
But then, when the streaming services get better and better is there a difference from physical media or files locates on a NAS drive..?
My opinion is the streaming services have to offer the best as possible losless quality..

A good system and listening experience starts with good speakers and a good source on audio quality..from there one chooses the amp,dac and so on..
Lesser quality hasn,t perse to be that bad but with a good system you want to have the best possible quality feeding the system.
Maybe spotify will make the next step.. im very very.. pleased with Tidal but i hope Spotify will do more for their paying customers.
I will support them both.
Im of topic now..sorry..

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

Another thing ..why don,t they offer a file to download in stead of a cd? Its fun having the cd, the booklet and so on ofcourse.
I would still buy a cd of vinyl don,t get me wrong.
But i would appreciate it if they could offer me the data in the best possible quality. Lets say better then a streaming service could offer.
But then, when the streaming services get better and better is there a difference from physical media or files locates on a NAS drive..?
My opinion is the streaming services have to offer the best as possible losless quality..

A good system and listening experience starts with good speakers and a good source on audio quality..from there one chooses the amp,dac and so on..
Lesser quality hasn,t perse to be that bad but with a good system you want to have the best possible quality feeding the system.
Maybe spotify will make the next step.. im very very.. pleased with Tidal but i hope Spotify will do more for their paying customers.
I will support them both.
Im of topic now..sorry..

With Amazon, when you buy a CD, you get a free digital version, at least for some titles.

 

[wiimamp user]

With Amazon, when you buy a CD, you get a free digital version, at least for some titles.

Thanks i didn,t know that.
For instance if i wanted to support an artist directly on his site i would appreciate he of she could offer me a downloadable file in the best possible audio quality in stead of buying the physical media.
Of i can choose them both indeed..

 

[Brantome]

With Amazon, when you buy a CD, you get a free digital version, at least for some titles.

AutoRip (if still around) just offers MP3 versions though

 

[wiimamp user]

AutoRip (if still around) just offers MP3 versions though

I would,t choose for Mp3 indeed.
I can understand the quality is also dependent on the recording but i would appreciate i could download the file in the best quality possible. For instance CD of High res quality.
I would support the artist directly on his or her website if possible..

 

[jxrxme]

Thanks i didn,t know that.
For instance if i wanted to support an artist directly on his site i would appreciate he of she could offer me a downloadable file in the best possible audio quality in stead of buying the physical media.
Of i can choose them both indeed..

You can buy a lot of music directly from artist or label via Bandcamp as download only, or CD+Download or Vinyl+Download. It’s quite common that the downloads are > 44.1kHz/16bit.

 

[Brantome]

Don't Qobuz offer hi res purchases? I'm sure there are other websites who do

 

[jxrxme]

Don't Qobuz offer hi res purchases? I'm sure there are other websites who do

Yes, a lot of hi-res buyable/downloadable there.

 

[wiimamp user]

You can buy a lot of music directly from artist or label via Bandcamp as download only, or CD+Download or Vinyl+Download. It’s quite common that the downloads are > 44.1kHz/16bit.

Thanks i did heard of it but i didn,t know this. I will look around there. If can download the files there and can support the artist there directly i will..