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lfc jon View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 9:03am
Ash
I don't have many rarity items well I don't think so anyway the only one I do have that I know about is by BLONDIE and it took me a few years to find a copy but it was one to (nearly) complete my BLONDIE collection. I'm not one to collect rare vinyl or CDs I just buy what I like, and didn't get any of blondie greatest hits has I didn't see the point as it was just repeating tracks I already have, the album was Essential Blondie-Picture This Live- limited edition 1998 copy and it only came out on CD (I do like live recordings) I'm lucky that my CD player is not a noisy one so I don't have a problem with hearing it in the background. I do see your point in you ripping your collection to preserve the physical condition and it's something I should probably do myself. 
Reflex M, Solo (both with PSU-1) CuSat50, Lautus, Spatia & Spatia links cables. Ortofon Bronze.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 11:39am
Ripping has overtaken CD so much that it isn't worth making high fidelity CD players anymore.

This is leading us to a similar WIGIG conclusion as vinyl, except there were enough old vinyl engineers still alive to resuscitate vinyl.

It wasn't too difficult, provided somebody could make the pickup cartridges, make the tonearms and construct a turntable. Not forgetting cutting lathes, the wax mix and its press, the electro-less chemical silvering process and the high-build electro-plating process, the "recipe" for the plastic, the press itself, the packaging, its printing, then the distribution network. Difficult enough!

Compare the above with making all the intricate parts and the laser and the microchips from Taiwan. CD is so reliant on modern technology and the considerably more significant investment in CD and player manufacture that it might suffer its own extinction event - final - gone!

Ripping will have been to blame. But then take it to the logical conclusion that high fidelity sound reproduction is a minority pastime (yes it is!), then software might "evolve" to the lowest common denominator - MP3!

We are seeing it happen! A computer with a proper sound card? Question to Ash: did we not discuss this?

The truth, however, is that CD is so technically superior to vinyl, you'd think the human race would want to keep it. Common or garden vinyl (which describes 99% of my favourite records) is the equivalent of 12 bit, yet CD is 16 bit. The "virtue signalling" bat-eared can hear deeper into absolutely nothing and insist on 20 bit (plus 4 bits of non-audio information making 24 bit).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with CD! The technology is fine. The way it's been used to pay back the millions in investment has been to blame - the loudness wars - the remasters. And then, the marketing of hi-fi CD players - the mucking about bending the sound quality to differentiate between brands - a cut-throat business if ever I've seen one.

The artisan never had a place in compact disc. It might have looked that way, but having worked on the inside, all the transports were rebadged Philips, leaving very little to work with.

That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 1:42pm
File-based audio is where I am going. But having some physical media like CD as a backup archive is important to me as I never want to lose the material. I also prefer to pay for ownership rather than pay for mere access rights as with DRM-controlled downloads, which could be taken away whenever the provider wants. I would love if there were somewhere where high quality vinyl rips could be obtained too, as vinyl is so expensive and time/space consuming.

Graham, we spoke about transports but I still have more to learn about ripping. Until I am confident that ripped files I produce are exactly what's on the disc, I will hold on to my CDs for dear life. I have both USB and SATA disc drives so I can connect them to any type of computer.
We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 3:20pm
Graham 
I liked your post as always very interesting and you put some valid points across. the one I do have a big problem with is the loudness wars. In that I have a lot of CDs that when I go to play them after playing the one before it it's as if the volume has been turned down. the remastering can be a problem too and sometimes it's not as good as the vinyl or even the CD copy it's supposed to have been made better of ( I could not think of a better way saying it) I do like playing CDs, Has I have said some I just can't get on vinyl or as a download and as for streaming no chance, Ash made a good point against streaming as you don't own that music and it can be taking away at any time this is not something they can do if you own the physical copy. I do remember some time ago of a mother that had lost her son and his music collection was all from it--es and was told that the music he had was not his and that she had no rights too (can't remember the out come of that) but if he had the CD or vinyl it would have been hers to do what she wanted to do with it
Reflex M, Solo (both with PSU-1) CuSat50, Lautus, Spatia & Spatia links cables. Ortofon Bronze.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 3:49pm
I like streaming services like Youtube for finding new music but I like to add high quality CD or download to my collection eventually and have it locally stored so I'm not reliant on the internet for access.

It is like a lot of video games nowadays; it is nearly all DLC (downloadable content) rather than disc media so often you are paying for access rights rather than ownership of the content. Subscription services are just the same. People can pay a lot of money into such services but once support for the servers reaches end of life and is discontinued, the consumer is left with access rights to something that no longer allows access... I'm personally not interested in the convenience sell-out.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 4:34pm
Ash
Me too I like Youtube for finding new music but a good record shop is even better (when they can open) plus I can meet other people with the same interest in music, but NOT always the same kind but still it's good to get out and talk and meet new people. I would like to get more into computer audio but I don't have the funds and what money I do have I feel is better spent on improving my system and as I've said I am not good with computers (which is a BIG problem) plus I do think that buying new music is the best way of improving what I have AND appreciate what I have too.
I have just put an order in for some CuSat50 cables to connect the CD player to my amp I'm in the process of replacing my cables to all Graham Slee when fund are available after this it will be back to appreciating what I have, as further improvements will mean spending A lot more money and I mean ££££
Reflex M, Solo (both with PSU-1) CuSat50, Lautus, Spatia & Spatia links cables. Ortofon Bronze.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 4:56pm
That reminds me, I have a couple of pairs of Slee cables that are surplus to requirements. They are:

1.5m Lautus phono-XLR (used between Bitzie and Proprius)
0.6m CuSat50 phono-phono (used between Majestic and Solo)

Dual-mono single-ended. From a clean environment and hardly used.
We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.
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