Playing CDs now and then

I use an Oppo UDP-205 to play CD’s and as a Roon end point. In casual comparisons between files played in Roon and the original CD’s they were ripped from, I don’t notice any substantial differences. But I haven’t done any really critical listening tests. Ideally, I would have someone switch between file and disk playback and not tell me which. But at least I could do some critical comparisons myself on a variety of material. If I do that and hear something, I’ll report back.

While playing files on Roon is convenient, ripping and tagging CD’s is a PITA, at least for classical. I don’t have anything close to my still growing CD collection ripped, and probably won’t in my lifetime. So I do “fall back” to “old, obsolete, archaic” CD’s, all the time–and most certainly will never throw them out.

…and comparing to the same selection on Tidal is invalid. You have no idea where that data has been before it reaches your system.

Also, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: when doing such comparisons rigorously, level matching is essential. When two sources are compared, with one slightly louder than the other, the louder one will almost always sound “better”. When I make comparisons on my Oppo, I assume the CD and networked file are the exact same bit stream going through the exact same DAC, at unity gain (I have the volume control of the Oppo disabled). That boils down to a disk of a reference sinusoidal test signal ripped into a file should measure the exact number of volts at the output when playing the disk or the ripped file. If I ever hear a difference, the first thing I would do is check that assumption. There is no easy way to do such a reality check with something from a streaming service.

If you r going to buy one you should get the sacd so you can say you have heard dsd since none of the services stream dsd.

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SACD is still very relevant IMO. An absolutely superb sounding medium, even in 2023.

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I am almost finished ripping a few thousand CD’s. I was using Bluesound Vault for the ripping when I started using roon. Playback was physical CD on the tube system and Bluos on the NAD AV system. I am now just finishing moving all the rips to the ROCK server. Roon is available on all systems in the house, and the CD’s are pretty much going into storage, except for probably less than 100. I really like being able to use roon to access the music I own vs the music via Tidal streaming. Either way offers almost exactly the same experience to me. So, I no longer will need the physical CD’s, but I still like the idea of owning them. I think in my case it’s an age/habit thing.

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Amen to that.
Oh and DVD-A
And Blu-Ray Audio.
:grin:

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