Which digital format?

[j.postema]

Hi,

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I was not able to find a similar topic.

after trying vinyl I decided to go digital. I bought a second hand turntable and placed a new stylus and cartridge (AT100E) and bought a few records for testing, but it didn't sound as good as the digital recordings in my case, in my opinion. So right now I'm wondering what digital medium I would like to use: I own a Hifiberry (Raspberry pi with Dac+) but I still like the idea of having a physical medium like a cd. I think digital downloads or streaming will become mainstream and I'm not sure about the future of the compact disc. But I like the physical artwork and medium. It just feels less interesting to me to only download the music without having a physical copy.

So my question is: does it still make sense to buy new compact discs in 2016? How do you source your digital music?

[Gazjam]

I'd say yes actually. :)

Purely because you can pick a cd up for a couple of quid or less, enjoy it just now on your cd player and later rip it to computer and enjoy it in file based format if thats the road you go down.
Lots of us have for convenience sake, and file based music can often sound better.
Put the disks up the loft or keep them handy to look at the artwork etc. Which you like to do.

I went file based digital quite a few years back, ripped all my disks to computer and play my music from a Logitech Transporter (squeezebox) into a Dac.
Also use the streaming service Tidal for new music which I access through the same system.

Still have about 180 or so CDs in the listening room but its mainly because the storage unit matches my hifi rack and looks good in the room!

[walpurgis]

CD can sound amazingly good done right.

A high quality DAC is needed though in my opinion. If you have the cash, look at Wadia or Mark Levinson.

[struth]

Buy cd initially. You can rip it to whatever format you wish and still have it down line without rebuying it ... a rip is usually as good as anything you buy too and a lot cheaper.

[Clifford.T Ward]

Hi Johan!

I think it is fair to say that one of the most economical ways to obtain digital media at the moment is CD . It is being ditched by Mr and Mrs average and as such there are plenty to be ontained for a few Euro. It is interesting to look back at one or two formats and see their history.....at the end of the 80s LPs were ditched and again one could buy them for good prices , a similar thing with casettes......in the end I think it boils down to what suits you? I still buy CDs even new ones because I invested well in the format......the same with vinyl and even cassetes ....I have some computer based files too BUT for me it is the enjoyment of the music that guides me and the nostalga .I think CD will live on and who knows there might even be a revival but I think it comes down to how you enjoy the hobby and what suits you ......follow your heart and enjoy the music .

[Light Dependant Resistor]

I agree having the physical medium is a bonus , but there are some situations where
some may not attempt to muster a huge collection on CD, the digital download being a quick fix
rather than what is arguably the better long term solution collecting CD's

I have yet to see any decline in CD's in the ones I buy, mainly jazz

A few storage playback solutions are the Sony Mega 200- 400 Disc players, or also 5 disc players are
a nice solution. Also the yamaha CDRCD1500 is a nice way of playing back what you have recorded
from CD.

A good one box player though is nice to develop for the best sound quality.
I mainly use a modified Marantz 7300.

So agree having the CD physical medium is the way to go.

Cheers / Chris

[Yomanze]

There has never been a better time to buy CD. On average I'm paying around £2.50 per album at the moment. Music Magpie is awesome.

[Bazil]

Depending how much you want to spend , you could get a universal disc player , Oppo , Cambrigde Audio , Primare , all the same machine tuned (DAC) differently.
I like to buy various formats and have a Cambridge Audio 752BD and play CD , SACD, DVD-A and Blu-Ray Audio discs , I can also stream FLAC to it from my laptop .

[Gazjam]

The Oppo's really good, use mine as a disc transport into my Dac.
Last disk spinner I'll buy.
Great for streaming video, oh, and it plays blurays pretty well too. :)

Internal Dac on the Oppo is extremely good, but prefer it playing through my own Dac from its digital out.
The Oppo 105 has a better internal Sabre Dac than the 103D I have, but the 103 into an external Dac...is another story.

[Henchard]

As someone 'old school' who has just moved to streaming (Innos Zen Std Mk2 server and M-dac+) I'd say that the most important thing is the way music is recorded.

CD rips can sound very good if the original recording is good. However, I must say that I do like the quality of some DSD material, I have no problem mixing rips of my exsting (800+) Cd's with newer hi resolution downloads. It's ceratainly easier finding the music on the server than on the shelf!

[WAD62]

So my question is: does it still make sense to buy new compact discs in 2016? How do you source your digital music?

Complete sense, buy the CD, rip & tag it to FLAC, then stream it...

Check out the 'ripping' sticky for top ripping tips ;)

[Rothchild]

Complete sense, buy the CD, rip & tag it to FLAC, then stream it...

Check out the 'ripping' sticky for top ripping tips ;)

Yeah, this. CDs are filthy cheap and rip to FLAC nicely - I use the very slow but very accurate morituri ripper: http://thomas.apestaart.org/morituri/trac/

MusicBrainz Picard is your friend, a great way to keep tags in order

I also have a spotify premium acct for new music discovery and general 'radio' listening.

[Pieoftheday]

Hi,

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I was not able to find a similar topic.

after trying vinyl I decided to go digital. I bought a second hand turntable and placed a new stylus and cartridge (AT100E) and bought a few records for testing, but it didn't sound as good as the digital recordings in my case, in my opinion. So right now I'm wondering what digital medium I would like to use: I own a Hifiberry (Raspberry pi with Dac+) but I still like the idea of having a physical medium like a cd. I think digital downloads or streaming will become mainstream and I'm not sure about the future of the compact disc. But I like the physical artwork and medium. It just feels less interesting to me to only download the music without having a physical copy.

So my question is: does it still make sense to buy new compact discs in 2016? How do you source your digital music?

Definitely makes sense to me to buy cds, mint used ones can be had very cheap, downloads and streaming ain't for me though I gather sound quality is very good now

[j.postema]

Hi everyone,

first of all thanks for the big amount of replies and good suggestions!

I just didn't realize by myself that (many) cd's are very cheap nowadays so one can just have both (phyisical and digital) after ripping. I will definitely check the ripping sub forum :)

I will look into dedicated DACs and cd / sacd / blu ray players.

@Clifford: you are right, I will just choose what feels best at this moment.