Anyone find it far more rewarding listening to real physical CDs on a CD player, rather than using FLACs? And why do you find this?

[Deleted member 28849]

When I'm in the mood for the ultimate Hi-fi I use my Bryston BCD-3, cost me $3500 CDN. I doctor recordings so that playback is smooth 2 volts output on cd-r's thus meeting THX standard and I tweak the treble, mids and bass to my liking.

For a time I used only the BCD-3, but after sending it in for repair I only use it occasionally as I don't want to wear it out.
Having played my Favorites a million times over I find I'm listening mostly to Amazon HD in a quest to find new to me music. And using the computer as a source is much more convenient than having to search through spools of cd-r to play the next album.

 

[Gorgonzola]

This is great and I agree with everything you said, especially number 3. I would add one more number to the list: 5. Security.

About 15 years ago I began converting all my CDs to files for convenience's sake. The vast majority of my collection is classical and the metadata online is usually awful for that genre, so I spent hours tweaking the metadata, updating all the cover images, organizing it so it was searchable, etc. Eventually, about 5 years ago, the files got too big for my biggest HD and I needed the space to do other work (editing video), so I bought a new external HD. You all know where this is going...

About a month after moving all my files over and making sure everything was working properly, I deleted the files from the first HD so I could get my work done. The new HD promptly failed and I lost all my work. Fortunately I only had a few albums that were purchased digitally so I had the original CDs as backups, but probably hundreds of hours of work were just gone.

I play CDs out of a sense of security. Streaming services will come and go, files will be available as long as there is demand, but I feel like the only sure way to be able to listen to a particular album whenever I want for years to come is to own it. I have no desire to buy files after my experience, so I'll take my chances that the hardware to play CDs will be available for the rest of my life.

Advisory from Gorganzola: "All hard disks eventually fail". It might take a decade, a year, or day but it will happen. Always make backups immediately; multiple backups are preferable as is off-site backups if possible.

I miss disc's album notes but that's the only thing about the computer files I have problem with For my there is no mystical experience around handling LPs or CDs -- though apparently there is for some people.

 

[Foxenfurter]

pre-streaming. Buy a cd, pop it out of the case, watch it go into the drawer. Music starts - oh it's a crap filler track, and another one, oh that's the song I liked - but doesn't sound so great, another filler, oh I like this one. etc. You then force yourself to listen to the album over again and some of the songs grow on you. My wife walks in, "why are you listening to that shit". OK that's what headphones are for.

I guess it is what you want from music, for me it is the discovering new stuff, so streaming all the way, and mostly it is easy to get bio's, album reviews and artwork. No more ugly cd racks.

 

[Victor Martell]

i disagree.

I don't use a CD player since 2011. I don't listen to a media but a music

Ugh - don't know how to do multi-quote - this is exactly what I am talking about - I JUST wrote about this and yet... here it is AGAIN. I wonder if posts really get read - or maybe is only my posts that are being ignored...

From my post at https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...hy-do-you-find-this.13599/page-11#post-796247

"- I disagree that streaming/files are "all about, and only about the music" and that by preferring physical media I am not - that's the "no true Scotsman" logical fallacy."

v

 

[Inner Space]

I disagree that streaming/files are "all about, and only about the music" and that by preferring physical media I am not - that's a "no true Scotsman" logical fallacy.

I agree with you. And I wonder if the protestations coming from the other direction aren't just a tiny bit self-conscious. If, hypothetically, I was asked to do opposition research on the current audio scene, as hardhearted and coldblooded as I could, I might suggest we expand the famous old adage from two lines to three:

A music lover uses equipment to listen to music;
An audiophile uses music to listen to equipment;
A streamer uses music to play with his computer.

I wonder how many streaming advocates had no prior personal enthusiasm for computers in general? It seems to me to be a prerequisite. Not their fault, of course, but there's a huge slice of the population left cold by them. I'm an example. They were advanced and integral in all my jobs, and I can work them just fine, but as a leisure interface I find them cold, hard, and generally unpleasant.

 

[Alexanderc]

For my there is no mystical experience around handling LPs or CDs -- though apparently there is for some people.

Nostalgia. At least for me. And that’s meaningful…at least for me.

 

[Robin L]

I'm unpacking the CDs I had in storage. I'm going to have to get rid of a lot of them. I don't have room for them anymore. I haven't really been missing them the last two years. I've got room for just one big rack, it'll hold around 600 CDs. And that's it. The CDs play fine, there's a lot of titles I haven't ripped yet. But the prospect is mainly a PIA. Honestly, there' really no difference between spinning a disc or streaming a file as regards the music itself. But physical media is mostly a set of nuisances added to the process.

 

[tmtomh]

I've spent the last couple of years ripping a lot more of my CDs (around another 1000 classical and jazz CDs) to FLAC. However, I sometimes wonder why I bother.

I've re-discovered in the last months that is it far more enjoyable to just play the original CDs on a CD player, than sending them through a separate DAC.

1. Having a real physical CD, allows the album to be objectified in the mind as a real object. This allows your mind to categorize your music, including where and when you bought the album (thereby associating the music to a specific time and place in your life).

The picture on the album cover also adds to this and helps to remind you of when you first bought the album.

2. Physically putting the CD in a CD player, allows you to pause and focus your intentions on what you are actually going to do - which is: listening seriously to music. Convenience can be a negative thing in this context, as it causes a loss of focus.

Listening to music seriously is like a meditative practice and you should focus on what you are doing.

The CD (or vinyl) format encourages you to focus on what you are doing, while playing on a computer encourages the opposite mentality. The "inconvenience" of the CD (or vinyl) format is also at least a little more similar to the constraints in listening to a live concert, and prevents you from rapidly switching between different genres or albums. Therefore it is more similar to the intentions of the composer, who would expect the audience to wait patiently in a concert hall before the performance.

This is important because music is better listened to distinctly - switching too much between different albums, can be like blurring together paint, creating a muddy mix of colours in your mind.

3. Having and reading the physical liner notes, is one of the great joys of a (at least classical) music collection. Why would anyone not see the loss of them as a huge minus? While the quality of liner notes varies, a lot of them contain excellent and informative writing, which can't be found anywhere else. For example, I particularly enjoy reading the liner notes in Colombia Jazz Albums. While I often enjoy Deutsche Grammophon liner notes for their focus on writing about the particular performance and performers (I can read about the composition in a book, but not about the particular performance).

4. One of the benefits of serious listening is to escape from the distractions of modern life, including the computer screen. A traditional hi-fi system experience can contribute to this, while playing FLACs forcing you back to interacting with a screen.

When I play physical CDs, I find that I'm encouraged to sit down and listen, or even to read a book. On the other hand, with FLACs - I often browse the internet while listening, distracting one's attention.

-------- ------------

Anyone else agree or have other observations, or is this just me?

I feel similarly - to an extent.

I ripped all my CDs as well. I have them all archived in FLAC format on a hard drive, with multiple backups. And I have most of them converted to ALAC on my music server (which also is backed up). Often I enjoy just firing up the music server and playing whatever, one after the other.

However, other times I definitely prefer having the physical object in my hands, taking the disc out of the case, putting in the player, pressing play, as the OP describes.

And beyond that, I have found that getting back into collecting CDs has rekindled my love of music - even with my music server, I now almost always listen to entire albums, whereas during the years when I listened via computer and not from discs, I tended to shuffle more, and over time that made me less engaged with my music. To me, the wonderful experience where you get enraptured and suddenly the time has gone by without you noticing it, is only possible when playing full albums - and having physical discs as part of my routine keeps me in that habit.

The one area where I don't love CDs - and to be clear, they are my favorite medium - is the liner notes. They're often too small, especially with a lot of recent reissues where the trend towards reproducing the original LP art leads to tiny print for the liner notes.

But yes, my collection of discs is essential to me, and shapes even my digital-file listening habits.

 

[Victor Martell]

I feel similarly - to an extent.
The one area where I don't love CDs - and to be clear, they are my favorite medium - is the liner notes. They're often too small, especially with a lot of recent reissues where the trend towards reproducing the original LP art leads to tiny print for the liner notes.

But yes, my collection of discs is essential to me, and shapes even my digital-file listening habits.

Hey - but at least we get liner notes! indeed - that is a disadvantage - but well, sometimes some compromises have to be made - But, things like the recent Jethro Tull and Marillion box sets show can be done with CD packaging.

v

 

[MOCKBA]

Darko has a good video why he prefers CDs. Actually, I am old fashioned and prefer them too. Young people like digital money as bitcoin, but old fashioned like $100 bills.

 

[MOCKBA]

I noticed that many members store CD collection in FLAC or ALAC. I would like vote for wavpack. Why? Compression rate is better, so you save some space. You can store PCM or DSD. 32bit up to 384 or DSD 512 are supported. ISO container allow to store in one file music, images, PDF, and so on.

 

[Angsty]

I’ve noted that used CD prices seem to be rising, so maybe there is a broader preference for CDs than it might otherwise seem.

 

[Victor Martell]

I’ve noted that used CD prices seem to be rising, so maybe there is a broader preference for CDs than it might otherwise seem.

I was hoping too - but I think it means they are becoming scarcer... these days, any CD release, if you don't get it fast, you loose your chance. Heck, there are NEW CDs from MAJOR labels that if you search in amazon, you can only get from 3rd party sellers... amazon does not even carry them directly anymore...

Yeah - sorry for turning negative.... I too was hoping it was due to higher demand...

v

 

[BobbyTimmons]

I’ve noted that used CD prices seem to be rising, so maybe there is a broader preference for CDs than it might otherwise seem.

I wonder if people are becoming sick of Spotify.

 

[Sal1950]

I wonder if people are becoming sick of Spotify.

I doubt it. The general public is hooked on the convenience of streaming.
I much prefer to have my own files collection of the exact mix version, etc; I want, and not be at the whim of the streamer, studio, whatever. But it is nice to have streaming there for alternatives and now with Apple's large base of Atmos files, that makes it a home run for me.

 

[JSmith]

I wonder if people are becoming sick of Spotify.

I personally find too much choice can be a negative sometimes with streaming, both music and video services. Sometimes it's much easier to just pick from ones own collection, rather than wading through so many options. Both have their pro's and con's I suppose.


JSmith

 

[Sal1950]

JSmith

Got to ask, what's the meaning of your signature?

 

[JSmith]

Got to ask, what's the meaning of your signature?

It's a little cryptic...

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JSmith

 

[Sal1950]

It's a little cryptic.

OH NO, it's MATH!

 

[Sal1950]

I personally find too much choice can be a negative sometimes with streaming, both music and video services.

I like to have all the various digital sources available to me.
They each have a time and place where they are most appropriate.
While yet still offering bit perfect reproduction of the source material.
What a wonderful musical age we live in,
I could never have dreamed of this while spinning my 45's back in the 50-60s!