joshnich Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 its pretty weird. Normally when I want to listen to music, i find myself flipping through my substantial collection of records. Now, with the addition of the Rega Apollo, i find myself putting on aCD more times than not. Before the Rega I used my CD changer almost exclusively for playing a few cds and putting it on shuffle. With the Rega i find myself putting cds on like they were Lps. No kidding. i never would have believed it. Its pretty cool having an entire CD collection to pull from. Imagine all your CDs sounding pretty damn close to vinyl. Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 I presume from the intro that the Rega Apollo is a new piece of kit in your system. Stands to reason, if that is the case, that you will be playing it more in the early stages. "Sounding pretty close to vinyl" is a bit of a giveaway - in time I have a feeling you will revert back. If not - congratulations - you just saved yourself a whole lot of hassle. Right now I am hardly listening to my system at all - it is simply too hot without the AC and too noisy with it. Roll on winter..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Same here. The ShengYa/Vincent 6922/6DJ8 HDCD has me doing the same thing. The sound isn't vinyl but very close. Close enough the vinyl's starting to catch dust. My vinyl collection is much larger than my CD collection but instead of searching numerous places for hard to find music I'm ordering CDs online. I've been preaching to my friends for years that vinyl can't be beat for good reproduction and they don't know what they're missing. Now, the CD is catching up and is close enough that the vinyl has taken a back seat. CD sound has come a long way. I've been buying HDCDs and mostly the sound is awesome. I recently bought the Billie Holliday "Me, myself, and I" (HDCD) and even if it is CD the instrumental and vocals are very close to my old vinyl. CDPs are getting expensive and the quality is going up. How much more can they improve CD? I don't know but it's getting pretty good. I'm glad I have both. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 The first wave of CD's were terrible, and I found full of static.......they have come along way, and the Remastered ones are good. I won't say they are better than Vinyl, that's for each to decide, but they are alot easier to handle and play........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 At times, I am tempted to get into vinyl but I realize that digital will surpass analog in quality in the not so distant future. And then there is the cost and hassle of vinyl. I'd rather spend more time listening to music than preparing to listen to music. As mentioned earlier in this thread, there are a lot of crappy CDs. But when you hear a really good CD, you realize that 98 percent of the CDs never even come close to fullfilling the format's potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 OK, what is an HDCD? JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 I haven't turned on my SACD player (the one in my Khorn system) since last summer. Only then it was because I had the outside speakers hooked up. I don't spend a lot of time "preparing" to listen when I play LPs. I clean an album once and it's usually good for a number of years. It probably takes less than 30 seconds to get an album playing. CDs probably take half that time but I don't think it's as big an issue as some make it. Also, the cost of vinyl can be significantly less than CDs if you know where to shop. I do admit however, that a really good TT/Arm/Cart is more expensive than a CD player of similiar quality. Josh - I'm glad you found one you really like. Congrats! I'll be curious to know what your feelings are 6 months from now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 "OK, what is an HDCD?" High Def, just a different decoding signal. Very good format. A lot of CDs have the HDCD encoding label on them and most don't even know it. If you check your CDs you will find many different decoding formats on them. The HDCD format has a very small rectangular box on the back of the Jewel case showing HDCD. All CDs are not created equal. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Interestingly, I've just recently purchased a new VPI Scout w/JMW 9 tonearm and a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge, so in theory it should be my new "toy", and it is. While it's very good and allows me to enjoy my vinyl collection, it's not even close to the sound that my Rega Saturn produces. Rather than describing the Saturn as vinyl like, it's probably more accurate to say its analog sounding. Vinyl has a distinct and wonderful sound, but good CDs played on an excellent piece of new technology, such as the Rega Saturn, is in a completely different league. IMO Rega has redefined the potential of Redbook playback. I'm sure others will be following their lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 here is an idea what you could do with the rest of your vinyl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 As another VPI Scout/JMW owner, I tried to give wallflower a bit of help. Apparently, it did not. Anyone who has read many of my posts should be able to glean that I have no bias about media, or even equpment. "If it SOUNDS good, it IS good" is both my signature and philosphy. Having said that, if you have a VPI/JMW or any other HALF decent TT that doesn't surpass ALL CD's on ANY player, there is something bad wrong. The scientific side of my brain rejects any attempt to add back what was never there as folly, and the specs of Redbook clearly tell me vinyl parity isn't going to happen. I have heard no sampling rates less than 24/88.2 that equal a first class LP in quality. Granted, this is just my experience and it is metaphysically absurd to extrapolate it to anyone else. However, to respond also to another poster who'd toyed with the idea of vinyl but is awaiting digital to catch up: NEWS FLASH...it already has. Perhaps he meant "media" as in "off the shelf." Even there one can find a limited number of DVD-A and SACD that equal or better vinyl. Blu-RAY offers the possibility of a truely universal compressionless medium that will require simply a unversal chip able to handle anything from highly compressed to raw files. It will come, and it probably won't be long. That said, only a small amount of the nearly LIMITLESS treasures available on analog media will be available in a digital format for decades, if ever. Even then, if experience is an indicator, the transfers may not carry the full musicality of the originals. For me, this is not a horse race or debate. If the musical treasures of the 20th century do not interest you, you have no need of phono equipment. If they do, you can't tap this any other way. For me, it is that simple. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 I currently have a Naim CD5 ($2250 new) with separate power supply that hasn't been played in months. As good as it sounds (and it does sound good) I keep going back to my Thorens. The music is more real on the Thorens. YMMV... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Dave,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Your input was very helpful!! And I'm convinced the Scout is optimized. That's not the issue. What's going on is the Saturn is just that good. It really can't be described; it has to be heard to be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 As I always make clear, it is not possible or desirable to refute another's experience, especially an individual you know to be fully qualified to observe. OTOH it certainly flys in the face of my own experience which includes playback that should certainly equal the Saturn, as well as the known limitations of the low 16/44.1 playback. However, it's a little like having bees live in your head...but, there they are! Enjoy! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Wallflower, can you tell us what you listen to? What music? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadBabyBoomer Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 To joshnich, Harry O, et al....Please "double-box" your albums in sets of 50 per box and mail them to me via Media-Mail. Also if you could do-up an Excel spreadsheet catalog before shipping that would be helpful[Y].....I will donate them to a worthwhile vinyl charity (BBBB's Vinyl Collection) in your name. Many Thanks[8-|] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 pauln-<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I have a pretty broad range of music I listen to. Late 50's/early 60's jazz (the standards). Most all those recordings are on CD. Most of my classical music is on LP with some CD's. I prefer chamber baroque music to symphonic music, but I listen to both. I very much like Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart. I also enjoy new music like Norah Jones, Diana Krall, John Meyer, Steely Dan (new and old) etc... I have a lot of rock from the 70's on both vinyl and CD. Amazingly the jazz CD's just sound fantastic on the Saturn, which is really something considering when they were mastered (obviously in Analog). All in all my collection includes approximately 500 CDs and 650 LPs. System: JMA BlueBerry Xtreme Conrad Johnson MF 2500 A Rega Saturn CDP VPI Scout/JMW 9/Dynavector 10x5 1981 La Scalas with Bob Crites AA networks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshnich Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share Posted June 19, 2007 I have to say I was exaggerating a fair bit to make a point. I still listen to and prefer vinyl for the most part. I just never believed or expected that I would enjoy CDs as much as I am with this CDP. Wallflower you are right analog is a much better description. Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser SET say Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Digital is digital and nothing grates on my nerves more than digital skip (I liken this to dropped cell calls[]) because no record I have ever played just dropped or garbled the music like digital can and does. I see the same thing in these LCD flat screen digital TV's all the time where you have what I call segmented pixels or digital glitch. The screen starts boxing out the picture as it skips. Analog television or vinyl rigs never do this and sure I take a little pop, click & hiss now and then but my music always sounds analog on my table because that's what music is an analog waveform signal. When you start chopping it up digitally that is exactly what you get back and that is choppy digital cut out. I'm not saying this happens all the time but IMHO digital is a very sterile and dead sounding format which yes even I listen to it for convenience when I have to but I'll choose the nice vinyl setup over the digital rig every time if I have the option[] I like others will be curious to see where your at on this CDP listening in another 6 months[^o)] It's just like my quest for the best sound possible out of my compressed iPod tracks, I bought the best in ear canal phones with a killer external amp which receives it's signal right off the hard drive of the pod via a special docking cable and sure it sounds good, really good for portable listening however it still has all the digital anomilies associated with digital playback and as nice as it sounds it still has that sterile ones and zero's output[] I have a very nice phono pre and a decent/mediocre table and cartridge and it still sounds better to me than my digital setup (please see signature) so I can tell you I would almost sell my digital gear if I had a really really nice vinyl rig ala the Max Miester[](fingers crossed and saving[]). Josh, I too am glad you are so pleased with your new Rega. Jam on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 >It's just like my quest for the best sound possible out of my compressed iPod tracks... Good grief...only way I've ever heard to to that is to fill it up with straight .wav rips. Even then it's just a CD. >Analog television or vinyl rigs never do this... Again...ANALOG TELEVISION!!! If you ever see an analog television that even APPROACHES the image from 1080i or 1080p, let me know. I'd more likely compare the BEST analog TV to the best 8 Track. Granted, it still doesn't pass the cat test like my stereo does, but it is pretty awesome nonetheless, and I'll go along that digital artifacts happen...but I certainly see them as no worse than the analog varieties...color smearing, 60 cycle visible hum, etc. Most digital video artifacts are momentary, most analog artifacts are continuous. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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