Tír Na HiFi

I buy electronica and ambient CDs regularly from Bandcamp. I also get the flac downloads but ive managed to get a CD player onto my desk as a transport and enjoy playing the CDs. I'm on the lookout for a smallform transport or a CD player with a solid transport to use. Anyone have a definitive opinion on whether slot loaders damage CDs.

I have just "downgraded" to an Audiolab 6000CDT (BAT valve CD player will be up for sale asap). It sounds absolutely brilliant! So definitely recommended!

I don't buy that many new CDs but I love dipping into my old CDs and box sets. I also enjoy picking up bargains in various shops and web sites. I have a good bit of stuff not digitized and not available on streaming platforms. I am not an analog puritan although I do enjoy what a good quality/well set up vinyl playback system can deliver, I also have come to appreciate the ease of use and consistency that can be achieved at a relatively modest budget with CD and of course streaming.... My two cents worth...

I'm wondering if I should do what the savvy did in the 90s and 00s when vinyl was less popular: buy everything I see on CD!

Thing is, currently I'm not listening to CDs, but that's a product of circumstance more than desire.

I also have come to appreciate the ease of use and consistency that can be achieved at a relatively modest budget with CD

I think I never quite appreciated this - that quite easily, and for smallish money, you can get pretty damn good sound with a CD player. Especially today when you can buy top notch players for pretty small money. Maybe reliability is an issue that needs to be considered when outlaying higher sums.

Anyone have a definitive opinion on whether slot loaders damage CDs.

I don't think so, unless the entry foam strips are gritty.

If the streaming keeps edging up in price and back catalogues get spread out between a few like films has then CD will probably make a niche comeback. I think if you are buying Vinyl, CD, Cassettes today you are niche.

I had read reports of Audiolab transport damaging CDs for some people which has put me off buying and I don't fancy cambridge one. Am thinking at budget end a Tascam CD-200 would be a solid transport. Also Ive been using TEAC Audio Player with my TEAC UD-H01 DAC and have (I think) noticed a clarity to the music when using option to expand to ram for playback which I found interesting.

What’s a CD Grandad?

.sjb

I think I never quite appreciated this - that quite easily, and for smallish money, you can get pretty damn good sound with a CD player. Especially today when you can buy top notch players for pretty small money. Maybe reliability is an issue that needs to be considered when outlaying higher sums.

This sums up CD for me currently. I buy a lot of vinyl but go for CD if it's an impulse buy or good value 2nd hand - can get great music for little money.
I don't do streaming and have 1000s of cds from the past too. Frightened if I have to replace my current player though- lasers etc. can unfortunately make repairs economically unviable despite meaning great players may go to the the scrap heap.

I must admit I have mainly gone over to Bandcamp for purchasing music. It's been a long time since I bought a CD, main reason being it's difficult to obtain the type of music I enjoy in your mainstream music shop.

There is also the storage issues of CD / vinyl, which can get substantial given enough time. The hifi room starts to get crowded... it has to be big enough for speakers & a rack system... but some music owners have CD / Vinyl collections many times greater in size than the physical hifi itself.

I have on occasion come across a old volume 1 of a album, wondered if there was a volume two.... and ended up purchasing it second hand on extortion bay. Just to see what it is like... kinda harking back to the older times.

Postage fees can add up too.

But the convienience of a digital archive, compiling favourite lists, abililty to switch (or swipe) between genres etc is hard to beat.