I have a zillion CDs, they are great. SACD is better. It's close, but the improvement leads to something really awesome

Thanks for weighing in 👍🏻

The CD is essentially a digital storage medium. It stores what you put on it. Some early CDs were made with poor second generation masters. They were also transfered with poor quality early AD converters. And the early CD players had poor DA converters. Of course "good master" can be subjective. Which is whole nother topic all together.

I agree. Sometimes a CD release which I can find for around 13 eur beat 30 eur vinyl in terms of mastering and quality of sound. When CD or vinyl are released or reissued by the same label, they sound practically the same. But with vinyl there is more interesting process during a playback. Sometimes not so interesting when a stylus skip.:)

@@peterregorsek1504 It's the warped and off center pressing that are a pain, a lot more these days than I remember during the 1970s and 80s, even in the audiophile pressings. I got the Amy Winehouse, 2LP 1//2 speed mastered at Abbey Road studios,180gr virgin vinyl of "Back to Black" recently and when I ordered it I had to order it 3 separate times. All three times one of the LPs were warped and two of the times, one of the LPs had an off center hole in one of the vinyl LPs. The one I decided to keep is warped just a little bit but playable. If I hadn't liked the album so much I wouldn't have kept it. Sign of the times I guess. ((:

Great examples! I might be tempted to go for that Petty Fillmore on CD - I was at one of those shows so it's a must-purchase for me.

@robo3174 Yes, I agree with your view. In South Asia where I live, to get vinyl record albums are rare and expensive. So I bought CD's instead and i have a CD collection.

I also want to add that there are plenty of CD only releases from many talented artists that for one reason or another could not get a vinyl pressing. In 2022 there is a shortage of pressing plants that can’t meet the demand. Therefore that’s a big part of why there are limited edition vinyl releases. For less fortunate independent artists the cost of releasing their music on vinyl is a big expense that likely won’t turn a profit. So, it makes financial sense to either do the digital album or release it on compact disc. Then there are albums that were released during the heyday of CDs that were never pressed on vinyl. So if you love music and not just collect vinyl because it’s the current trend, then owning a CD player is essential.

Though not just any CD player. I made that mistake for years and recently upgraded to a Marantz. It sounds MUCH better than my 20 year old Sony. Now I can really enjoy my CDs and my vinyl.

@@braveswin1 Sony CD players cannot be called as bad players. They have made some excellent all round award winning CD players which outperformed many of the elite class brand names. For reference read "What Hi Fi Sound and Vision" British audio hifi magazines.

Thanks for weighing in, this video has really struck a nerve it seems

Totally agree. I was 100% vinyl listening and did not even own a CD player until about 6 months ago when I found a Sony CDP-970 at Goodwill for $10 (I had no idea if it was good or not, but the reviews were positive so I thought I'd add it to my system just for fun). The first album I put on was Styx - The Grand Illusion. It sounded just as good as my $30 Japanese pressing on my $700 turntable and I paid $.25 for it at a local book/music store! Unbeknownst to me at the time, that CD was an A&M Audio Master Plus Series pressing. That totally sent me down the CD rabbit hole. Like you were saying, used CDs are so much cheaper than used vinyl as prices for the latter have skyrocketed. I have some vinyl albums that sound better than their CD counterparts and then some CDs that sound better. It taught me not to sleep on CDs and made me excited to find quality, bargain music again while vinyl prices have continued to get out of reach.

Yep, all valid points Martin - thank you for your comment and engaging! I will say that this CD player thing is super convenient ;-)

Thanks Brian!

Ha! I did the same with most of my cd’s years ago

I've been haunting those Rush best vinyl threads on Hoffman for quite some time as I recently found super clean copies of COS, Farewell to Kings, and Hemispheres. Had heard about those RAYS cuts! Hmmmm...off to Discogs for wish-list making!

@@Universityofvinyl You are THE ultimate collector sir! 😁 The tough one is COS. It was one of my very rare bouts of obsessive insanity (and before I knew as much as I have learned in the last few years, especially on the Hoffman forums) I bought a 1st German, a first Dutch, and a US Truetone pressing. I already had a run of the mill US pressing. I also bought the 2015 Remaster. THEN... I found this fellow in Texas who was getting rid of all his very high end equipment and vinyl. Since the provenance of this album is very murky and mysterious, he assured me that he had a genuine 1st US pressing that he guaranteed would sound great or he'd give me my money back. And yep, THAT was the one 😊 But, this album is very, very hard to zero in on who did what because the deadwax and information is mostly missing. Sorry to go on, but thought you might find that interesting. Truly the only time I kind of went off the deep end there for a moment. FWIW, if you want the best sounding pressings of 2112 and A Farewell to Kings, the ones with the 'JAMF' in the deadwax, either US or Canadian are the good ones. And, as you likely already know, the plentiful Moving Pictures with the 'RL' in the deadwax sound amazing. I have a 1st Dutch double 'RL' that sounds great! The 1st US of Signals and Power Windows are both very good. The only 2015 Remasters that I would recommend would be Presto because the 1st pressing is rather bright, and Pressure/Grace, which on my system is slightly better than the original. If you like Vapor Trails, make SURE to get the later remix because even they admitted that they screwed up the sound on the original. The 2-LP Remaster of Counterparts is also quite good if you can find it at a decent price. I was very fortunate and stumbled across a SHF member who was offering both Counterparts and the 2-LP pressing of Test of Echo, both like new for $65 😊 That was a lucky one! Oh, and the first 2 albums are also kind of hard to figure out along with COS. Usually the Gilbert Kong (GK) are very good, but they can vary. If you can find a nice clean set of the Archive albums, their first 3, that may be the way to go.

Thanks much 👍🏻

And here in NH the cd's are 50 cents! Just picked up some this week.

Thanks Kyle 👏🏻✌🏻

TimP Yes, you are right. Also here I like to add the Japanese CD players like Pioneer, Sony, Denon etc. Some of which are award winners in the western countries and also they are more reasonably priced.

Thank you!

Thanks much. BA A200s

Yes, good record, near the end of their run before Westerberg went solo. All the Replacements LPs are worth owning!

Picked up a Promo copy. Happy Thanksgiving to You and Your Family! Grateful for all you do! Thank You

True,,,,,,,,

Damn, nice lineup!

👍🏻 why not sit the Blu-ray unit on top of the amp?

@@Universityofvinyl Because it would cover the vents

I have the same problem,so I made a shelf so amp sits on top no danger of cooking amp or player.

Hope you like the album, his first is also great (14 Songs). Your system|set-up sounds fancy to me 👍🏻👍🏻

@@Universityofvinyl maybe will get 14 Songs. Shelves overflowing in small apt with media . Headphone set-up is new, bypasses NAD 3400 integrated amp and Celestion DL 8 speakers . I'm gonna subscribe, Thanks again!

This. To be honest, what I'm finding even better than that is to setup a streaming transport and use something like Roon.

Very cool thanks for sharing 👍🏻

The Led Zeppelin Ultra HD albums on Amazon HD are superb. In my Time of Dying is thrilling through my low end Marantz amp and Tannoy floorstanding speakers. Entry level equipment but great sound

What are you getting from it that you didn't get from your previous copies? Legit question.

What "previous " copies? One of those albums that I just never got around to buying. As to what I "get" out of it, you have to listen to a properly done SACD on a dedicated player in order to understand the limitations of PCM. I've had my Yamaha SACD player for a year, I was using my OPPO, but proper SACD on a decent player is quite the experience. Especially the human voice, sounds like they're in the room with you

@@musicman8270 That's rare. Most people have the old warhorses and then some.😅

@@alanrogs3990 I'm a rebel.

@@musicman8270 noice

The problem with some vinyl re-issues is that they do not use the original master tapes, but actually just use the CD for their vinyl master. Or worse yet, they re-master the original source. A great example is the original soundtrack to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The 2-LP reissue is good, but does not have sound of the original, which has far better sonics and imaging. That's what re-mastering does, it puts people not involved in the original mix in charge.

Great insights, thanks!

Thank you! and thanks for weighing in - appreciate it! - Tim

Thanks for weighing in 👍🏻

Thanks, I have a couple of room tour vids if you want to hear more about the Mac. Check my playlists

Right?!

I just sold my DP-UB820. 😁 It was a great player. But, I would still use it as a transport to a dedicated DAC. Now, I rip my music and stream it with Roon. It's great.

He spent all his money on the Mc. Of course he’s grumbling.

Thanks for weighing in…. ✌🏻

@@Universityofvinyl Thanks for not taking it personal. 👍

Respectfully disagree, thanks for weighing in 👍🏻

That's a very good point.

Totally! I got a Marantz SA KI Ruby 6+ months a ago wasn't cheap got it on sale, what a player! Breaths new life to all my CDs... I'm good there... Just hunting down so many great CDs on the cheap.... From Goodwill to my local record shops. Hint look for older pressings of titles before the loudness wars started if possible. Even compressed discs sound great on the Marantz. Thing is magic!

@@i35photo Good point. That loudness war is a big problem with rock music.