Some of us have more than one computer. And my storage device can do its own rips.
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I've been doing DIY audio since before you were born. And HDCD wasn't a "dead format" in 1995. Honestly, I expected better from the contributors on this forum. The comments above are just stupidity.
I'd put the Oppo up against the best dedicated CD player I've ever heard, any day. That would be a Wadia from memory, we don't really get the super-expensive exotics here.
I do love my Oppo 970. I love the big and fast tray movement, and the fact that it plays everything, SACD-R and DVDA-R. Unfortunately, it is the model NOT to get as it downsamples the output. Looking for a better one to come around cheap.
The oldest one I have is a DV-983H and it cost me AU$59.00 two years ago. Best darned DVD-only version they ever made, I wouldn't part with it. See if you can find one.
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I have four computers, so what.
I am ripping for two purposes only using XLD:
-Temp tracks / music layout for my work
-To have something to listen on my Iphone while travelling.
Using Neutron or File Explorer as I organise in folders and not playlist
So you want to carry on using a cd player and you have every right to. All I am saying is rather than spend time and effort re-inventing that which already exists why not take advantage of all the many unused former premium machines that invariably end up being dumped. What is to be gained by re-designing the drive electronics for a CDP-101?
Because there will be no transports produced 5 years from now.
But there is 200 billion compact discs sold worldwide
And the old transports proved to be good, rugged and long living.
Also there is a diode-swap project going on with the help of anatech.
But there is 200 billion compact discs sold worldwide
And the old transports proved to be good, rugged and long living.
Also there is a diode-swap project going on with the help of anatech.
I'd have to disagree with you on that. I'll make a couple of observations -
You're right, HDCD wasn't dead in 1995 - it was just beginning. But it had already fallen flat on its face by 2000 and was pretty much out of service by 2005, at least from a title release perspective. A look through the official list shows around 4000 titles, but most of them are esoteric titles (ie classical or reference recordings rather than superhits) or re-releases of old albums (the classic Tubular bells appears along with Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms). Personally, I have around 500 CDs but only 15 HDCD titles - most of these discs were released between 1993 and 2010, the key time for HDCD. Ironically the HDCD re-master of Tubular Bells sounds worse than the original 1980s Red Book disc which I also have (I mean really bad! i'm not sure how it ever got past quality control!).
I would also say the hardware never really got out of its starting block. Thinking in the period upto 2010 I had a CA IsoDAC, a Rotel CD player and a Musical Fideltiy DAC. The reason I had them was not because they were good (the MF X-DAC was frankly awful to me!) but because they did HDCD. But at the time HDCD titles were on the up, these were pretty much the only HDCD players I could lay my hands on. Clearly there were more. but I think we would struggle to identify more than 20-30 players (and an internet search suggests the same). My non-hifi interested friends all had different players and none of them were HDCD suggesting it had made no impact on consumer audio (which is really where the money is made). I've not included DVD or Blu-Ray players which are not hifi and were not available upto 2010 so that excludes Oppo).
I liked HDCD, I'm not arguing about HDCD. But to say it is [now] important in the world of CD players is like going to the gym and saying you did 50 reps but you only did 40. It's just a lie. It's something we as audio nuts wish could have made a bigger impact but didn't.
But... in any case, HDCD is down to the DAC, not the transport so the discussion doesn't belong in this thread. I would wager ditching HDCD and doing an I2S connection between transport and DAC probably matches the benefits of HDCD and every disc available can take advantage of that. Now this is the sort of discussion I would like to hear! How were you doing this interconnection in the 1970s before I was born?
Excellent advice - as I tried to say, my original thoughts were to help people make amazing mechanics or explore new circuits/refresh old players.