It’s Time To Consider A New CD Player!
CDs Are Not Over!
The streaming service providers out there would like you to think CDs are over. Not so! CDs are alive and well. In fact, SACDs are still alive and well!
We are happy to have streaming services as an adjunct to our disc players. The more music, the better. But almost all of these services offer their music at a compressed rate. A couple new ones are bragging that they offer loss less content. That’s nice. But at best- it will sound almost as good as CD.
With CD you have an archive. It isn’t dependent on your Internet connection. You won’t lose it if your computer gets sick or goes insane. You’ll have it as long as you take care of it. It can outlast you. It probably comes with good notes about the performance.
Of course there are zillions of CD choices for you to buy out there. An added bonanza now is… many companies are promoting fantastic BOXES of collected works at ridiculously low prices today. Here are a couple I’ve bought recently.
Murray Perahia is one of my favorite classical piano players. He has recorded 68 CDs since his career began in the early 70s. Sony has come out with a BOX of all 68 and titled it “The First 40 Years” for just over $100. It comes with five DVD performances AND a wonderful BOOK describing what you are listening to. If you had never bought a classical piano disc, you could buy this BOX and cover a wide swath of the best repertoire of all time, with terrific fidelity and an educational book to boot. For $120?! THAT is ridiculous!
Bill Evans, in June of 1961, made an epic recording at the Village Vanguard with bassist Scottie LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. LaFaro died about two weeks later in a car crash. Riverside is selling a 3 CD box which covers the five sets the trio recorded over two days. You get all five sets in very fine, remastered, STEREO fidelity, for $25. You get take 1, 2 & 3 of “Gloria’s Step.” You get takes 1-2 of “Waltz for Debby” “My Romance” “Alice In Wonderland” “All of You” and “Detour Ahead.” There are other tunes as well- with a little band banter and room ambiance. Your are in the room with them for two days, for $25. Unbelievable!
Music as good as this- deserves the best sound possible. You should have THIS STUFF on CD. If you want Katy Perry and Pharrell- fine, stream them in.
You may have also heard that there is a vinyl revival. That’s true. In 2014, 9.2 million black discs were sold. But over 140 million CDs were sold!
Why might you be interested in a new CD player? First of all, you probably have a bunch of CDs. Did you know they have more to give you than what you have heard from them? CD Players are better than ever. If you bought a CD in 1982 when the format first arrived, those discs will sound better now than on machines you have played them on over the years.
Marantz CD-6005 $500
CD-6005 is an inexpensive disc player that will beat most players that ran up to $2k a few years ago. With substantial power supply and discrete analog boards, CD-6005 is an excellent value.
Marantz SA-8005 $1200
SA-8005 is one of my favorite players ever! It plays regular CDs a notch better than CD-6005 above, and ALSO PLAYS SACDs.
SACDs have 64x more info than regular (Red Book) CDs. The sonic improvement on apples to apples discs is approximately 20%. The quiet background, increased detail and dynamic range on SACD are well worth the trouble for the true treasures of your collection. For me, that includes Chopin’s Ballades and Scherzos & Stravinsky’s “Rite Of Spring.” These are works so rich that you hear something new every time you play them. Like peeling away layers of an onion, there’s always more within.
Marantz SA-11S3 $4000
The purist of the pure. The SA-11S3 takes a back seat to nobody. You can compare it with $7000 of this or $25,000 of that- SA-11S3 will hold its own with any player at any price. Its performance is magical- literally unsurpassed with XLR and RCA interface options.
