Hi @glevethan
Odd … Jim who does service work in the USA is more than up to doing optical mech work on our units (and does do) … there are some units that come back to us for whatever reasons but it’s not that the US service centre can’t work on CD/SACD mechs.
Phil
I guess I should drill down into more detail. This was specifically for the CD555 (my last Naim CD player). Once Chris West told me this model could not be repaired Stateside, and only Salisbury could effectuate repairs, the handwriting was on the wall.
I am also referring to this model in general (and not my specific one).
Ahhh sorry - I see you said about Naim not dCS …
The CD555 was a bit of a special case as the lid was really quite difficult to get properly calibrated but they should have been OK with the other CD players as they weren’t difficult to work on.
It’s a well recorded album, and excellent music. We chose it to lead with as it seemed to get feet tapping immediately wherever we went. Great tip from @Bauer in the What’s Spinning thread. Warning: Nerdy Trivia: One of the journalists in Taipei, who was also a drummer, noticed that Gadd loses the plot about half way through. I had never noticed it before but the Varèse was separating the musical threads to the point where it became obvious.
Thanks for the tip, will do. We played the Reference Recordings Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony in response to a request in Taipei and it absolutely blew me away. “Prof” Keith O. Johnson certainly knows a thing or two about recording!
Hi Gregg,
You are not wrong and I agree with @PAR. I would not send, for example, obscure box sets and other specialty disks, e.g., Japanese editions, to them.
At the same time, the CD databases and metadata have advanced tremendously over the years (also as noted by Pete) and are quite accurate for the vast majority of cases.
My personal advice would be to sort out the “special editions” and then send a subset out and try it. I used a service called Music Shifter, and got a good result (despite their straight-from-1995 website). (I would also select the “send back in order” option, DM me if you like for further details).
Re: cost, this depends on your setup, your enjoyment of ripping, and how you value your time. They will do it for less than $1 per CD…
Cheers,
R
Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing repertoire and giving us more details about the events Andrew.
I note that High Definition Tape Transfers has both DXD and DSD recordings of the Kogan concerto that you might demo/enjoy, here:
Haha, that was exactly the recording the customer was looking for and I was unable to find on any streaming service. Add to cart!
Many thanks! 
Will look into them- thanks
Except for the fact that that is technically a violation of copyright law.
Once you give away or donate the physical copy, you are supposed to delete all extant digital copies unless those are purchased from an appropriate digital music store.
This is an issue as I don’t stream.
When I listen to music it’s from physical media.
If CD transports are no longer available I guess it’s only vinyl LPs for me at that point.
Or you may need to reconsider streaming. I have two friends in a similar situation to you and will not go to local file storage. However both have found the merits of streaming services.
I won’t ever stream.
Among other things, I don’t like having my music changed to other versions of the album with no ability to not.
Whenever a record label releases a “remastered” (usually compressed to death) album, it replaces the old version.
Did you enjoy the full dynamics you used to hear? Sorry, you can’t.
Apple Music is notorious for this, but so are several other sites.
I’ve spent a lot of the last few years tracking down original CDs for most of my favorite albums from the mid to late-1980s before record labels started brick walling new releases.
I guess you have suffered from a bad experience .However with a service like Qobuz the points that you make do not necessarily apply. Qobuz normally only deletes albums for copyright reasons. Otherwise multiple versions of the same album can often be found even where the old versions are no longer in print ( if they are available as files) This is a major point with Qobuz. Of course music that is important enough for you to have a permanent personal copy can be bought and downloaded. INnfact as Qobuz has repertoire stretching back in time and I have several downloaded files of albums that have been deleted for years in print.
Fortunately , however, there is currently an upsurge in CD with quite a few new players on offer. Will this last? If not and as all transports will eventually fail and as servicing becomes difficult for many , yes, vinyl only may survive. I still have mine.
Meantime I think that you are missing out but possibly not with Apple.
Of course. Sometimes even better dynamics where 24 bit versions are offered. However I must be honest and say that my main interest is classical music where albums which have been compressed to sound “modern” is not an issue.
Boy I feel for you if your main listing diet is early CD era pop. As you note sorting through re-issues to see if they’ve been compressed is tedious and sourcing the originals can be a challenge.
As a Qobuz and Roon user, there is a feature that allows one to select ‘album versions’ - they often have original CD releases along with remasters - so it is easy to hear the difference. What i don’t like about the streaming services is that as licence agreements change, music can disappear from the service. I tend to buy what I really love (easier for me as I listen mostly to newly recorded classical music - so the release is generally the master)
As for streaming services and dynamics - they have actually helped the situation, forcing new releases at least to follow loudness guidelines. Doesn’t really help you however with older releases however.
It may be worth creating a digital archive of our cd collection as a back up. Wav and AIFF are perfect copies. Good rippers refer to online databases to ensure rips are byte accurate.
As for sound quality, I really envy dCS owners who have both a standalone CD/Sacd transport and dac.
“Loudness guidelines” doesn’t address brick-walling; releases will just be lopped off at a lower volume level.
Sadly I bet even those classical albums you like will be brick walled someday to “sound better on ear buds.”
I don’t need to sort to see if music has been compressed; it’s intensely obvious from the first listen.
For example, the top is what Barbra Streisand’s Stoney End looked like when I bought a digital copy of Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 from the iTunes Store fifteen years ago and is identical to the CD; the bottom is what you get if you download the track from Apple Music today - the exact same album and purchase gets you something entirely different.
Yep it sucks, but your example above is likely brick walled by the record company who supplied an ‘improved remastered file’ to Apple music. It is so hard to find the original releases on services like AM (if they exist at all), much easier on Qobuz. Qobuz doesn’t limit or compress anything I’ve listened to (so one is hearing what was uploaded to the service)
Apple music, et al. have different loudness standards. Apple guidelines at -16LFS is better than the other mainstream services.
Bottom line for you is I expect you wont be happy with any streaming service if you are looking for CD original masters from the 80-90s of pop music. Better off with a dCS transport and dac!
Although It would be interesting to get your opinion on Qobuz
Hi Bill,
Good to hear from you.
You should stream, from Apple music, or better, MQA, from Tidal ; )
I fondly recall our last exchange here : )
That’s exactly what happened, and is something beyond your control, which is why I dislike streaming.
When the record company decides this is the version, that becomes the version, even though you purchased the first version.
In this case, I purchased and downloaded the album from Apple Music (it was iTunes then.)
Now, if I move the downloaded version out of the way and re-download it or stream it, I get the brick walled version.
There’s no choice one way or another.
Obviously that can’t happen with physical media.
Bill, that is what happened with Apple. Qobuz keeps the old version unless it has been withdrawn for copyright reasons. So I checked Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits and Qobuz has the 1989 version. However I have to be fair and say that I am a Qobuz UK subscriber. Qobuz has a different database for each territory served so Qobuz USA may be different. Nevertheless international releases tend to be the same county to country.
I really think that you are missing out. @Keiserg recommends Tidal for MQA. They are replacing heir MQA catalogue with hi-res FLAC streaming like obuz though and this is taking time. I cannot speak for their download sales or replacement policies.
As Qobuz give a period of free use so that you can try them out, maybe you could sign up for this. You will need to give your card number but if you don’t like it you cancel before the end of the trial period. You do this via your account details which you get to on your computer ( not Mosaic). BTW, as you may potentially be a buyer of downloads if you get the Sublime+ subscription it also provides many discounts on purchases (not everything but much).
And, of course, you get to stream everything without any need to buy. So today is Friday and new release day. So you can ask it to show e.g. Rock/Pop new releases and listen to them all ( if you wish) before decided to buy or not. There are many options.
I do not pretend it will meet all of your needs but what an expansion of choice!
You can even “gift” yourself Qobuz for a few months without running the risk that Qobuz will automatically be extended for another month or so.
(That’s what I did for 6months in highres quality, really LOVE the SQ- sometimes it’s even better than my Innuos Statement rip)
