AudiogoN Forums: The Law of Diminishing Digital Returns

The Law of Diminishing Digital Returns

When is the sound good enough? Is that $2500 CDP $1500 better sounding than the $1000 player? I have read posts on members favorite CDP'S - i.e., Ayre, Opus, Sony, Rega, Arcam, Naim, Musical Fidelity, and countless others. I guess my question is: When you get to a certain price point (I am guessing it is in the $1000 - $1500 range) are players worth the additional $1000's in some cases for the 5% improvement in sound quality? There has to be a player out there that is really close to those $4k to $5k CDP's that is a pleasure to listen to (or even a Giant Kiler) for around $1000. Am I the only one who feels this way? Let's keep modded players out of this please. I am looking for your thought on players right out of the box that wowed you!

Mattcone (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

02-28-06

Responses (1-30 of 30)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

02-28-06 Audiophiles are willing to pay a significant premium for tha ... Tvad

03-01-06 Once you get into $2500 digital.... things get alot better l ... Mikesinger

03-01-06 I believe the best price to performance at this time (and li ... Matt8268

03-01-06 How we come up with these percentages (5% better) i don't kn ... Warrenh

03-01-06 It has always been true that the search for the last 3db (in ... Ckorody

03-01-06 Matt, i have a laptop sitting around collecting dust and am ... Kilsho

03-01-06 5% is hard to see, let alone hear, in my book. at the same t ... boki@

03-01-06 You've brought up a good point with the law of diminishing r ... Bobgates

03-01-06 I second much of what has been said above. i recently compar ... Whipsaw

03-01-06 1000 players do not do it. simple you get what you pay for. Mapleleafs3

03-01-06 how good are your speakers and amps? arrthur Aball

03-01-06 Once you cross over(no pun intended...)and decide you want m ... Unclejeff

03-01-06 As others have brought up; it ain't the 5% or whatever value ... Avguygeorge

03-01-06 I have found cd players in the $200 range are good enough fo ... Shadorne

03-01-06 The devil is in the detail and the price, however, compact d ... Jaybo

03-01-06 The differences can be huge or small...depending on how well ... Sogood51

03-01-06 Imagine two photos of the same subject by different photogra ... Phaelon

03-01-06 These percentages we come up with are ridiculous!! 5% bette ... Warrenh

03-01-06 Excellent analogy, phaelon. dollars spent never correlate t ... Tvad

03-01-06 In response to some of the requests i got to elaborate on co ... Matt8268

03-01-06 Tvad, thank you Phaelon

03-01-06 With what i heard in my system, it is pretty tough to beat t ... Audphile1

03-01-06 Well the diffrence between digital players for the most part ... illenema2@

03-02-06 Dac is what makes the difference, if you cant hear the diffe ... Mapleleafs3

03-02-06 I had a $400(retail) marantz 5-disc changer in my system for ... Audphile1

03-02-06: Jaybo
phaelon-i agree with your example as 'art' , but the retrival of 1's amd zeros has been a flawed 'hi end' media from the beginning. after all, the format was developed as a replacement for the audio cassette not the lp. upon its introduction, the cd entered a marketplace where lp's were less than 20% of worldwide sales. the technology as a reference was(and is) a distant second to analogue. aside from the usual surface noise anomalies, vinyl is still in a league of its own. the two driving reasons for the marketing of the cd were portability and profits. the ability to sell music libraries all over again.
Jaybo (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

03-02-06 Phaelon-i agree with your example as 'art' , but the retriva ... Jaybo

03-02-06 Hi jaybo, it wasn't my intention to suggest that digital is ... Phaelon

03-02-06 What are "tin ears" missing? in the early days of ... Shadorne

03-05-06 03-02-06: shadorne "do you find even the very best spea ... Phaelon