Is there a future for Redbook players?


I was thinking of upgrading my CD player and I thought about which direction I should choose, so I decided to do some research. Are separates still the way to go? Are new-fangled, all-in-one players the way to go now? Are redbook players even in production these days?
matchstikman
20 years and still going. I can't say I agree with you this time Nrchy, I hope it stays strong; at minimum I suspect any new formats to be hybrids.

People were in your same position 3+ years ago Match and asking the same question.

I will add, it depends on what you are wanting to spend, there seem to be some good combo players.

I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a CD player.
People(even some here) claim that vinyl is dead, that being said you can get pretty much what ever you want for analog gear. I don't see redbook cd going any where in the next 10 years, too many(companies) have to much invested.
The funny thing about vinyl is that I am starting to see it sold more and more in music stores from new artist.
SACD and/or DVD-A will gain wide acceptance, take over the market in the span of, let's say twenty years, and then some movement will be started by some deadbeat audio "journalist" claiming that Redbook was vastly superior and that the newer technology was a tangent, some luminaries will go back to Redbook, paying premium price for recordings and claiming that, despite the fact that so very few cd players were produced over those twenty years, the technology improved tremendously. The more adamant will rip off their shirt at the mere mention of SACD/DVD-A and will write up posts on whatever the net will be like then saying the whole bloody SACD/DVD-A mess was a conspiracy to rid the world of the more "mooooosical" cd. Marx predicted that and, oh, George W. Bush will be re-elected, will get the Constitution re-amended and will serve out seven terms. The last of his great moves will be to declare war on jellybeans since they are the root of all eeeeevil...
ABSOLUTELY!!
CD is the only medium on which you can get almost EVERY music you want/need! Since the new formats are mainstream formats in the first place and not necessarily high end formats it will take ages - if ever! - til you really get what you want: musicwise, musicianwise, recordingwise.
I've always maintained that it only takes ONE superb
redbook recording to prove that the CD format is not
the problem....and there are many. Listen to some
recordings from Mapleshade, XRCD, Mobile Fidelity,
Telarc and others to demonstrate excellence in clarity,
dynamics, soundstaging and ambience. Jazz at the Pawnshop,
though criticized by some for it's performance, is
still a benchmark in live recording.

The MASTERING of many recordings is sadly inferior. There
are thousands of mediocre (or worse) vinyl recordings,
just as there are redbook CD's, SACD's and DVD-Audio's.
Unless and until there is a major effort to produce
superb masterings of recordings, the format will not matter
much.
Certainly, and "all in one" Redbook CDPs are gaining more popularity I guess since jitter could be more an issue once you do separates. I have just purchase a Rotel RCD 1070 (my old cdp just died) and had it mod with the Superclock II (yes, you might consider doing your existing CDP too instead of a new CDP altogether??) and I now have a brand new collection of 1000+ cds......... I do not think I will be moving to SACD/DVD-A format in a hurry till the "race" between the two formats is being sorted out, remember Sony's Beta vs VHS????
Good Luck
Since there's about a million times more music available on
CD than SACD or DVD-A, I think the future for good Redbook players is pretty solid.

It will take a year or two for the lastest DSD tech to find it's way down stream and I don't think the 24/192
DVD-A camp has fired it's last shot.
I beg to disagree. There is NO future planned (i.e. in the corporate business /marketing plans) for redbook ONLY players.

As to players ALSO playing redbook, no doubt. And they'll be getting better & better, and cheaper & cheaper.

So, if financial considerations prime, think of what a modded Sony or Phillips or whatever (SACD/DVD-V/cd) player might do for you.
DVD-A and SACD will not be the death of redbook. These formats are only appriciated by a small community. It's going to take a format that is embraced by the mainstream buyer to kill redbook. If it were not for the legal crackdown, MP3 would be the most likely candidate. Redbook will die when the record companies come up with a secure compressed format that can be downloaded via internet, or over the air (XM, cell phone, etc). Within 10 yrs your entire music collection will be on a credit card sized device that you will carry with you in your wallet. Something like that would kill redbook.

But then again what do I know....
I recall that CD was once a passing fad that would never overtake vinyl since vinyl software had saturated the market and so few titles were available on CD. Times certainly have changed. Essentially, redbook is already dead in the mass marketplace. Try to find a CD playback unit only -- not a portable -- at Best Buy or Circuit City. It does not exist.
future yes

I have a mid priced dvd-a player and a high end redbook

the redbook upsamples to 24/192 and beats the dvd-a

why would I want to buy more dvd-a's

manufacturers like Audio Research skipped the multi media player format

tom
We live in a world of hype and marketing. The reality of the situation is that both DVD-A and SACD are superior technologies for the recording and playback of music. Another reality is that almost all of the equipment now in America's homes won't be able to take advantage of the superior quality. Most who listen are happy with what last generations hypsters described as the ultimate (the CD). I believe the masses will take advantage of DVD-A as a substitute for DVD music concerts. SACD will migrate to the audiophile and perhaps eventually go mainstream in 5 or 10 years. For now, I'm thrilled to be able to enjoy my 15 SACDs, but I do not hesitate to continue to purchase both CDs and records. To someone getting ready to replace an aging cd player, why not replace it with a multi-format machine. The next couple of years will probably clarify the market direction, but there is great music to be heard now.
What about hdcd? I don't have an sacd or dvd-a player, but I can tell you that the HDCD stuff I've heard(Keb Mo , Joni Mitchell, Roy Orbison), have sounded great. The upgraded sound from Redbook titles was very evident.
Redbook is a term for a normal cd. SACD, DVD Audio, and HDCD are different formats that require dedicated players or chips to play. Redbook cds make up 99.9 % of the product out there.
Saihcc, redbook is the term given for standard CD's that we have been using the last 20 years.