Why Purchase A CD Player or Transport ?

Two posts that I found informative, on this, neverending subject:

Mikelavigne wrote:

at the entry level it’s a horse apiece.....computers are servers. servers are computers. maybe a dedicated server has slightly less noise, and maybe a better power cord than a sever; but likely your network bandwidth, network switch, ethernet and usb cables will have a greater effect than other choices at this level.

2--mid level dedicated servers will outperform regular computers and laptops since they eliminate much of the peripheral noisy processing duties of the normal computers. there is a clear difference to go dedicated.

3--price no object server levels they far outperform any computer or laptop. but you are talking $20k to $100k for a music server. i own a $76k music server and it is awesome sounding and significantly outperforms my previous $30k+ music server. once i heard the difference i could not 'unhear' it. and took the plunge.

Post from owner and constructor of Mojo Audio

Benjamin from Mojo Audio here.
I just wanted to let you all know that my current reference digital source is a modified Jay’s Audio CD transport.
The time, tune, and harmonic coherency is like nothing I’ve ever heard. And I’ve owned some pretty exotic CD transports
Don’t ask me to explain why, but the best computer audio won’t hold a candle to a proper CD transport. Even those new JCAT XE OCXO clocked USB cards, which has the same type of OCXO clock as the Jay’s CD transport, is not even close.
When I played this for some local audiophiles all their jaws dropped. The sound was so much better than any digital music they ever heard no one ever asked to go back to computer audio for a comparison.
I now consider the best computer audio as background music. The timing and tune are totally messed up. Streaming is worse, but even music played from your music library on an internal SSD is off time and tune.
Seriously. Once you hear it you can’t unhear it. The sound those of you who are real music lovers have been waiting for.
I removed all computers from my main system. If I’m going to warm up my tube amp, I’m going to change CDs from now on.'

So, the answer is 'it depends', (could it be any other) of the level of gear you will use and money that you (or anyone) is ready to invest to 'beat' one or another  'type' of reproduction.

In the same time, the quality of recordings that are streamed is often dubious or unknown and than, the physical media is perhaps the better solution...

I like to have the ability to play all the different formats that I can. To me, that’s the fun of the hobby. Why limit yourself. Certain recordings sound different in different formats, that’s the fun of exploring different platforms. If your finances allow, make the most of it. If you are happy with only one certain medium, then more power to you! 

I spin Cds, just purchased a Neodio Origine S2 cd player , a fair amount of money but the music sounds sublime; draws me further to and into the music. To my ears the music is presented with more natural tone, texture and timber; there's more body to the sound; the sound-stage is more refined; the frequency extremes are well balanced; and there's no digital edginess.

@facten for $25K new it better! Better give you an eargasim. 

@secretguy ”Streaming is virtual theft.”

Artists indeed receive a mere pittance from streaming engagement (a fraction a cent per play).  According to the RIAA, CD and vinyl combined sales accounted for about 11% of revenue in 2021.

My guess is that the people that go and dish out the $15 at the record store (or order online) for the fresh new CD release are few and far between these days.

When we are constantly buying used vinyl and CDs at stores, yard sales, record swaps, and from third party sellers, we’re not putting a single cent in the pockets of artists.

To the folks who purchase music, as a matter of course, in a way that directly compensates the artists at a rate greater than $0.004 per song, more power to ya.

The problem as I see it is the new CD at the store will offer, for the vast majority of listeners, little-if-any increase in sound quality, but plenty of extra price and inconvenience compared to it’s streaming/iTunes/whatever counterpart.  I don’t see a lot of benefit to the buyer here aside from peripheral benefits (physical handling, better artwork, collectible pleasures, a sense of moral edification, etc.). Sure, folks fortunate enough to have high end music playback gear may be able to discern the improvement in sound from a streamed song to its CD counterpart, but, again, these folks are few are far between.

At the end of the day, how much further from “thievery” is a person who’s always buying used vinyl, used CDs, scouring Discogs, Ebay, Amazon, etc. than the person who streams all the time?