For me the death of cd has been exaggerated (like most of you I am at the consumer level; however, if I worked in the music recording/distribution industry I might have a different opinion).
I have had my squeezebox for about a year. I love the convenience and think the sound quality of the stock unit (with a linear ps) is amazing. Surely THE most revolutionary audio value this century. I recently added an outboard DAC, a brand new DAC1 from Benchmark. A noticable improvement...but...around the same time i purchased a Marantz SA15S1. Performed lots of listening tests (sb3 transport, SA15 trasport, SA15 redbook SA15 SACD, different cables). Long story short, the Marantz outclassed the best sound I could get from the DAC1. I returned the DAC1, and decided to sell the SA15, in order to purchase a new Marantz SA11. I know the DAC1 is not the end all be all of DAC's, but it does represent near state of the art at its price point. I bought the DAC1 to push this issue of going totally wireless network server based music. In the end I fell in love again with cd's. I like the notion of playing an album, instead of frantic song by song point and click thru the music server (that's what has happened to me with the SB3...listening to whole albums faded out) I started looking at my liner notes again. I started buying more cd's. I still love the squeezebox for what it is, but for me the network player thing is simply another method to hear music. For that it's wonderful, but (to wrap up), whatever fate awaits cd's means very little to me. I know I love them and will continue to seek them out, good and bad in the years to come, and when/if my favorite artists no longer record to cd, i'm sure the next big thing will be just fine.
I have had my squeezebox for about a year. I love the convenience and think the sound quality of the stock unit (with a linear ps) is amazing. Surely THE most revolutionary audio value this century. I recently added an outboard DAC, a brand new DAC1 from Benchmark. A noticable improvement...but...around the same time i purchased a Marantz SA15S1. Performed lots of listening tests (sb3 transport, SA15 trasport, SA15 redbook SA15 SACD, different cables). Long story short, the Marantz outclassed the best sound I could get from the DAC1. I returned the DAC1, and decided to sell the SA15, in order to purchase a new Marantz SA11. I know the DAC1 is not the end all be all of DAC's, but it does represent near state of the art at its price point. I bought the DAC1 to push this issue of going totally wireless network server based music. In the end I fell in love again with cd's. I like the notion of playing an album, instead of frantic song by song point and click thru the music server (that's what has happened to me with the SB3...listening to whole albums faded out) I started looking at my liner notes again. I started buying more cd's. I still love the squeezebox for what it is, but for me the network player thing is simply another method to hear music. For that it's wonderful, but (to wrap up), whatever fate awaits cd's means very little to me. I know I love them and will continue to seek them out, good and bad in the years to come, and when/if my favorite artists no longer record to cd, i'm sure the next big thing will be just fine.