The CD player is dead.......

this post falls into the philosophical argument : "a is better than b" .

our hobby is subjective. some people prefer a particular dac in a particular cd player over the latest technology.

it's not logic or mathematics, its taste.

there were some older players that were pretty good--perhaps some preferable over today's technology, e.g., older wadia, cal and forsell.

the cd player is dead...long live the cd player!!

Ohhhh...Never have I been so misunderstood. What I wrote was a direct quote from another source, the Computer Manufacturing Industry itself. THIS is the source of the laziness in the lack of designing Computers for HIGH END Music Storage and Reproduction. Don't try to attach ME to a direct quote from another source. The question is do you really want the the Industry that claims this, to determine the Sound Quality of the next Format to the mutual exclusion of ALL other Formats, including CD? This Industry has absolutely NO INTENT of ever designing Computers with High Fidelity Music capability because they claim that the Market doesn't demand it. High Fidelity becomes delegated to an isolated FAD, NOT High End Stereo Systems available at multiple outlets across the Country.
I am NOT lazy, in fact I am having a particular Computer built to my specifications for Sound Quality, why? Because I can't find a single Desktop Computer at the local retail outlet with USB 3.0 or an installed Blue Ray Universal Optical Drive. They don't even intend to install USB 3.0 for another couple years. Think that I can't find someone that can design a Balanced Digital off of a USB 3.0 card? Think again! The question is, WHERE IS your wonderful Computer Industry, and why don't they get off of their lazy butts to design the Equipment we need? There are a few, but most of the Industry is still in the Stone Age. Do I want Stone Age Neanderthals determining which Formats need to be eliminated from my use? Hard Drives in the Recording Studios? Don't tell the Geek Squad, they are still working on inventing the wheel in Music Terms. Eventually they will work their way up to rotating vinyl disks. Eventually they will catch up, I guess! "Hey Pal, its just what you see", this guy is going to replace the CD? I don't think so! I sure as hell am NOT going to buy anything from him!

In an effort to drag this discussion back to reality, the "high end" audio industry has never been anything more than a cottage industry. The vast majority of fancy audio electronics, for example, are constructed using individual parts developed for other purposes or consumer products. One can find exceptions, but even the most high faluting component will contain a good percentage of parts primarily made for the non-audio industry.

The companies that make recording studio equipment haven't sat around waiting for the computer industry to do something. They've taken the components available on the market and turned out some very fine equipment. I've heard some stunning recordings on CD that equal anything I've heard on vinyl or open reel. Try Edvard Grieg's "3 Sonatas for Violin and Piano" from Bridge Records or The Great American Main Street Band's "Silks and Rags" on Angel.

It is also easy to forget something like the much revered vinyl LP was developed in 1948 by a committee and included the very same type of technical compromises made when they settled on a 16/44.1 format for the CD.

The same thing happened a few years later in the 1950s when the stereo LP was introduced - design by committee with compromises. And some competing "formats" were thrown overboard.

I'm not quite sure who you are alleging is plotting to eliminate what music format as you didn't specify. There have certainly been a lot tried: SACD, 24/96 and 24/192 and so on.

If they don't make it on the market, it will not be due to some evil corporation axing them. It will be due to the fact that not enough customers are buying them.

I'm not sure the source of your apparent anger on this subject. If you don't like computer audio, don't use it. If you think the world of computer audio should be run differently, then start your own company.