There are many ways to source your music these days. My favorite source is still the silver disc. Yep, the CD.
Pay no attention to nay sayers who say the format is dead. It not only isn’t dead, it sounds better than ever. I buy CDs regularly. Box sets are invariably TREASURES of music at fair prices.
I play entire CDs to enjoy the full program as the artist intended. Further, I think it’s fair that the artist gets to make a buck for his/her work. Streaming revenue is unethically dishonorable to the artist.
If you spin a great CD through a wonderful player like an Atoll from France, you’ll hear what I mean. It’s an entirely different experience from listening through a cheap pile of chips from China. Vinyl hounds won’t settle for plastic rattle trap from China for $300. It is folly to judge the CD format via a commensurately unserious CD player.
Streaming
I realize streaming has taken over the world. I like it too. How spoiled we are to have so much music available at the touch of your phone or tablet. If I’m doing grunt work around the house I enjoy it a lot more with music that will put a jump in my step. I have speakers on the garage. I don’t even mind shoveling snow (Milwaukee!) when I’ve got fun music to keep me company. When you’re listening casually, that’s the time for a tailored play list.
But make no mistake, streaming doesn’t sound as good as listening to the CD of the same music. When I want to hear my favorite music, I want to have a seat, tune out the world and lock into the minutia of the performance and sound of the recording I’ve chosen.
Recordings
When a recording is made, there are a thousand and one decisions that went into making it.
Since I’m a classical piano fan… Which piano is chosen? How is it prepared? Too much felt on the hammers makes it dull. Too little makes it annoying and harsh.
Tuning a piano is an art as well as a skill. There are mics, cables, mixers and boards to choose. Every room sounds different and most studios have a myriad of acoustical tools at the engineer’s disposal to change them. The mixer has his part to play in mic placement, immediacy and tonal balance. Pianists have good days and bad. The CD we end up with will surely capture the pianist at the top of his/her game.
I want to concentrate on a fabulous recording like Benjamin Grosvenor’s 2021 Decca release of Liszt. The recording quality and Ben’s playing is nothing less than awe inspiring.
The first work he tackles is the monumental (30+ min) Sonata in B minor. It’s up on Everest with the finest works ever written for the instrument. It takes only moments to drink in that this particular recording is an A+ by any assessment. You’ll positively love Liszt’s “Reminiscences de Norma.” It’s about 16 min, beautifully crafted and played. These pieces are the red meat of the piano repertoire and you won’t hear them better done than with Ben & Decca.
I don’t want to MISS any of the nuances of this great recording, not even a single drop, to streaming limitations or vinyl noises – idiosyncrasies. The good news is, it’s easy to appreciate the full measure of Liszt and Grosvenor. Just drop the CD in a fine player, like an Atoll, and hit play.
Caching From The Cloud
If you play this album via streaming, it can sound “good.” You’ll want to make sure you have a lossless service like Tidal. But even then, you’re listening through miles of wire, switches and computers. There’s much caching in the road.
Your streamer will have a governing streaming module in the road, like the industry standard Stream Unlimited 1955. But it could be a lesser module like 1832 or 210. Unfortunately, you really have no clue what you’re getting… when you stream.
Vinyl: It’s Mechanical
If you’re spinning vinyl you have a million details to consider. Table/arm/cart. The VTA, azimuth and tracking adjustments… all of this is in play before you even consider which phono preamp you’re listening through. Do you have a pristine pressing? Has it been scrupulously cleaned? It will even sound better when treated with LAST preservative, and Stylast on your stylus.
When you’re playing classical piano music on even the best hardware, you’re guaranteed to be annoyed by the endemic noise & omni present clicks and pops. If you choose to ignore them, fine. But as for me… I’m done pretending they’re not there, because they are.
Atoll CD Players
Atoll makes great CD Players in France with a 3 year warranty. That’s correct. They make them in France.
They don’t hire a Chinese vendor to punch them out under contract. That… is in fact, what virtually everyone else does. One day a job house is making brand X, tomorrow brand Y. On succeeding days they’re making GPS products, radar detectors, alarm equipment, etc.
Atoll takes pride in its TLC. All Atoll players run multiple low noise transformers, to separate the digital and analog stages. They all use linear power supplies and highly responsive drive mechanisms. Isolation processes are enacted to be sure there’s no intrusion into the transport’s tracking system. All players run a considerable amount of filter capacitance to help deliver a rich, solid foundation to the music. Atoll chooses Burr Brown DACs- which it runs without negative feedback to achieve a more smooth, less grainy flavor. Many companies run DAC chips with higher processing power- which actually sound more coarse than halcyon.
Have a look at an Atoll CD player with masterful workmanship compared to your garden variety far east competition. The Atolls are made exquisitely without a myriad of cheap parts and boards linked together by dental floss.
As you go up in the line in the Atoll family you get more and larger parts. The current-voltage stages improve. All players are tuned to produce music that is highly resolving and effulgent.
Atoll even makes two magnificent CD transports- in case you already have a DAC you want to work with.
The strength of the Atoll family of CD players is that they can reveal the beauty of the music as well as the plethora of choices that went into the making of each CD.
If you haven’t been on board with the silver disc lately, please give them another chance with Atoll of France in the equation. Don’t believe that nonsense you may be reading that they’re extinct. The same thing was said about vinyl in the 80s. How did that turn out?