Your preferred formats?

[Mark]

Okay, a bit of nonsense but a bit of fun.

Pick three of the formats above which you like best for listening to classical music. My vote for tape cassette will probably be the only one that format gets, as I know many people loathed its constant hiss in much the same way as I hated (with a passion you can only dream about) the crackle and pop of LPs.

Anyway, vote, discuss and be merry.

[12tone.]

Mark!  How could you?  You forgot the "wooden disc player" Mozart et al used to record their works! 

Here's a photo of one in a museum and a guy pointing to the place where the space was put to change from the first movement to the second movement in Mozart's 23rd symphony.  Note the black spots where overuse has worn in. 

[Mark]

Mark!  How could you?  You forgot the "wooden disc player" Mozart et al used to record their works! 

Here's a photo of one in a museum and a guy pointing to the place where the space was put to change from the first movement to the second movement in Mozart's 23rd symphony.  Note the black spots where overuse has worn in. 

[71 dB]

CD is the king of audio formats at the moment.
Hybrid SACD discs are even better (sound quality+versality) but the selection is limited.
DVD is a brilliant format for operas.

[Steve]

Nothing beats the versatility of a high-quality download. Enocoded at 320kbs, you get CD quality sound.

[Todd]

CD for almost everything at this point, with a few standard DVDs for opera and such.  High res formats haven't impressed me enough to plunk down good cash for a high end machine, and downloads are a waste of my time.

[orbital]

A few DVD-A's I have are the best, CD's and downloads go hand in hand, but downloads will definitely take over sometime in the future. With piano music anything 192kps and above is good enough for me

[BachQ]

DVD

[Steve]

and downloads are a waste of my time.

Why?

[Todd]

Why?

They take too long - I tend to buy around 20-30 discs a month, and simply will not wait to download that many discs and then burn them.  It's a waste of my time.  And there's not enough selection.  Plus, based on reviews of some of the new downloads, sound quality is not at CD level in all cases, which is the minimum I will accept.  Maybe in ten years.

[Mozart]

They take too long - I tend to buy around 20-30 discs a month, and simply will not wait to download that many discs and then burn them.  It's a waste of my time.  And there's not enough selection.  Plus, based on reviews of some of the new downloads, sound quality is not at CD level in all cases, which is the minimum I will accept.  Maybe in ten years.

Haven't you heard of flac yet? People upload 20 or so cds a day and you can download them pretty fast (depends on your connection).

[Solitary Wanderer]

SACD
CD

[Todd]

People upload 20 or so cds a day and you can download them pretty fast (depends on your connection).

So?  I'd still have to burn - and I never burn at high speed - and there still isn't a broad enough selection and quality isn't where it should be.  Maybe in ten years.

[mahlertitan]

lossless digital music, you get the quality and the versatility, you can burn it onto CDs, or enjoy on the computer.

[Todd]

or enjoy on the computer.

How is that possible?  Computer based systems sound awful.

[mahlertitan]

How is that possible?  Computer based systems sound awful.

just because you have lousy speakers doesn't mean the rest of us also have the same problem.

[Todd]

just because you have lousy speakers doesn't mean the rest of us also have the same problem.

Last I checked, speakers were only one part of a playback chain, which also requires some type of signal processing and amplification.  Every computer based system I've heard sounds like crap because none of them use anything worth anything.  I spend my hardware money on real playback gear, not kiddy toys for computers.

[Bonehelm]

Last I checked, speakers were only one part of a playback chain, which also requires some type of signal processing and amplification.  Every computer based system I've heard sounds like crap because none of them use anything worth anything.  I spend my hardware money on real playback gear, not kiddy toys for computers.

Ever heard of professional sound cards? SoundBlaster Creative X-fi Xtreme music with 24-bit crystallizer please.

[Todd]

Ever heard of professional sound cards? SoundBlaster Creative X-fi Xtreme music with 24-bit crystallizer please.

I've read about them, yes.  So?  What about the amplification and some good speakers please?

[Steve]

Last I checked, speakers were only one part of a playback chain, which also requires some type of signal processing and amplification.  Every computer based system I've heard sounds like crap because none of them use anything worth anything.  I spend my hardware money on real playback gear, not kiddy toys for computers.

Who says you have to use computer speakers? My computer (laptop) has a headphone jack. All I do is hook an axillary cable to that jack, and run it through my tuner just like a CD player. I get the needed amplification that way.