Currently, I have a setup with a Marantz Pm6005 amplifier, Q Acoustics 3050i speakers, and a Pro-Ject turntable for analog playback. For digital playback, I use Volumio through a RbPi 3b+ with an Allo Digione board connected via coaxial to the amplifier.
The idea of buying a Marantz CD player (CD6006 or CD6007) occasionally crosses my mind to complete the setup. However, I wonder if it makes sense, considering ripping my CDs is not a problem.
Would there be any acoustic advantages in listening to a CD using a Marantz player compared to the same album converted to FLAC (or WAV) and played through Volumio?
I already have my answer, thinking that it doesn’t make sense (from the acoustic side) and this is why I’ve always refrained from buying a CD player.
Anyway, I’d like to hear your opinion 
If your flac’s have the same (or higher) sample frequency, it will not give any advantage. It’s more the experiences that might you want to add it. Loading a CD from your pile, the spin-up, reading the TOC… ( but if you go this way go for the 6007 
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Hi,
“Does it make sense to have a CD player if you already have an RbPi with Volumio?”
For me, yes. It make sense.
I have the same album on vinyl, on CD and ripped on NAS. I almost don’t use CD ( have really good with tube analog output, with precision discrete oscilators, etc ) because is faster to play losseless WAV from Volumio via good tube DAC.
I collect CD the same like vinyls. It’s good to listening it from time to time with traditional way… and if I have CD or vinyl I know that I have it in physical way.
If we have meeting with friends, sitting on couch, talking and drinking coffee I play turntable. My wife prefer CDP. It is like ritual.
Thank you both for confirming my opinion: from an acoustic standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense, but rediscovering the ritual of playing CDs (as I always did as a kid) can have its charm.
We’ll see, with a good deal in the future I might go for the 6007
About four years ago I purchased (second-hand) quite a good CD player (to replace a fairly average one I’d had previously). At that time, although I had already ripped most of most of my CDs to flac, I thought it would be nice to occasionally play a CD on a good player. But I almost never did. As far as I could tell, the music sounded the same whether played straight from a CD or via Volumio reading a flac file. I sold this CD player a few weeks ago.
I also used to like having a good CD collection. But again, recently, I decided it was taking up too much space: I gave a third to a charity shop, another third to a friend, and kept a third. For what it’s worth, the only streaming service I use is Radio Paradise. For me, having my music stored on a networked server at home, available via Volumio, and having access to internet radio via Volumio, is enough.
Your amp is good piece with a decent dac, so why not go with a pure cd transporter for cd play e.g Roksan Attessa cd range.
All my cd are in the basement and havent been used for years - was thinking get em ripped to usb storage or some to connect with primo.
Use still vinyl mostly and newbie to the streaming form.
But cd’s /vinyl is still nice to have and play music with no doubt and can spark up some good vibes sq wise.
For me there are three reasons to still include a CD transport in the system and they are all related. The first is that I find the task of ripping CD’s (doing it well) tedious and awful (and there are many CD’s). The second is that if you listen to classical music (I do) then the form in which the files come from the download companies and streaming services is a disaster – the tags are useless and the way the tracks are organized into pieces is a structureless jumble; with the effect that it’s often hard to even know what you’re listening to. The third is that CD’s (like LP’s before them) are packages which contain much more than music – all that good information (librettos, translations of librettos, essays, history, pictures, information about who exactly plays what on what track, who composed what, who the engineers were) which is absent in downloads and in streamed music. All that rich context adding to the experience of listening. So I agree completely that CDs bring no advantage in terms of audio quality, but they bring many other advantages. So one of the reasons that I really value the work done by the Volumio team is that they have made integration of CD playback so smooth – even multiroom playback.
The great problem, though, is that it’s so hard to find CD transports that are of good quality and are affordable. I suppose that the market just isn’t there, sadly.
Conversely, there can be distinct disadvantages (acoustically) to playing cd’s, as opposed to properly ripped versions of the same.
properly ripped versions can’t be better than source CD. Can be one to one or worst if you use compressed files.
@eMCZe , not quite. I see what you mean and I don’t argue your exact wording ( ), but recall cd’s are still a physical medium conveying digital data by spinning past a laser, hence the sentimentality a couple mentioned for using cd’s. That’s not without possible drawbacks. Additionally, some cd’s can suffer surface degradation over time, depending on the particulars of the surface film.
If you rip a cd this week and scratch the cd next week, we can safely guess which format will definitely be acoustically equivalent in future playback.
These are differences that shouldn’t matter in most cases, but have mattered in some cases.
Edit: clarification due to a Volumio system auto-edit that muddled context
I can only agree with the previous speaker.
Playing a CD in a CD transport is probably always worse because it samples an audio stream. If the CD is ripped using established software, reading errors are largely eliminated. So you can assume that the FLACs are at least as good in every case, but usually better.
Since joining Qobuz, I’ve been using my self-ripped FLACs less and less. Now practically only streaming from Qobuz.
That’s why transporting CDs no longer makes sense for me personally.
Completely agree … and yet I still use my CD player sometimes, though not as much as my turntable. Sometimes we just need that haptic experience.
If your FLACS are better than CD you should put your CDP to trash.