The Compact Disc is back!

And I mean fully back with a vengeance.

Everybody loves a comeback story, and in the CD’s return, we have a good one. For some music lovers and audiophiles, the CD remains a staple. However, many consigned their CD players to the bottom rack and the software to boxes in the darkest corner of their music room’s closet. The perch of the once shiny, sexy CD player taken over by even sexier turntables, DACs and the nail in the CD’s coffin, or, so we thought, the Network Streamer.

As the vinyl Renaissance began to take place a few years before the pandemic and the popularity of streaming, the CD quickly became high-end audio’s ugly duckling. Additionally, with the hype surrounding vinyl, punters finally realized the “Perfect Sound Forever” moniker was marketing nonsense. Then, with the vinyl Renaissance in full flower, the compact disc was pronounced dead by many audiophiles. Civilians had discovered streaming, even though the sound quality was inferior to CDs and far inferior to vinyl. But streaming was so damn convenient. So, vinyl for special occasions and streaming as an accompaniment to everyday life. No place for the CD.

Or, so we thought.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the CD has crept back into our audiophile consciousness. Mine took some time. Stupidly, at a time when you couldn’t sell or give away CDs, I dumped about 500. Although many were press review copies, it still meant a sizable investment tossed on the garbage heap. I’ll never do that again. Regardless of your general feelings, keep all your music, no matter the format. Hell, even the cassette tape is supposed to be making a bit of a comeback.

Two of the reasons the CD made a comeback are its lower price and increased availability. Buying records meant research, high cost, unknown condition, and the vagaries of shipping. Then, after opening up a long awaited Decca Wideband, the damn thing was warped or had a misleading description—more VG than NM.

As the pandemic wore on, FOMO became more acute, and LP prices skyrocketed, many of us took another look at CDs. They were now plentiful, cheap as chips on eBay and Discogs and were easy to ship—a winning format. But the big comeback realization came when manufacturers, from the entry level to super high-end audio, began manufacturing new players, both of the CD and the SACD variety.

I was lucky. The few CDs I had left were played on my reference machine, the MBL N31 CD/DAC (USD 18,499). See photo above. It’s a marvel of a player, designed to a high spec by legend Jürgen Reis (one of the top designers who shies away from SACD drives). I was also fortunate to review some of the finest new players, including the USD 22,000 Métronome AQWO 2 Hybrid DAC + SACD/CD + Streamer (see photo below)—a jack of digital trades and a master of all of them.

As time ticked away at the end of Covid, I began playing my small CD collection far more than previously; they sounded great on my MBL. And I began thinking about my favourite discs I had dumped ignominiously, all unavailable on vinyl. My vinyl collection had grown so large and was carefully curated, but I was still thinking I wanted those favourite discs back in the general collection. As such, I turned my attention to eBay and went to town. The twenty or so CDs I replaced cost less than one London Blueback, shipping included.

As the CDs began arriving, the feelings returned—there is nothing like owning your favourite music; no internet needed, no ads and no two-dimensional sound—CD sound is uncompressed, high-quality audio (16-bit 44.1 kHz), and they provide a much clearer and richer sound than most streaming platforms. I have reviewed streamers and DACs in the 30 to 40K range, and they have always been sent back to the manufacturer. Streaming’s come a long way, but to my ears, for all the reasons we’re discussing, CDs are my girl.

While vinyl continues to dominate, the gap between the two formats is shrinking. In the UK, CD sales even surpassed vinyl in 2024. But better jump back onto the CD bandwagon soon. As time goes by and folks are realizing what they’ve been missing and especially with the big increase in quality CD playback, prices are inching up.

Our staff at Audiophilia either never got off the wagon, or like our Managing Editor, Karl Sigman, invested in a top player, the USD 4998 Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3 CD Transport (CD drive only, no SACD. See photo below). At Audiophilia, we’re all in on the CD comeback.

Vinyl still trumps CD sound and of course, the printing is small and jewel cases suck. But a carefully curated collection of your favourites creates genuine musical pleasure. And with huge box sets of remastered performances of all genres going for relatively fair pricing (the latest Carlo Maria Giulini box set is $150 for 62 CDs of the finest in classical music performances and sound. See below). And as the excitement grows and these large box sets sell out, they appear on the used sites for up to five times the original price. So, no snoozing and no losing.

It’s a great time to be a CD enthusiast.

We published a video, A Conductor chooses his all-time favourite Classical CDs. You can see many of my recent replacement purchases in the video.