Remember CDs?

I have a pretty nice setup for playing back music at my computer - Foobar + FLAC > optical out > emotiva xda-1 > gilmore lite > akg k601... It's not a super fancy audiophile setup but they are all good components and provided with good source material, it sounds really great. I was just listening to Phish's 46 Days, off of Round Room, and I wasn't impressed with how it sounded, too grainy... There is a bit of grit in the recording, but the source material I have makes it sound a litle noisy as opposed to gritty. Then I remembered, I own that CD, why don't I put it in?

I happen to own an OPPO 970HD which is Oppo's second player they ever built, back before blu-ray had taken over from HD Video. I use my 970HD as a cd player in my system - it also outputs via optical cable to the XDA-1 second optical input, then through the same signal chain. (By the way I use emotiva cables throughout my system, good quality and not too expensive...) Man, it sounds amazing!! The clarity is improved, as is the spaciousness of the music. The Oppo has a good DAC, but when you use it as a pure digital output and farm out the digital to analog conversion to an external component, the player really shines. You can read more about using this old dvd player as a cd transport here... Anyways, I'm going back to just listening - no typing or browsing - just listening!