I agree that some early CDs sounded "boxy" when compared to their vinyl counterparts - that was due to some poor digital mastering and sometimes even to filtering. I remember a Dire Straits album that had a terrible sound on CD because the engineers felt the need to "cut" some of the background noise originated by the guitar amplifiers, that was inaudible on vinyl but very present in the master. Now almost every piece of music is recorded in digital right from the start so CD (or some of its new incarnations) is the media of choice. Someone can still prefer the "warmth" (aka harmonic distortion) intrinsic in vinyl (as it is intrinsic in valve amplifiers, but that's another story) but surely if you want to listen to "The Mix" just as KW intended it and listened to during recording you have to go digital. BTW not all CD players sound equal! Once you have a pair of good loudspeakers and a decent amp, try borrowing a good CD player and make comparative listenings using two identical CDs. I have a Teac hi-end CD player and a cheap Philips DVD player that can also play CDs. The difference between them is more than noticeable. Those little 0's and 1's need to be properly translated into sound waves and the DAC can make the difference. Ciao, Luca