Vote

Turntable. All four of them.

A Pioneer Elite 300-disc changer, no less. Using an external DAC, the sound quality very close to the much more expensive single players I've tried, and the "hands off" convenience is simply unbeatable. I keep a spreadsheet of which disc is in which slot on the computer, so armed with a printout, me and my remote don't ever have to leave the listening chair.

You changed the question in midstream. Do you want "most important" or the one that plays the longest? I leave the tuner on most of the time, but the CD player is the most important, because it always plays what I want to hear.

I still use a cassette deck.

I still listen to a lot of vinyl, but I can't play it in the car.

I voted CD player, but honestly the turntable is neck and neck with it and looks as if it may pull ahead very soon. The more great used records I find, the less I use the CD player.

There's no other choice!

CD player and the DAC it rode in on. I've never figured out the mileage I've put on each disc player I've owned over the years, but I'm sure I've been to the moon and back a few times by now!

SACD makes this a great time to be an audiophile.

Of course, my SACD player!

CD player first, turntable second. I cannot part with over 8000 LPs

My Adcom CD player, but this may change if copy protection proliferates.

You do the math, 1800 + albums and 700 CD's

Also the tuner - even though radio here in Holland is crap.

I love LPs, but they cannot compare to CDs for convenience. So when I finally make it home and want to listen to music over dinner, a CD goes on the stereo.

Although I listened to CDs the most I find time to listen to vinyl, cassettes and minidisc. I try to mix up the source and enjoy the sound no matter its origin.

You betcha it's vinyl. Even with all of digital's improvements I still get most of my audio thrills from the vinyl disc. It probably doesn't hurt that I spin LP's on my new inverted bearing, thick black platter, made by VPI. Ultimately, the source component I use most will reflect the sources I have the most of--VINYL!

It once was my best source for new music.

I use my CD Player the most, but lately my DVD Player is getting more use, especially for live music recordings—which, I have to say, are excellent!

MD-108, closely followed in use by the TT (stock P3 with a Dynavector 10x4).

I still use my Sondek LP-12, but the CD player is kept a lot busier. DVD-A and SACD use is increasing, but the player is in the home theater room, great for watching movies but not for relaxing with music.

CD player still rules for convenience and access to latest music. Id say i use it about 80% of my time with my turntable at about 20%. This is also primarily because the popular music i like is on CD and classical i have is on vinyl.

Rega

Sounds good enough and I don't have to worry about wearing out the disc.

To qualify my response: when I have time devoted to just listening to music, I play records about 80% of the time. Generally, I find vinyl to be more musically involving than CDs. I work at home several days each week, though, and because of the numerous phone calls during the day, I stick with CDs for the convenience factor. I have yet to run across a remote controlled turntable that I can pause when the phone rings.

I love my records. But it's take the record out, Zerostat, clean the record, clean the stylus, move the tonearm, lower the tonearm, listen for 20 minutes, raise the tonearm, and repeat. Not to mention replacing a very expensive stylus annually. Okay, I did that happily 20 years ago, but I've been spoiled by convenience and CDs that sound a hell of a lot better than vinyl devotees say.

Presently, it's a CD player. However, with the information in your news column regarding manufacturers using copy restrictions, I may just return to vinyl. It sounds better anyway.

I have an inexpencive Sony SACD/CD player. I use it much more as a CD player because I have many more CDs than SACDs. I have also used my computer fairly often. For a reduction in quality, I get all my music organized alphabetically by Artist, Genre, and CD. It makes finding a particuar song easier and more convenient.

Grind out tunes with 2-20bit DACs. Does ok.

Just beats out the CD player for me. Background atmosphere. But use of the system by my wife, the music teacher, probably pushes CD over the top.