I began streaming two months ago. I am old school and enjoy opening a cd and putting it into a player. I am happy to say that I no longer have an interest in using a cd player. The fidelity of some hi-res recordings is to die for!
CD or Streaming... am I missing out?
I listen to CD in my headphone office system. Use a Theta Compli transport and a very nice and pricey tube 16/44 DAC. Have thought about a streaming capability and all its benefits but am both limited by SPDF and by 16/44 only. I also love the analog sound of my tube DAC. Does streaming sound far surpass CD? Am I missing out?
- ...
- 120 posts total
If you’re an audiophile and sound is the issue, you’ll probably like your physical media more!Sound is the issue for me, that why I’ll stick with CD, even though not as convenient. Just to go backwards to the vinyl days If convenience was the reason back then also I would have gone to 8 track/cassettes instead of staying with vinyl. I’ve said it before, a few I know, have sold their huge 30+ years collection library of CD’s, gone over to to streaming, they now have given up on being audiophiles. Don’t come to the audio society meetings or members home gatherings for drinks and shoot outs between equipment, just gone MIA. Cheers George |
George - Interesting, maybe what makes someone an audiophile is a desire to make something that really should not sound good (or even work at all) sound great. Vinyl, when you think about it, really should sound rubbish, even if it made a noise at all. How is it possible that a groove can be cut like that, and a needle run through it, and the music comes out just so alive? It should be impossible, let alone sound great. Getting great sound from vinyl is an achievement. A miracle. Ditto CD. You look at it and wonder ‘how can that even work?’ And again the triumph is not merely that it works at all, but that it can be made to sound so good. Good sound from CD is an achievement. But less of one than vinyl so some vinyl audiophiles don’t really let them in. But streaming? Of course it just works, like an iPhone or an Xbox just works. Bits stream from the digitised masters in the cloud service in perfect order to your dac, ready for exact unpacking. Where’s the achievement in that. Any 10 year old in their school lunch break can set up the Rasperry Pi they carry around in their pocket to be a streamer, and they can be playing hi res music from Qobuz into their headphones before they’ve finished their sandwich. And much to the horror, dismay or denial of some, that sound is probably a better replica of the master than either vinyl or CD can be - understandable, really, given the simplicity of the chain. Seems much to easy to be a hobby, let alone an obsession. |
And much to the horror, dismay or denial of some, that sound is probably a better replica of the master than either vinyl or CD can be - understandableThe word to question there is "probably" And it's not in all cases we've, done a/b with on the same hiend system. Here https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2120951 Cheers George |
- 120 posts total