While equipment (and your ears) will ultimately determine which sounds better, I am very happy listening to my library of over 8,000 redbook CD's and have no desire/time to rip them to a server or subscribe to a streaming service.
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?
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I use a Cambridge CXN (V2) for streaming and a Sony XA 5400 ES for CD/SACD. The Sony was a Stereophile A+ component for three years running a few years back. I have streamed on Spotify but am 99% Tidal which is 16/44 FLAC almost exclusively. I have about 750 CDs mostly from 10 - 15 years back and longer. The Tidal CD is about as good as an SACD version played through the Sony. There are streaming stations in about that same league but will take you some time to audition many to find them.. I short cut the ones I find in the Cambridge app. Have 20 presets across many genres that are excellent. For home use Cat 6 or 7 Ethernet if at all possible instead of wi-fi. |
From the point of view of cost, if you happen to own thousands of CDs and you don't mind ripping them to a server, all it costs you is time (I did mine while watching TV in the evenings) rather than fees for a music service (I ripped well over 4000 CDs). OTOH, if you are always wanting to keep up on current music, the services would have an advantage unless you can borrow CDs from your local library to rip. |
I would like to share my experience: There is no difference between playing direct from CD or ripped flac file. I do not feel any difference. 1-If you stream directly from Tidal or Qobuz via wifi instead of using PC and specific music software like ROON, the result is very disappointed. It is necessary to use PC + Software 2- I am using Pioneer N30 streamer connected to Integrated DAC/Amp Hegel 360 and I can taste the same quality as CD player I have Sonos Faber Olympica iii |
Some Report a superior experience with CD (Re Book) playback ...Exactly what we did in the A/B in my 4th post page one. Through very high end stuff, but it was clear what the better was. And any later music from the last couple of years was just too compressed for either format. Just look what happens to the later release of the same thing. This 1989 one is the best, just look at the dynamic range Cheers George |
As many have said steaming done right (upper mid to high end) makes CD’s redundant.A few friends and acquaintances I know/knew that have sold all their massive CD collection for expensive streaming. We don’t see them much any more for audio equipment shoot out. Audio meetings and new product listening. Think about why this is? Also why do so many here talk about chopping and changing their streamers/the streaming companies, the best way to connect it to get it sounding right? Cheers George |
Using a Primakuna PROLOGUE CLASSIC CD player against a Lumin T2 two of us could hear no difference in “regular” tracks and thought “high res” streaming sounded richer. Naturally two ageing men with arguably not the best hearing may not be definitely the best to suss out what’s what but we were convinced. As many have said steaming done right (upper mid to high end) makes CD’s redundant. As for a high end vinyl set up verses high end streaming that gets into gang warfare. |
If this thread was entitled, "DVD or Video streaming" is there a chance that anyone who recognized the higher quality picture of DVD (assume that’s true for the sake of this example) would forego streaming? It seems obvious that virtually no one would give up the chance for new shows, movies, documentaries, right? No one would simply start purchasing all the content available on streaming video for their collection -- right? The question becomes, what is it about audio content that is different? Why would someone just give up the variety and novelty of streaming content to listen mostly or exclusively to cds? Serious question. |
All routers generate noise and RFI. This can be passed to the audio system. The amount of RFI thru the service provider is very high. A linear power supply can lower the noise floor by replacing the very cheap supplied wall-wart. My router is plugged into a Brick Wall PC and the increased clarity through my CAT8 is without a doubt audible. |
Hi, Really depends at what level of the audio spectrum you are looking, if mobile is one thing then streaming is ok. If High End then CDT + DAC may be the safest. Has you may know in Audio is timing critical, and on a CD player or a CDT + DAC you get a controlled environment, where all the aspects of the implementations have been thought through. On streaming, if using an external provider there is a part of the signal path that you will never control (basically all that comes before your home router) and can affect timing and other variables. If you use a in house streaming like Roon or HQ player then you probably can get very good results. But in both situations and on the side that you control, you need to pay attention to the implementation detail. I still have CD's because they help me: 1. Compare the SQ of the external streaming services 2. Compare the SQ of my in house streaming 3. Spin CD's just for fun of it :-D |
The streaming process is prone to loss that CD’s dont have, because it involves a more complicated delivery chain to get the bytes to the DAC - which involves traveling through your network EQ that introduces noise and bit-timing issues to the DAC. The jitter figures will be higher, has anyone seen any measured data on this?? Cheers George |
I use both, CD and streaming and I have the Oppo BD 105 blu ray player and the Audiolab 6000N streamer with DTS Play Fi that gives me great convenience and access to many music apps Most of the time I'm using Qobuz and really enjoy discovering new artists that I've never heard before ( l live a sheltered life) and also hearing artists I've know for decades but don't have their CD To improve the sound quality l have the Exogal Comet plus external DAC and bypass the internal DAC in the Audiolab |
Try plugging your office system into your computer to start. (I assume you have a computer in your office.) If you have a laptop or desktop, you should have at least USB out. The MacBook 3.5mm connection doubles as optical out. And a windows desktop may have USB, optical, and coax outputs. You may have options. I recommend trying the free trials for Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon high res. By the time you've exhausted the free trials, Spotify may have released it's CD quality tier. Spotify was far superior in its user interface when I ran my experiment. I currently use Qobuz for it's sound quality, but I'll be switching back to Spotify as soon as that CD quality tier launches. I used Spotify for about a 5-year period. The curated and rotating playlists, ability to discover new music, content layout, and access to content makes it the best. I find that Qobuz routinely lacks content I want to hear and doesn't help me to find the content I'd like to discover. Also, there's a social media element to Spotify. When you want to share songs with friends and family and you send them a link, the recipient is most likely to have Spotify account. |
Mglik, get your self a new Grace Digital Link internet radio off Amazon for $159. I just got one last week and it is fantastic for a cheap but good streamer. It does hi-res as well if you ever need or want it. It has a coax digital out so it hooks up easily to your dac that you love. To me, this thing is the best cheap option out there and it works flawlessly. It sees my wifi and locks onto it immediately. It also does blue tooth to and from (to BT headphones) and has Chromecast built in. The included built in apps are pandora, iheart, and a few others, as well as thousands of internet radio stations. It will also do Amazon unlimited (there are plans on including Amazon HD in future firmware updates). So far I’m loving it. |
Another point in favor of Streaming superiority is mobility. If you have latest phone in pair with DAC like Audiquest DragonFly Cobalt and nice pair of headphones, you can take your High Res music to your walk, workout, trip, work and other activities. I have this setup besides home system and very happy with it. |
CD for SQ, in my opinion, but also for owning music. Check out Ted Gioia's video on this question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmm1yq5Q4FE I love having records and cd's, and there will be times where I rearrange, spend time reading liner notes again, or even stumble into things I've forgotten about. There's something important to me about the physical nature of the media. Streaming is great; it's convenient, it gives you opportunities to discover new things, and it can sound great. But I have a decent enough DAC and CDT that the better sound is here. And I love shopping for used cd's and (mostly) new records. It's about all I've done outside the house since COVID hit. |
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vanson1 A streamer is a digital file and is at least 44khz or greater ... The most determining sound quality factor is the DAC just like in a CD playerThis is completely mistaken. There are many streams of lesser quality than 44.1. When playing a digital track - regardless of whether it’s from CD, NAS or a stream - the biggest "determining sound quality factor" is the quality of the file itself, imo. |
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Streaming vs CDs is about convenience. Not having to change a CD, being able to call up a wide variety of tracks with a few swipes of a tablet, and not having to store physical media. Sound quality for streaming vs CD is essentially a non factor. They both send 1s and 0s to a DAC. Which sounds better depends more on the specific CDP or streamer under considerationYah, but...... all that negativity of moving parts of driving mechanisms definitely not in favor of CD superiority vs streamers. |
You're not necessarily missing out on sound quality. Much of the content available from streaming is CD quality. What you're missing is convenience and selection. It doesn't have to be either/or, however I have hundreds of CDs including some nice SACDs and they rarely get played anymore. I'm streaming music every day. |
Streaming just makes sense. Especially since an inexpensive tablet can be used for quality streaming via a quality outboard dac and headphone amplifier. I use Amazon Fire HD10s and a Fire 7 for streaming audio, and am amazed at how good high quality files sound through my system. Basic system is fully balanced: Schiit Modius Dac, Cavalli Liquid Platinum, Sennheiser HD600,HD6XX, Hifiman HE4XX, and Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon. |
It my system CD sounds better. It's a tie when comparing CD's to CD's ripped on the hard drive of my music server with the CD Transport adding a little bloom around the midrange that locally stored rips playing on a music server don't have. I think the server is probably more accurate. Now for streaming the quality comes close to that of CD but where steaming blows the CD out of the water is the user experience. I can sit on my chair with my IPAD and put together a playlist of 20 songs off qobuz and my cd rips without ever getting up from the chair. Plus I have discovered so much new music from streaming that I never would have heard by just buying CD's. I think the best thing is to discover new music using streaming and then go out and buy the CD's you want and either play them on a transport or ripped to a music server. |
Streaming vs CDs is about convenience. Not having to change a CD, being able to call up a wide variety of tracks with a few swipes of a tablet, and not having to store physical media. Sound quality for streaming vs CD is essentially a non factor. They both send 1s and 0s to a DAC. Which sounds better depends more on the specific CDP or streamer under consideration |
My okay Denon streamer was no longer supported by the company. It then became a FM tuner with wired iPhone/iPad capability. That being said, as long as I am using my iPhone via the firewire connection to the streamer, even a compressed 320 kbps streaming source will give CD's a run for the money. Really well executed, non remastered CD's (Diana Krull, Mark Knopfler, Gomez and others) generally blow streaming away. I do have some grey market FLAC downloads that are amazing. |
I'm a recent streaming convert as well Tidal and Qobuz delivered via Roon to a streamer capable of rendering bit perfect playback of HiRes and MQA formats Everything in the streaming network is wired and nothing connected via wifi or BT The SQ is much preferred over my Audiolab transport Add in the convenience of changing music without getting out of my chair, the advantage of the vast music libraries (est 35 million tracks) and my favorite part..... the new releases just keep getting added I hope I never have to purchase another piece of physical media again The mobile benefits of streaming is another nice feature - car stereo, PC, headphones for bike rides and dog walks, etc We all have our preferences and for different reasons but the value proposition of streaming works for me This is a wonderful hobby that we all enjoy and great to share our experiences and ideas Happy listening and enjoy the journey |
@mglik Qobuz has 50 million songs while Tidal has 60 million songs which I believe is the most economic way to hear various songs. Many songs come with significantly higher resolutions files compared to redbook (CD) files which sound significantly better on highly resolving audio systems. If you want to do in-depth research such as which albums does a particular artist contributes to, try searching on Metadata and Roon. Like vinyl, CD albums usually contain a few songs you may like and sometimes songs you don't. But with streaming, you can choose individual songs and even create playlists. Might be a good idea to find an audio dealer with streaming hooked up for a demo. I plan to burn all my CDs to a Innuos Zenith server, then use Roon player to seamlessly combine my server files with Tidal and/or Qobuz to look like a single library of songs on a iPad (I believe you can use a PC/Mac/laptop instead). If I want to spin CDs, I can always add a quality transport later. |
streaming an identical recording at 16 bits / 44.1 kHZ and a CD of the same recording at 16 bits / 44.1 kHZ is sonically identical to my ears. streaming 24 bit files (Tidal Master MQA or Qobuz HiRes) through systems that are able to deliver those files bit perfect (without down sampling to 16 bit) are very noticeably higher quality (higher resolution, smoother, more dynamic, broader soundstage) than the same music streamed from a 16 bit file. having access to a streaming library of millions of recordings is a revelation. it’s all about the music. |
Horses for courses, in my view. Where I live, best streaming option is Tidal HiFi (no Qobuz here) and I have a large library of CDs. So for me I still rely on CD (or vinyl) for familiar recordings but use streaming for new things. I run an Accuphase DP 570 which pretty much outshines my Naim streamer. On balance I don't think streaming is better for me than Redbook on my system. |
