CD or Streaming... am I missing out?

It must depend on your setup, I have a NAD M33 and stream Qobuz HR and it blows away my CD player so much so that I removed it. Admittedly the CD player was a Yamaha mid-level at best and the M33 is not. Even if they were simply equal (they were not) the vast selection on Qobuz would make CD a non-competitor.

SQ not so much but you would have a hard time picking blind.

Maybe, but a group of 6 of us all picked it CD was better, even the pro streamer guy, who was upset because he sold all 2000 of his CD's to go to streaming.
System
432evo High End mMusic Server 432evo Roon Core.
TotalDac T1
Yamaha CD Transport
Supratek Cortese
Wilson Alexia II
Gryphon Antillion.

Yes very high end, but isn’t that what it’s all about??
No compromises if possible, otherwise you’d use the cheap supplied interconnects that come free with sources as well.

Cheers George

Yes you are totally missing out on the totality of available music. SQ not so much but you would have a hard time picking blind.
There is NO WHERE near a deal breaking difference.
If you are happy listening to a limited library repeatedly, good for you.

 

BTW @georgehifi , Do you live in Australia? just curious

Yes???

Cheers George

Well, I'm glad I haven't ordered my coax cable yet. I'm awaiting delivery of Teac 505 streamer  this afternoon. I was going to hook up my Theta Miles to the new Dac in the Teac to see if it sounded better. Probably not. 

I bought the Teac for convenience. Age 70 is coming fast (2 1/2 wks) I figure there may be times in the future when I just didn't feel like turning over albums. Plus I have tons of flac files that I could burn to CD but even easier, play  from the Teac.

BTW @georgehifi  , Do you live in Australia? just curious

Often similar topic discussions become framed as either/or, but truly both formats, as well as purchasing downloads, have their place.   With streaming there is a tremendous amount of access to music, but not all music is added to these services leaving purchase options for CD or downloads as viable.  16/44 resolution can sound very good depending on the recording and your playback equipment.  I am reletively new to streaming purchasing Qobuz for a year last May.   I like expanding my listening to new artists and further following contributing artists for music I like.   I had a tendency to get a hunger for new music and had been buyinbg multiple CD's at a time, but have largely satisfied that appetite with Qobuz for now.  I still buy music, but much more targeted. I also enjoy convenience of music playing continually in background while doing other things without swapping CD's from the player.  I have ripped my CD's to my server hard drive, and often play a mix of owned and Qobuz music.   

mglik OP
And aside music selection and convenience, I am happy to see SQ going to CD.

That about sums it up nicely. If you have a library of CD’s.
Sound quality - CD
Convenience - Streaming

In Australia you can always listen to free DAB radio (streaming) for the latest stuff if you like it, we have hundreds of genre specific channels of it, it’s far better than listening to FM .

Cheers George

It seems there is a partial consensus toward CD. And aside music selection and convenience, I am happy to see SQ going to CD.
When mentioned “advantages of streaming” it is clear that having access to virtually unlimited music and discovering new is central.
After collecting CDs for decades, I have winnowed them down to about two hundred that I love and, many, are listened to repeatedly.
I am indeed fortunate to be retired and have a home office where I do busy work leaving me open to carefully listen to and enjoy my system. My rig is a pair of ZMF Verite headphones, Theta Compli transport, Bakoon HA 1 amp, Stealth digital IC and analog IC, and a rather special 3 Dimension Audio DAC that is a close copy of the Audio Note Level 8 DAC.

I bought a $40 Chromecast Audio and mainly stream radio and a few hi res streamers.  Can stream spotify but not Apple Music.  Very happy with it.  use the toslink to my DAC

Owning a tangible object is important to me! So it will always be the CD! 

There are regular posts here asking some variation of the same question, "CD or streaming?" It's not an either/or situation. There's absolutely no reason having a great streaming setup means you can't also enjoy whatever pleasure you get from owning and playing CDs.

mglik

what other gear is your office system?

Happy Listening!

georgehifi

Another +vote for CD every time.

Happy Listening!

I use a Bluesound Node and subscribe to Qobuz. Very good quality, but my CD setup beats it. My Node2i only cost $500 whereas DAC and transport is in the thousands.
I really enjoy streaming, the only downside is the streaming service decides which version of a digital release is available; eg, original release vs. remaster.
I listen mainly to classical so these recordings are not subject to high compression, poor dynamic range.

Truth be told, I haven't played a CD in months. I like having thousands of albums to choose from. And they are audiophile quality.

 

mglik
CD or Streaming... am I missing out?

Sound quality is arguable.

Not to me it’s not, CD every time, how opportune this thread just started.

Not looking at the different releases of this Tears for Fears, between 1989 to 2020 comparisons of dynamic range and how it get compressed
(green is good uncompressed red is bad very compressed)
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/what-s-in-your-cdp-tonight-the-minority-report/post?postid=21...

Sound quality is arguable. Music selection is not. That is what makes streaming worth it. Period.

What @tomcy6  said........

What I like about streaming is having access to millions of albums and finding new music.  That takes time, though, and if you're at work you don't want to lose your job because you're fooling around with your stereo all day.

I would not expect a major upgrade in sound quality by adding an inexpensive streamer to your setup.