Sound Quality of red book CDs vs.streaming

@rvpiano-re the question of master tapes as a source, my impression is that most of the majors will not let the master tape out of the door, and usually supply a flat transfer on hi-rez. There are of course exceptions- the "audiophile labels" like Acoustic Sounds and a few others (Classic, ORG, MoFi in some cases) do get access to the tapes, probably because of long working relationships with the labels. For digital streaming, I suspect that if the end product is a digital file, there is even less likelihood that a master tape was used as a source, and which master? A safety? A copy made for a particular market may sound different than another. It’s the stuff that keeps record hounds searching, comparing notes and pressings. I don’t know the answer as it applies to streaming, which was one of my questions earlier in this thread- whether the streaming platforms identify the source and mastering.
What I wrote above really applies to older recordings where tape was the medium. If you are a Steve Wilson fan, you’ll know that he remixes a lot of this stuff (mainly prog rock) in the digital domain using the multitracks and eschews ’mastering’ as such, believing that his mixes are the final product without more EQ (apart from what may be necessary to meet an RIAA curve for the LP releases). Some of that stuff is pretty good if you are a fan of this type of music.

Audioengr,

My question is do the streaming companies buy the tracks from the record companies directly, and if they do is it via hard drive transfer or software?
Or is there a distributor (middle man?)

I did compare the same music at the same format and quality from different websites. Even here you find differences.

HDtracks also gives you different freq. sample rates. But often the music is only avaliable at one sample rate.

The same music I bought from Qobuz was often a lot better the same music from HDtracks.

Even the same music I bought from Qobuz was almost in all situations better than the ripped music of the same album. In my world the best quality always counts. And all the rest have no meaning at all.

Acoustic Sounds only sells DSD 64 recordings. I bought different recordings I already owned in DSD 64 at a higher DSD level. And this makes sense.

I love superiority in music and in audio products. The best is always a lot nicer than less. It gives the music often a totally different experience when the level of the recording is higher.

Most people believe (based on assumptions) that a separate dac is better than an inbuild one. In our world the facts what we can hear only counts.

We have proven many times that a source with an inbuild dac easily ouperforms a separate dac. Our modified sources always win and outperform each single shootout against a dac and drive.

People have often no idea how much they loose by the choice of a separate dac. Even the most expensive dacs with upsampler had the same limitations as the cheaper dacs.

Often the level in diversity (layering) is limited. When we use one of our modified sources it often makes the dacs and drives sound like dinky toys. Because it is not even a fair competition.

Our sources are superior in all the aspects/properties of sound. The most important one is the diversity (layering) in sound. And in this part the differences are the biggest.

I know since 2 years that diversity in sound is the most important aspect/property of sound. So it made us spend the most time on this property in the last 2 years. Our modifications are being created on all aspects/properties of sound. But we did put more focus on this part. And also regarding all our other modifications.

This is why it makes it so easy for us to outperfrom all separate dacs during a shootout. We also win in resolution and in dynamics. The other limitation almost all dacs have is the fact that they are not able to reveal all the different aspects/properties of sound.

In a Tru-Fi system it is very easy to explain to each person which aspects/properties their dac or source misses. We often feel sorry for new clients. They never bought the best student of it’s class. We will always own the best student in each price range. So there is no competition. We know the outcome even before they visit us.

I have to admit that it is a lot more easy to create a superior level with a source with an inbuild dac. So far we never had a shootout of a separate dac what outperformed one of our modified sources.