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SREAMING???

Starting to look around for a Hi Rez music server.($2000 or less)
 I'm new to this game and not the best with computers, I have a few questions.
1) All-in-one unit with ripper or rip from PC? ( Only connection to computer is a 50' cat 6 ethernet cable)
2) Will this long cable cause problems with streaming and/or ripping?
3) Is an external hard drive OK for storing music? 
4) Is Tidal the only streaming service that streams in true Hi Rez?
5) Can you download music that is streamed and store it in the streaming unit or external hard drive?
 Interested in the Sony HAPZ1ES. It seems like a pretty solid piece. (Has 1tb of internal storage but would need more eventually - at least 4 to 6 tb)
Also very interested in Roon But not sure how it works or what I need to run that system.
Very open to suggestions for other options.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help😎

arcam88
1graber2's avatar
1graber2
303 posts
 
Ya, all that competition b/w format through time is a lot of sales BS. 

In the end for quality sound, IMO, it is the combo of the quality of the recording type (cd, tape,streaming, vinyl, etc) and the quality of the recording itself that determines final SQ. 

Nothing wrong with CDs, especially since there are many well-regarded used CD players (with reliable discs/lasers) out there which are designed exactly to help CDs sound their best.

amaglioc's avatar
amaglioc
30 posts
 
Technically speaking, Tidal’s $19.99 tier streams in *full* res, meaning CD quality, not hi-res, which is confusing because they market “high res” but they’re not talking about 24/96. They have some MQA, but that’s another rabbit hole entirely.

A French streaming service called Qobuz will debut in the US in October and they do in fact stream some music in high resolution, the rest in “full,” and supposedly carry an outstanding classical music catalog. That’s not Tidal’s strength. I’m a big Tidal fan and hope they survive the current Wild West financial atmosphere. As for streaming itself, what a miracle. Having a large percentage of all the music ever recorded at your fingertips is a paradigm shift.
arcam88's avatar
arcam88 OP
443 posts
 
I have at least a couple thousand albums on my pc and  phone (mp3's @ 320 mbps) Those are  fine for listening  in the car, on pc or bluetooth speakers.
I was interested mainly in Tidal for true hi res but discovered that I would be paying $20 a month basically for life.(until it goes up)
From what I am hearing now it may not be true  hi res anyway.
Looked @ Qobuz ($350 a year) Ouch!
Sticking  with cd's for now, I have nearly a thousand. 
Ended up buying a used Oppo bdp-105 from Audiogon after borrowing nutty's😎
The balanced outputs give me much more dynamics. + the video quality is top notch. Still comparing to my Arcam cd93.
Also have the option of possibly  streaming  down the road if things change.
THANKS TO ALL!
1graber2's avatar
1graber2
303 posts
 
OP: Cool, good luck
( I had the OPPO 95 which was ok but the 105 is definitely better.)

@amaglioc @amaglioc. Good point about the non-standardization of “hi res” from one paid streaming service from another.


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