2. digital
  3. 152543-101473

Fear of Streaming

So I was sitting around the other day and I had a yearning to hear Harry Chapin sing "Cats in the Cradle". Go to my vinyl collection and don't have it. Thought I did, but I was wrong. So I start thinking, maybe I can get a blue tooth device to hook to my integrated tube amp and then I can pair my phone with it and listen when I want. I find that it exists and purchase this Harmon Kardon BTA 10 device. It arrives, easy to use, and now I can listen to anything that comes through my phone onto my system. It is pretty cool to listen to the random song I haven't thought of in a while but sounds nothing like my vinyl. It does have some cool applications. For instance, I can't get any Buffalo Bills games down here in Savannah, GA. I downloaded an upstate NY radio station that airs the games and now I can listen to it live through my system which I find a very cool quality of life issue. However, it left me thinking that if I were to buy a dedicated streaming component then I would have all the world's music at my fingertips and it would sound so much better than going through that little HK BTA 10. However, here is my dilemma that I am really torn about. I love listening to my vinyl. I love the ritual of it. I love picking out the LP, queing it up, sitting down and reading the cover and sleeve. Getting up and flipping sides. Then repeat. I'm terrified that I will get lazy and stop doing this out of the convenience of tapping a button on a device. Sure, you can probably read all of the guts and inserts of an LP on an app but just isn't the same tactile pleasure nor rekindle those same feelings I remember when first discovering the wondorous beauty of sound. I realize this is my problem but was just wondering if any one else has ever felt the same struggle and how you rectified it. Did you make the leap and was happy you did so or did you look back in regret?
ricmci
rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 
Many here have,I believe,hit the nail on the head. For myself,streaming has opened so many musical doors. Music that I truely enjoy,and would not be exposed to without a streaming service. The music I fall in love with I'll seek out on vinyl,or even cd. You don't have to look at streaming as an end game. Look at it as a tool to find more possibilities.
jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
1,016 posts
 
Here was my last week.  Talk Talk song came on Radio Paradise that I liked.  I didn't have any of their material but liked their POP stuff.  Jumped over to Qobuz and fired up their last two releases Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock and really liked them both with very few tracks I have ever heard.  Went directly to my local vinyl store, that I had not been to in months,  in what appears to be the day after they had just put out a new used collection.    Got Spirit of Eden brand new and picked up a 1983 Capital release of Dark Side of the Moon (these album hard to find in good shape),  1977 release of The White Album and a British pressing of Peter Gabriel Car.  Ooops spent about $75 more than I intended. 
midareff1
182 posts
 
I hear you although I am a CD album listener when FM got too tedious or boring.  Having said that there are a couple of OK radio stations here worth a listen, only until you know better.   After a few months (maybe years) of deliberation I decided to try adding a streamer to my vintage system.  I bought a Cambridge VX2 streamer and plugged it in.  The sound was not what I wanted so I started to read more from users.  Changed out the AC cord to an Audioquest and the 30 year old interconnects I found in the back of the closet to a pair of Straightwire Expressivo and let it burn for a month.  Now it's simply stellar...  besides all the subscription services there are more than 20,000 stations out there playing every possible format and genre.  The Cambridge has 20 presets available and I've got awesome sounding selections for rock, pop, singer-songwriter, blues, acoustic blues, acoustic jazz and jazz tris, country and more.  Fabulous stage and imaging.....   you hear enough of one genre you just tap a line on your phones app.
markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut
376 posts
 
My experience reflects many of those who have posted above. In my music room I have about 6000 lps and many boxes of 45s. Some 78s. Three turntables, two phono stages. I enjoy playing vinyl. And sorting through a box of 45s. It's fun.However, I stream spotify via my laptop to a DAC and it sounds absolutely awesome. But the main benefit is discovering SO MUCH SUPERB MUSIC that I would have never heard of. Also, with the sound quality "good enough" (that is, good enough that I don't obsess over it) my patience with buying used vinyl that looks clean only to find that some previous owner gouged the hell out of it with a cheap/damaged cartridge tracking at a heavy weight is about over. After all, do I *really* need more records or CDs, when I can hear the music at about *cd quality* via my laptop? And for those who decry my comment about *cd quality* I can only say maybe you need a better DAC or better preamp or better speakers. In my system all my sources are sounding killer.
sonicjoy
146 posts
 
I agree all my sources sound fantastic on my system. If your digital doesn’t sound as good as records then maybe a better dac is in order. That's not to say that they don't sound different, they do but I can't say that one is better just different.
More to discover