If you had to start all over again in this day and age

I took a long time to jump into streaming, but a year or two ago bought a Bluesound Vault 2. For around $1200 it includes a 2 terrabyte hard drive so I can burn cd's as well as stream from Spotify Premium andTidal... BTW, Spotify has improved its bandwidth so while not cd quality it is closer. If I discover music that I want to own I buy the cd's.

I might buy better B&W speakers, but the subs I built using DM16 (Prototype 801) drivers makes me happy with my crystal clear 803's, especially since the subs are powered by my Audire Forte, which the Audio Emporium's online museum stated had, "Gargantuan Bass".

jssmith

There's no difference between streaming and a CD ... except convenience and having a massive library at hand. Bits is bits.

That is a silly claim even for those who believe digital is as simple as "bits is bits." There's no way CD can equal the very best hi-res files available from services such as Qobuz.

Enlighten me here please. Based on Douger's and js's response, can you burn cd's from a streaming service?

I have had well over 100 components through the years. Mostly I am circling back to the 1980s.  So, if I had to do it all over again, I would probably stuck with what I had in the 1980s and left it alone. Except I would have added some digital source components such as CD player and streamer.