CD or Streaming... am I missing out?

p05129

It was proven over a dozen years ago that reading music from a hard drive sounded better than reading it from a cd.

It was? Who proved that? Where is the proof?

I can say this about comparing music from CDs vs SSD files.  On my system, which I feel is very resolving now, they sound very close to the same.  I am a bit chagrined about that considering I ripped all of my CDs using a $40 DVD/CD Reader/writer attached to my MacBook Pro using DBPowerAmp's CD ripper.  I got me a CD Transport that uses vacuum tubes on the output.  This transport has several output options:  BNC, Coaxial, optical and it also can upsample CDs to 128kHz DSD with output through either I2S or 3 BNC connectors (I think this output is SS).  My DAC also uses vacuum tubes on the output plus it has a vacuum tube regulated power supply.  It sounds very nice. The 3 BNC output/input sounds the best and the I2S is very nearly identical.  I was blown away with the sound of CDs on my new system.  I hear details in my CDs now that I had never heard before.  It dispelled all of my notions about the limitations of CDs.  Plus I can listen to my CDs all day long.  Not like before where after one disc or so I either switched to vinyl or walked away.  So after getting the music server I listened back and forth and I cannot really tell much difference between spinning the CD and playing the FLAC.  Still, I enjoy spinning the CDs but sitting in my chair with my iPad and getting the same and even better sound with hi res is going to make me lazy I think.

@tonywinga, DSotM is a remarkable recording ... great experience post.

I just got my first streamer (Node2i) and Tidal about 6 months ago.  While I am enjoying the selection and music discovery, I cannot think of one time that I was simply blown away by the sound quality.  It's fine.... no complaints.... but I've not been bowled over by anything, like I am with CD or Vinyl playback.  I do know that streaming Tidal from my computer through my pro-audio interface sounds better than the Node2i.  I'm still very happy with the Node2i overall though.  Love the alarm feature. I wake up to an 80's new-wave station every morning.    

If your a music lover, streaming makes life simple, so much music readily ay hand!
If you’re an audiophile and sound is the issue, you’ll probably like your physical media more!