CD v Streamed

I’ll clarify what I mean about the differences between streaming 44.1/16 bit and FLAC on my SSD. The most notable difference is the soundstage. CDs already have a smaller, less holographic soundstage compared to vinyl- in general. Some CDs are surprisingly good. Streaming leaves them flat. 16 bit streaming generally has a 2D soundstage and the images are flat. If I compare the same CD song to the streaming version I hear weaker bass on the streaming version. The highs can be more brittle sounding too. But hi res streaming can have a holographic sound stage and good sound at both ends. It would seem to me that hi res streaming is more demanding of the internet and my server. Makes me think it is not a streaming issue for 16 bit files. What some of you are saying is making sense to me- it’s more to do with the source.

do you feel a need to “re-educate” people that they shouldn’t be enjoying playback that you subjectively view as inferior?  Let’s keep in mind that we are not talking about something like the difference between mp3 and lossless here. We are essentially comparing relatively small variances in lossless playback

And yet we "audiophiles" of this website spend thousands of dollars on interconnects speaker wire etc etc  for just incremental improvements.

What we ask is the music itself and the way it's sold to us is also involved with that improvement path and not to go backward with being compressed the later it's recorded or being streamed

Cheers George 

Seems like reasonable subject matter to be aware of as a consumer of music, considering the cost of the playback systems people here are using.

Consumers are paying for access to music, where streaming of files like MQA are supposedly offering superior playback, when in fact it may not be the case.

If someone prefers not to be informed; perhaps this forum, or at least this thread is not for you??

do you feel a need to “re-educate” people that they shouldn’t be enjoying playback that you subjectively view as inferior?

It seems that the growing collective experience is it's not just his subjective view, it's something that I and others also claim from listening.

I've found maximizing a streaming setup is a complex undertaking.  Audiophilestyle forum was my go to for understanding the process. At this point I'm rather agnostic as to preference for my well over 2500 cd rips on Synology NAS vs. streaming Roon interfaced with Qobuz and Tidal. I'm also agnostic about superiority of high res vs 16/44, quality of studio mastering is the biggie!

In opinion both CD and streaming are digital format what it mean they don't produce excellent sound quality in my ears compared to analog vinyl.  I learned the expensive hard way by doing lots of buying and testing equipment from high to low end gears specially with DAC's one to get the right matching sound with tubes amps.  Once I got the right DAC, I was able to appreciate both devices but I would prefer streaming since I can choose right genre of music in my right mood of listening.