CD Quality Versus Streaming Quality
Streaming usually uses the later released versions of the same album, which are highly compressed and it saves them money on bandwidth space (more $$$ for them), compared the the original uncompressed ones from years ago. Proof here with links in the last few posts starting here near the bottom with my post on Elton John’s "Madman Across the Water". https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/what-s-in-your-cdp-tonight-the-minority-report?page=64 Cheers George |
Well the earlier uncompressed "used" ones are now demanding far more than what they were new on ebay. So you know the streaming companies aren’t going to shell out for those. They are going to go for the cheapest they can get, which unfortunately is going to be the later/latest highly compressed versions. Just look at this, which do you think the streaming company will end up getting 28 years difference for the same CD only the oldest one is uncompressed. Look at the shocking difference in dynamic range!! https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Traveling+Wilburys&album=Traveling+Wilburys Cheers George |
OP this topic has been explored in many threads here. Personally I see no reason why one digital technology should be better or worse than another. A CDP can extract the bits and send it to an internal DAC, leaving all the streaming issues aside, such as provenance of the masters, the quality of the streaming service, whether the ISP is throttling bandwidth in this era of Zoom and everyone getting all of their entertainment over the Internet, the home router, and the quality the streamer. For me, given all the links in the chain just described, the wonder is that streaming can sound as good as it does, but the claims that it inherently is superior to CD replay are just marketing blather |
