CD Quality Versus Streaming Quality
Same goes for all Elton John’s "year" released versions, but look what happened in 2019? SHM-CD??? Had to look it up. Some are saying it adds a sheen to the sound??? "false dynamic reading" maybe??? "SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) is a superior quality CD fully compatible with all CD players." https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year?artist=elton+john Cheers George |
Look at what happens to the great dynamic range in the 1st page then deteriorates the more pages you go and the younger the albums get (in re-issues).What I have been saying! Try it with Mark Knopfler, Enya, Bruce Hornsby, Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, Donald Fagen, Sting, Tears for Fears, U2, and Yes. This short list is drawn from a list of discs that I own and could easily be expanded. Norah Jones is not included, for instance, because a boxed set of SACD's released in 2012 came with dynamic range between 11 and 14 and allowed me to dispose of some CD's of the same titles that had much poorer DR. SHM-CD??? Had to look it up. Some are saying it adds a sheen to the sound??? "false dynamic reading" maybe??? SHM-CD is simply a high quality CD, most often made and sold in Japan. While these releases tend to be mastered a bit bright, that seems to be common with Japanese remasters generally and is unrelated to the technology so far as I know. I gather that you encountered SHM-CD in connection with Elton John. The SHM-CD remasters released in 2019 are very highly regarded. The seven that I own have DR ranging from 12 to 14. |
You're exactly right. I have listened to some serious streaming components and hear the same thing. Sometimes, in fleeting moments the streamed music can be very good but on a whole it's just so so. Now a setup that uses a hard drive (NBS) can sound great. A dealer in town demonstrated for me their setup and it frankly blew my mind. Their twelve thousand record collection plus master tapes, even original mofi cassettes, not to mention cd's, etc., all sixteen terabytes worth available through an iPad changed my world view about recorded music. But this is a unique situation; one owner is a recording engineer who uses I don't know, one or two hundred grand worth of Nagra equipment. These rips are like no other that I ever listened to. In one two hour listening session I sat on the sofa picking any music that came to mind; jazz, blues, rock, prog rock, classical, even some recordings of mine and well, streaming systems, are not even close. And one killer example of a rip of many was listening to the Solti Vienna Wagner ring lp collection, ripped from an unopened box set that I somehow ran into. The idea of not flipping through all those lp's and when directly comparing the rips to the original vinyl, not a whole lot of difference and not enough if any to bother me. I just wish I had the space for something like that. |
If you think streaming sounds bad, you're listening to poor streaming solution. Every single little thing matters in streaming, the network extremely important. All network equipment should have linear power supplies, quality ethernet cable, optical conversion, switches with OXCO clock. USB renderer, high quality usb cable, oxco clock in dac. And of course high quality server powered by high quality lps. Evolution of clocks is major upgrade in streaming. Steaming sounds every bit as good as 2500 cd rips on Synology NAS powered by high quality lps. |
That maybe, but it all starts with the source, "THE MUSIC" If they (the streaming/download) companies, send you the later re-issues they have, that are big percentage compressed, as shown in the DRDB (Dynamic Range Data Base), then your getting compressed junk. The streaming companies need to give the album Cat No. with all their streams/downloads, so you can find for yourself on the DRDB if your paying for and listening to compressed rubbish. Nothing in life in this world your hearing is compressed including live music gigs, why do it to our purchased retail music????? Cheers George |
