2. digital
  3. 168295-163583

CD Quality Versus Streaming Quality

I realize this will be a contentious subject, and far be it from me to challenge any of the many expert opinions on this forum, but if I may offer my feedback vis-a-vis what I am hearing, and gain some knowledge in the process.

i will begin saying that my digital front end setup is not state of the art, but i have had the good fortune to listen to a number of really high-end systems. I guess the number one deficit in my digital front end is a streamer server, and no question about it that will improve the sound.

My CD player is a universal player; Pioneer BDP-09fd. It uses Wolfson DACs. It has been modified to a degree. I have bought and sold other players, but kept this one, because it has a beautiful sound that serves the music well.

Recently, i ventured over to my son’s place and we hooked up my player (he doesn’t have one and rely’s on streaming only) We compared tracks / albums of CD quality and master quality streamed on Tidal with ‘redbook’ CDs I have. For example, some Lee Ritenaur CDs and some Indian classical and the wonderful Mozart and Chopin.
His system is highly resolving.

we were both very surprised to find the CDs played on the player to be the better sound. And not just by a little. The sound was clearly superior, with higher resolution and definition, spatial ques, much better and clearer imaging. Very surprising indeed. Shouldn’t there be no difference? This would suggest the streaming service is throttling the bandwidth or compressing the signal?

i am most interested to hear others’ observations, and suggestions as to why this might be? I do love the convenience aspect of streaming, but it IS expensive for a chap like me of fairly modest means. The Tidal HiFi topline service is $30 per month I believe, something the good lady is not too thrilled about. God forbid I should suggest Roon on top of that I may likely get my walking papers. I jest, but only partially LoL. My point is, if I pay this sort of money, isn’t it fair to expect sound to equal the digital stream from the CD player and silver disc?
Thoughts?

AK





4afsanakhan
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

If you think streaming sounds bad, you’re listening to poor streaming solution.

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
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,645 posts
 
Agreed George. I find streaming is the same as CDs in that some sound great while others don’t recording to recording. Find both equal in the percentage of good to poor sounding recordings in my experience. Same sonic frustrations with both in my experience. This morning I listened to three new artists (streaming). Two sounded good and one great. Yesterday I listened to a really poor recording. Same with my CD collection of old. I am not noticing more of the poor when streaming. I listen to jazz, folk, acoustic, Americana, female vocal…..not classic rock.

sns
4,047 posts
 
Totally agree on provenance of recording. First of all,I don't listen to a lot of commercial music, there are many contemporary recordings that aren't compressed within an inch of their life. The 2500+ cd rips I have are from 80's through today, and they sound better than playing with any cd transport I owned, the last being a Mark Levinson  No.37 which used Phillips CDM 12 industrial transport mechanism with quality proprietary mounting system . When I say streams sound every bit as good as rips I'm comparing best of both.
Sure, there are a lot of compressed recordings on streaming services, just as there is cd's and vinyl. Quality streaming requires clean network, using generic grade equipment won't do. And I do have quality analog setup with well over 3000 albums from 1950's-today. Streaming can be a quality listening choice, one need not suffer inferior sound quality.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 


What audiophiles need if they want to stream/download.
                                         Is a "Audiophile Streaming/Download Service"
1: That reveals all the origins/history/cat no’s of anything they sell you. (so you can check if it’s version is compressed yourself)
2: And then guarantee they will "not compress it in any way" when they send it to you, to save themselves a fortune. (and you check the download size)

Cheers George
sns
4,047 posts
 
Well, the advantage of streaming is at least you didn't have to purchase the cd or vinyl only to find poorer sound quality than expected.  Download service providers should provide provenance, entire history. I thought HD Tracks did that, haven't purchased download in a couple years.
More to discover