To Stream or Not to Stream

Wow, how the mighty have fallen.  Streaming, or rental music as I call it, has won the day here at last.  Well, you stream, I stream...we all...you get it.  It's convenient.  Its cheap. It sounds as good or better than whatever that was we were doing for the past 100 years.  Good riddance to that.  And don't ask me which platform I stream from because who cares?  Like, is there  really a  quality issue between them? Really?   But who am I to say.  Maybe we're not headed towards being OCD about which digital platform the unwashed ignorantly chose: "Oh..Tidal, are you still using that?"  Crazy, I thought we were not just consumers of music but archivists, preservationists and curators of rare physical antiquities.  No?  You mean everyone, anyone, now has everything at the tips of their fingers? A phone. A dac. Some ear-bud-thingies.  Good to go.  But there's a book (remember those?): "Dust and Grooves".  Inside are photos and stories of who we are, or were.   It's not just about the vinyl (although I personally drool over it), and not just about the music, but about the people who are the keepers of the flame, so to speak.  Get the book and take a long last look at what very well may be the last of us.  

audi-owe
To Stream or Not to Stream
(have a collection in excess 7k CD’s).

Forget it, it’s midfi at best.
Get a good Hard Drive setup to copy those precious 7k of CD’s. Get good CD transport and R2R Dac and then play either.

Forget streaming/downloads, even the best companies use later compressed re-issues/re-masters of the earlier uncompressed albums.
They’re good for ear-phones, Ipods, Car audio, dinner music etc where compression is ok to have, because it’s all one level of volume, so background noise isn’t so obtrusive during quite parts, because there aren’t any. (if there’s no quite, there can be no loud)

EG: https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=the+traveling+wilburys&album

Listen to the difference, (compare 1 to 3 they’re at the same "average level") no.3 has no drive or punch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ&ab_channel=MattMayfieldMusic

And today new stuff is very compressed also, even the CD’s.
https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year/desc

Cheers George

I found the best combo for Qobuz and Tidal streaming : Aqua Formula xHD Rev 2 DAC + Aqua LinQ streamer paired with a fanless Roon Rock NUC and a top flight switch like my Paul Pang Quad switch.If one can afford this setup if will be very difficult to beat even at CH Precision prices.

I love streaming Tidal.  Their library is huge and the sound quality of high.  I haven’t used CD’s for years.  You will enjoy streaming and won’t look back.

Audiodidact, streaming doesn't have to be a case of throwing away the baby with the bath water. I have well over 2500 vinyl, over 3500 cd and way more streams on playlists and favorites. Physical cd's not missed, small format lessened intrinsic value. And yes, an extremely large proportion of my perceived value is in the music, not the format or physical possession. Nearly all my feelings or emotions are aroused when listening to actual music, the amount of vinyl I own is sufficient to meet all my needs for physical media.