Is Pretty Good Good Enough? Listening Habits In The World Of Streaming Services.

For me, the sound quality of streaming has reached good enough status (I’m a Tidal subscriber.) and my turntable use has dwindled to practically nothing. My CD player died a couple of years back and I don’t anticipate replacing it. Of course, sound quality varies within streaming just like any other media but my 65 yr old ears can’t tell any tangible difference between streaming’s best and vinyl’s best within the limitations of my system….Admittedly, I haven’t poured a king’s ransom into vinyl playback — I’ve got a Music Hall MMF-5 with the stock Goldring cart which is probably due for an upgrade but, considering the enjoyment I’m getting from streaming, the question I ask myself is, “Why would I want to spend the bucks for a cartridge when I could invest it in a better DAC for my streamer?”.,,,

Different strokes for different folks…

"Good enough" has indeed gotten a lot better than daze of old. I even get a lot of musical enjoyment out of Linn radio @320. Of course some tunes are fun enough to acquire but that is exceptional. Take the testvand you’ll see that higher than Redbook is only randomly discernable.

I echo onhwy61. Enjoy!

Good Enough? That’s the rub right, or is it ever good enough? Is only when ringing the most absolute detail no matter the cost of equipment or convenience good enough? Can a recording only be enjoyed after every minute detail has been analyzed, optimized and finalized? What about the next recording? Were the optimizations for one tune be good enough for the a different recording or genera of music?

What is most important content, convenience or both? With unlimited funds and a staff robots you could probably recreate the digital streaming experience in vinyl. You would have to actually make pressings of those albums that were never released in vinyl but to be good enough cost is no option, right? If you wanted to search for how multiple versions of “Skylark” sound different it could be done with analog but would take a huge database of all your analog recordings and multiple turntables and a robot task force that can easily be done by any music server or streaming service.

To be Good Enough depends upon priorities and your budget. There is no right answer here but there is a truth. With enough money it can always be better but whether it’s ever good enough depends on you.

The best bots come from Russia no Chi bots for me.

How have your listening habits changed since the higher resolution services have arrived?
 

Absolutely. Is the quality as good as my albums and CDs? No, but the higher resolution recordings do come close. I like listen to streaming services because it has encouraged me to discover groups and music I never would have listened to before because I don’t have the access. I buy more music now because of the streaming services.