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


I'm a recent subscriber to Tidal and Amazon Unlimited.  The sound quality of the cd quality music is surprisingly good.  I find myself listening to more music because of it.

I've also found myself in a situation when I come across a very familiar recording that I find it missing some of the inner details of the recording that I'm very familiar with....overall, the recording is good, but I noticed the missing elements.  Though I found it not as good as it sounds on my cd player, it was good enough that I didn't stop the song and went and got my cd and played it.  In other words, I settled for pretty good.  Interestingly, as I moved up the chain in the world of audio, it was always in pursuit of better equipment to extract better sound from the recording.  I was always looking for better than 'good enough'.  Well, 'good enough' has gotten a lot better than it used to be...and much more convenient.

Sadly, my critical listening time with my cd player and turntable is a lot less these days because of the streaming services.  I've just started to fiddle around with burning wav files of my cd's to a hard drive to make copies of those recordings where nothing but the original file will do. 

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

mitch4t

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. 

My experiences mirror that of mitch4t.  I subscribe to Qobuz, Amazon HD Unlimited, and often listen to Radio Paradise (which is an excellent streaming service for a variety of genres).  RP is a free service but a small donation offers a big return on enjoyment. 

That said, I still very much enjoy listening to CD's, as on my system they are still more resolving, detailed and spacious.  Its just that I spend more 'convenient' time enjoying the music on the streaming services.

If the CD sounded better it was probably a different release mastered or produced differently than the source for the streamed version. Could also be a different DAC. There is no reason why streaming categorically would be inherently inferior to CD equivalent. It is true that most streaming services tend to lean towards more recent remasters that are probably mixed louder than in the past but same would be true if same version were played from CD. Streaming is a wonderful thing and it bugs me when people knock it categorically. Get with the program boomers! Ymmv always from release to release no matter what format the material is delivered in.

@mapman 

There is no reason why streaming categorically would be inherently inferior to CD equivalent.
 

I agree with you. It shouldn’t be inferior to CDs, but my internet service is awful (stuck with DSL) and the quality is hit and miss. Some days its great. Some days it’s terrible. 

I think the difference is the player app. The CD player / transport doesn't have to adjust to different streaming rates or advertizing bloat.

When is congress going to decide on Ro vs Bott?