Streaming vs Physical Media

I have been personally blessed to have owned and still own some of the very finest cd playback systems ever made. And I have never heard a streamer on a display that I was taken aback with or one that I could say kept up with the cd systems I had at home.  That being said I have never bothered to ask about what they were running for the demonstration as I just wasn't interested. Now a few things to keep in mind there are not that many stores around here anymore so likely have not heard many different setups. Also I don't make the trip up to the big cities that often anymore the one city is a two hour drive the other is a six hour drive twenty years ago went almost every weekend and heard many systems that were on display. I can remember being blown away by a few systems and what cd playback system they had in them. I bought one of my favorite of the group and likely should have done what it took to buy the Linn cd12 at the time. Likely what I thought was the best redbook cd player I ever heard but I had the sonic frontier dac and transport three and it also is superlative. The one person commented on the thread  about the connection boxes on either end of the streaming system likely not being optimized for audio might be what I have heard at cost no object HiFi stores that I don't like about streaming. Not sure what it is and as I said I was never interested enough to learn about them or buy one as I felt is was a step down. I have wondered they way fellows write about them if I have only listened to cheap junk and not a real good one. But at the present I am more than happy with the four top end cd playback systems I have and easily live with two of three three I had in the past. CD playback has always been important to me. 

@retiredfarmer 

If you do not mind what are your most often used (Favorite) CD playback choices?

Charles

@retiredfarmer

I appreciate your post and sentiments on importance of CD playback in your system.

As far as streaming goes, a decent streaming setup is far from plug n play. The biggest nemesis of any streaming playback system is the ‘noise’ emitted by your router. As you’ve probably read here, many here have gone above and beyond to reduce or eliminate the noise. I am going to go out on a limb to say that a good streaming setup is close second to a Vinyl setup in terms of complexity. Once you address the noise, streaming can be as satisfying as any other playback medium. And then there is this whole endless debate on “CD is better than Streaming” without much consideration given to provenance of a recording you are listening to on a CD and Streaming services which BTW, is the single most important differentiator as to why a CD may sound better than its Streaming counterpart and vice versa. Then there is level of commitment to electronics between CD and Streaming setups :-)

In my system (featured here in virtual systems) streaming has transcended both CD and Vinyl. I still buy CD’s and Vinyl but with clear emphasis on finding ultimate recordings. For me, it’s no longer about which medium is superior sounding.

@charles1dad  well my list of the best cd playback systems I have heard are as follows. A Linn cd12, DSC Elgar Purcell pair(yes not particularly fair as it upsamples), sonic frontier transport and DAC three, Wadia 270/27 separates, Naim CDS, Mark Levinson DAC 30.5 and driven by the Oracle transport. Of that group I bought a sonic frontier transport and DAC three. The other players I have and have had that I consider a small step below these are a Krell kps20i,wadia6, Theda universal transport and gen three DAC, enlightened audio design seperates.another step down was Roksan dp1 transport and DAC, the transport was very good the DAC I didn't care for I replaced the DAC with a chord 64 and that took it up comparably to the others In the one step down category.  I was offered the Linn cd12 at at great prices the dealer was wanting rid of it and I should have done what it took to buy that one but I past on it back in the day. 

Regards 

@lalitk  yes likely a very true statement I find that setup is the difference between good and great and part of the endless pursuit! In the main system I getting close to having the cd playback the way I want it. Building a different wall mount for my turn tables still think over if I should put them on one wall mount or two. New house so new room is what is going on at the moment. A friend of mine gave me an audio research reference phono stage and in just a quick listen I think that seems much better than the on board phono section in my Ayre k1xe. So it will take awhile to get that the way I want it but all good things come over time. Also I wonder if I should belly up and buy the cartridge I have always coveted ouch! Get it setup right first then go from there. The second table I am setting up for 78 playback. I was thinking I wanted to hear some of those one more time I listened to them as a kid. You might all laugh but as a young fellow I found an old tube radio that was my grand parents radio in a cupboard at the farm I hauled it out and plugged it in. It worked anyhow dad rewired it the powercord was falling apart due to age I loved that thing and in my mind it took many years to get anything that I found as entertaining as that old bakelite radio was it was a sad day when that died. My second system I went to a tube system lol I have the beauty of that old radio plus plus. Basically where I want to go is get my turn tables setup and enjoyable I also have an mr71 tuner to finish getting setup. I wondered about an SACD player and when one of my dealers told me they were only good for about two years of regular playback then the laser would only work on cd's I wasn't Interested any more and I decided to head along the route of 78 playback as stated before to listen to some old music I liked as a kid. I bought a used clear audio table and a rega78 cartridge so not too much into it to try and have some fun. It would be neat to hear a streamer that someone has well setup but I don't know anyone who does who has a reasonably good stereo. The problem with listening to demos in store is deciding what is wrong with the demo which piece of equipment is wrong or the setup is wrong. That is the big challenge to store demos. That's where spending many weekend all winter long in HiFi stores helped when I did that as I got to hear different pieces grouped with other items and you could more times than not the determine what each piece sounded like. Lol and then the lessons where money was involved helped very much you in fact learn more when you realize you bought the wrong thing! Lol. Funny how loonie I would have thought I am now thirty years ago this last weekend a friend was over and we were auditioning receptical s and different plugs on the power cords. I know what I like but he has a better ear than I do.   

Regards Tom