Did you notice....

The first question you have to ask is "Am I comparing the same masters?"  Most often, if you have an older CD, then NO, you are hearing a newer master from the streaming service, and it's usually not better than what is encoded onto your CD.  

I have compared some CDs to the album on Tidal, and found them to be identical... but MANY times, the streamed version is louder and more compressed, and therefore worse sounding.  Sometimes the difference is subtle, sometimes dramatic, but I have heard a few sound nearly identical. So that tells me the streamer CAN indeed match the sound of my CD player (an OPPO 105). 

I completely agree. Mastering must be the same if the same results from streamers and CDs are to be similar or even the same. Perhaps a streamer can reproduce sound/music equivalent to a CD playback. I am unfamiliar with streamers capabilities generally (except at audio shows). Why streamers often use inferior remastered/altered recordings which are compressed and louder is the question. Why not just use a good CD as the streamer basis (or is it a financial reason)?

That even great quality streamer streaming great hi-rez digital format cannot outperform cheap CD-player playing red-book CD or it's only my 'illusion'?

czarivey08-31-2022 12:30am

Depends how much effort you put into streaming. Not necessarily big $'s needed.

My streaming setup sounds better than any of the cheap CD players I've owned - and it doesn't use any Uber priced streamer. My setup is computer/ethernet based (Roon/Qobuz/HQPlayer) with the affordable UltraRendu streaming to my DAC. Sounds superb to me and I have access to an huge music library. 

I was a dedicated vinylphile, but these are golden times for the music lover IMO.

Thanks for the positive feedback on the ultraRendu.