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What am I missing?

When discussing streaming we often hear the quality achieved by streaming compared to "cd quality". "Cd quality" seems often to be the standard by which streaming is favorably compared while cds have at the same widely fallen into disfavor as a medium. If "cd quality" continues to be a quality standard by which we judge streaming services -which it appears to be- why exactly do we hold cds in such disfavor? More sophisticated dacs can always be employed with cd transports as they are with streaming. I understand the convenience and storage issues with cds but I also understand that with streaming you will never own the music which you do with cds. This becomes even more unclear to me when considering the resurgence of vinyl and the storage and convenience issues involved with this medium. I don't believe the music industry ever wanted us to own the music we listen to but rather preferred we only rent and pay for that music each time.

128x128pmiller115
mirolab
208 posts
 

@soix Don't mean to drag this out, but I think maybe you don't understand what remastering is.  It has nothing to do with bitrate.  I've done remastering (& recording, mixing & mastering).  I've done some great stuff, but I've also been paid to do some really terrible things to audio.... against my audiophile sensibilities! 

I do want to try Qobuz, as I really dislike Tidal's interface and music suggestions.  They don't seem to tune into my preferences, and push modern rap & R&B music, which I don't like.  Lately I've enjoyed the free version of Spotify more, just because they have better playlists than Tidal.  I also don't care for MQA.  

eagledriver_22's avatar
eagledriver_22
83 posts
 

@mirolab 

very good that you want to try Quobuz. Now you just have to do it😉

I did id 2 years ago and do not regret it.Bdw, you will get a free trail for 1 month.

soix is right about the SQ offered by Quobuz. If it sounds better than sound from a CD is, at least in some cases, debatable. But I have no intention to start such discussion.

Cheers! eagldriver

 

soix
9,772 posts
 

Don't mean to drag this out, but I think maybe you don't understand what remastering is.  It has nothing to do with bitrate.

@mirolab You may well be right, but I’m willing to learn and would love to hear your thoughts.  It’s hard for me to imagine anyone would bother to remaster existing 16/44.1 recordings.  Why would anyone take the time/$$$ to do that?

I do want to try Qobuz, as I really dislike Tidal's interface and music suggestions.  They don't seem to tune into my preferences, and push modern rap & R&B music, which I don't like.

Totally with you on that.  I switched from Tidal to Qobuz, as many others here have done, and would never consider going back.  I’d really like to hear your thoughts on Qobuz content quality if/when you give it a try.  Hell, it’s free and you don’t seem to be a big fan of Tidal either, so why not?

 

grislybutter
3,344 posts
 

Qobuz suggestions aren't great either. And how hard would it be to add a usable history to the menu?

vinylzone
288 posts
 

Wow, rent the music?  Ok, so for 8.99 a month, I get instant access to almost anything I'd care to listen to and a bunch of stuff I don't.  I mean, it's less than buying a new release LP or CD a month, and I get so much more.

I work from home, and lately, about half my day (8+ hours) I listen to digital, the rest of the time I listen from my 3000+ LP collection.  Most of the time, when I listen to streaming it's for background music, or in the car.  I'll be going back to the office in January, and I'll be listening to streaming closer to 8 hours a day.

To me, streaming is the best deal ever (except maybe OTA radio 😜).

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