Where does music come from that streams?


If I was creating my own streaming company, would I reproduce songs from a CD or from a record? So when I listen to my streaming source, qobuz, where do they get the music I listen to? Does the music come from master tapes? Well that would seem to be a pretty good place to get it

Sometimes I wonder, a particular song on qobuz doesn’t sound very good and I know I’ve heard it better in the past. And most stuff sounds pretty good and comparable to other sources.

 

 

emergingsoul

So many versions exist on qobuz of the same album.  Frankly I don't know what the record companies sent over.

I don't care about the licensing.  Tidal crops the top on the bottom of the frequency ranges to do their stupid Mqa crap. Sucks.

I wish qobuz did a better job of updating their material with roon. So many times I search on roon it's not there and then I search on qobuz and find it. Why is that?

 

As stated above, Qobuz gets its files directly from the record companies that control the content. Qobuz never gets within a country mile of a master tape - they just take whatever digital files are given to them. There is good evidence that some of their files are actually MP3 quality that has been put in FLAC format (you can test the bit rate in Audirvana and other computer music programs). This is not Qobuz' fault. They came that way from the record company.

I have never seen information about how the record companies come up with the digital files they submit to Qobuz. As far as I know, this part of the process is a black box. I would think that they would generally use the WAV file from the latest version of each title but who knows?

FWIW, I have compared several CDs to their Qobuz counterparts, being careful to use the same version, and they have all sounded identical to me.

It doesn’t matter to me.   I can listen to almost anything and it all sounds just fine or better.  

@pwerahera:  

Thanks for the suggestion.  I am going to purchase this Gene Ammons LP.  I haven't heard this one.

Also, I have a really nice Pioneer Elite BDP-09 unit that I use exclusively as a CD transport that sounds great.  I use my Aurender unit to stream via Quboz also and I also have a really nice Analog Turntable/Phono Stage. 

Using a CD on my transport directly to my Audio Research DAC 9 compared to the same music steamed from Quboz via my Aurender unit, the CD sounds slightly better.  Interesting.

But, when I play the LP it stills sound better than the CD and streamed music.

Don't get me wrong.  All sound wonderful.  Just saying.  Unfortunately, I'm starting to get lazy and stream more that using the CD transport and the turntable. 

Nope, as I'm writing this, I'm going to get in better shape and get up and play some LPs more. 

enjoy all.