As @benanders points out, the comparison can be invalidated just by the difference between the masters. You just don’t know what version the streaming services have. Most of the time it isn’t the same. Pressing itself matters even if it’s the same master. There are so many variables there’s just no way to win for either of the formats.
As a side note, I have two different versions of “Kind of Blue” on vinyl, one is MoFi and another is Analog Productions UHQR. They sound completely different and the digital version on Qobuz sounds nothing like either of the records. Even DSD doesn’t sound like the MoFi version even though now we know that MoFi vinyl is really the same DSD master….it’s a funny game…
Records and CDs
I’ve just spent a couple of weeks exclusively going through my extensive record collection playing hardly any digital media and have come to some conclusions.
Records are fun and enjoyable to work with, but ultimately for a music lover they’re a dead end. Since very few new titles are being released on records these days I find myself going through mainly old familiar performances. Then there’s the age old problem of comparing the SQ of both media which is maddening. I just today went back to streaming (and CDs.). I clearly see, for me this is the way to continue my listening habits. Records can be used as a diversion but not the main event.
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My vinyl purchases nowadays are pretty much limited to Jazz and classical. Why? Because playing that vinyl forces me to kind of sit down and listen to the whole 20 plus or so minutes of music without skipping around tracks and artists that I do when I stream Tidal. A lot of the newer releases and the course some of the older ones and those genres sound beautiful. |
I think vinyl is now just another audio sub-hobby for people wanting to buy equipment and collect vinyl for fun. CD’s are so much easier to use and generally better with no noise. streaming is becoming such excellent quality and you can listen for hours without having to move (as long as your internet is working). I personally prefer CD’s for sound quality, ease of use, and having to get out of the listening chair periodically! Maybe goes back to the nostalgia of servicing vinyl in the old days. Whatever floats your boat! |
@troutstreamnm With all due respect, you came across a bit condescending. Those of us who collect and love vinyl do so for more than just another hobby. I'm young enough not to have known the "nostalgia of servicing vinyl in the old days", so my vinyl listening doesn't have a memory association. It exists for its own sake. |
I have fond memories from back in the late '70s and early '80s of a bunch of us getting together at someone's apartment or trailer and spinning LPs all day and all night and using the the album covers that folded open like a book to clean the seeds out of a bag of canibus. . . . I tragically gave up my LP collection at the end of 82 and then in the beginning of '89 when I was picking up another rack system I specifically opted to NOT get a TT. Then in the mid '90s when I started getting into better-end audio, it sure seemed like vinyl was still dead and I committed myself and my system to digital . . . just another one of many life choices I now regret. |
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