Back to CD - Wow!

That was my point, clumsily made. I'm not going to jump in and say "yeah cd's are so much better" because my system now is obviously unbalanced regading sources. I'm also just happy that some are seeing that cd's are still a viable choice sonically.

 

Tangential question to this whole thing... how long before the music streaming services all start dividing up their content like netflix vs amazon prime vs apple tv vs hbo vs disney vs crave vs paramount vs hulu vs youtube vs espn vs dazn vs roku vs... you get the idea.

It's hard enough to find a particular show/movie these days without needing to subscribe to yet another service that the ol' pirate bay is looking better and better as time passes.

 

Well, we're already seeing that for podcasts, most infamously highlighted by Spotify grabbing Joe Rogan. But thankfully, I think for *music* specifically, the big streaming juggernauts are not interested in making their own content. And the big record labels see the futility in setting up competing services. I'd suspect that the margins in music are too thin, because the volume of material is so high, that exclusives just aren't a driving factor.

All that said, the potential to lose music from streaming services is certainly a reason why I've started building on my offline digital library.

 

Is that a constant value or does that point describe the top of signal quality. I do not steam that way. But I know that vinyl and CD are a certain signal quality the Wendie playback of my chain is in sync. I have listened to Spotify and even with buffering involved I think I hear a change in quality while traveling with my youngest.

P. S. That WS a real question. Is that a standard bit quality or like coaxial cable service is there peaks and dips in the signal?
Edited: sitting at home versus traveling...

 

In Tidal, it depends on your settings and the individual song/album. You can select max available, all the way down to forcing 96kbps lossy. When you select max available, you get 16/44.1 FLAC at a minimum, but can get lossless high res formats up to 24/192 depending on the song/album.

Spotify only serves lossy, up to 320kbps max. Can't remember if it is MP3, AAC or something else. I think you can select different bitrates for fixed vs mobile internet connections.

 

OK. Minimum CD quality! That is good. I might get a trial subscription to have a vantage point! But I don't like the lease/subscription life! Too off my lawn for that shit. I want it to be mine!!

 

Some of them do have exclusive tracks from artists, and there are a handful of artists that are exclusive to one streamer -- Garth Brooks probably the biggest, he's only on Amazon. And Spotify Singles are very much a thing, almost a thousand of them now.

But more interesting/troubling to me is that yes, Spotify at least is generating its own content now effectively without artists
(h/t a recent John Darko video screed.)

 

And just to try and avoid getting slapped for steering this thread off the rails ...

I have found I generally enjoy CDs from an ET3 transport more than the same tracks played on Tidal via Pi2AES, for sure. (I've not tried comparing to local rips.) But often the differences can be slight -- a little more fluidity, a bit more spaciousness, a touch more color or timbral accuracy ... but nothing huge.

I suspect part of what I like more, when sussing analytical deltas turns up little, is just that it is a different kind of listening for me -- like LPs there's an element of ritual and conscious focus. And that's exactly what I was hoping for with a (partial) return to physical media, I wanted to regain my attention span. When streaming I found myself constantly flipping to the next thing, interrupting not just albums but tracks. With CDs I am getting back to the album experience (and training myself to bring that attention back to streaming.)

The streaming vs CD differences are often greater when using an Adcom GCD-750 I picked up last year. That one's a player with no digital out (though oddly a digital input,) so what I get comes via the 4 PCM1702 chips. I enjoy it but it's definitely a bit flavored.

 

Huh, I didn't even know Spotify singles was a thing. Looked through the list, and have heard of just about none of them, so not missing much. And just singles doesn't particularly concern me the way that whole artists would. And by that, I mean artists who aren't Garth Brooks.

But, I guess it will probably come eventually.....

 

Ya, I want to own what I pay for. Not pay forever to listen to something.