Could you survive with streaming music only?

Ha, Serge I was being a little over dramatic in regards to my computer ills. I know it’s really not a big deal.

Depending on when I listen, I’m either all over the place or nicely positioned between my speakers.

My point is really saying that I’m more than satisfied with what comes through the Internet. Even maximizing the stream certainly helps.

This seems to be a great time for music lovers. I’m extremely happy.
 
joeinid said:
Ha, Serge I was being a little over dramatic in regards to my computer ills. I know it’s really not a big deal.

Depending on when I listen, I’m either all over the place or nicely positioned between my speakers.

My point is really saying that I’m more than satisfied with what comes through the Internet. Even maximizing the stream certainly helps.

This seems to be a great time for music lovers. I’m extremely happy.
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What the likes of Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify did is to open up the world music library and hand us the passes to enjoy any music we want, at anytime and it only keeps getting better and better. Vinyl does not last, it gets worn, CDs rot away, let's hope the streaming model keeps going!
 
joeinid said:
No physical media or NAS at all?

I’m curious what the future holds. I generally prefer to hold physical media and enjoy the better sound, but the convenience of sheer volume of choices is bewildering.

There’s absolutely no shortage of music to listen to, as long as your internet connection is stable. With both Tidal and Qobuz plus a handful of other services, there’s really not enough time to listen to it all.

Is anyone thinking of maximizing their music stream and not even bothering with trying to keep physical media available?
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I am doing that right now.

Let me explain what I have done. I am a Roon user and Qobuz subscriber. In Roon, I created Tags named "My LPs", "My Cassettes", and "My CDs". Then I went over my entire physical media collection and made sure that I added a digital version to my Roon library (from Qobuz) and tagged it appropriately. So right now, if I feel like listening to my digitized LP collection, in Roon I go to the "My LPs" tag and I can browse and play anything I want from my LP collection. Same thing for the other tagged categories.

Not all my LPs or Cassettes were available in Qobuz. For example, I am missing about 25 LPs from my collection of nearly 350 LPs. About one-half of those are very old LPs that I had already replaced with newer recordings with much better sound. Altogether, I think that I have 10-15 LPs that I would like to have in my digital library that are not available in Qobuz. Similarly with my cassettes.

I ripped my entire CD collection years ago. Again, not 100% of my ripped CDs are available in Qobuz. What I have done is to add the Qobuz version to my Roon library and then hide the duplicates from my ripped CD collection. I find that the Qobuz version of my CDs usually sound equal to or better than my ripped CDs (sometimes that could be due to Qobuz having remastered versions or versions in high resolution).

My intention right now is to rip the missing LPs and Cassettes that I want to add to my Roon library. Once I have done that, my entire physical collection of LPs, Cassettes, and CDs will be available digitally via Roon. At that time I could literally store away my entire physical media. I have already stored away my CDs (in the attic).

With a combination of a subscription to a music service and ripping the physical media that is not available from that music service you can literally put away your entire physical media collection. You do not need a NAS, but you DO need some kind of storage device (like a USB hard drive) to be able to store the music that you want that is not available from your music service provider.

One last thing, now that I have tagged my physical media, I can actually open "My LPs" tag and export to a spreadsheet my entire LP collection. For the first time ever, I can see in print all the LPs that I own. Same thing for my cassettes and CDs.
 
I haven't turned my CD player on in over a year since I have ripped most CDs I like. Nor have I ever streamed anything. However, every week I buy 2-3 downloads from HDTracks. Currently, I have more music than I can listen to the rest of my life. However, maybe in a few years after all the streaming services shake out, and the software settles down I might try streaming. The problem is I only listen to music on Tuesday and Friday night so streaming really isn't appropriate.
 
BlueFox said:
I haven't turned my CD player on in over a year since I have ripped most CDs I like. Nor have I ever streamed anything. However, every week I buy 2-3 downloads from HDTracks. Currently, I have more music than I can listen to the rest of my life. However, maybe in a few years after all the streaming services shake out, and the software settles down I might try streaming. The problem is I only listen to music on Tuesday and Friday night so streaming really isn't appropriate.
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I have not turned on my spinner for anything other than ripping an SACD is a few years now. I also have a hard enough time now picking out what to listen to :).... I agree, more music now than I could ever listen to how it is, but I do picked up a few albums here and there getting my vinyl collection to a decent level. I do also purchase an album from HD Tracks every so often, especially when the vinyl version is not available yet.
 
I could live with only streaming except for when the internet goes down. And being remote like I am - it's more common than you would hope.

I use the Lumin L1 as my source and it's so easy and bullit proof you don't have to do much computing. So the L1 plus streaming is perfect.
 
This is how I feel every time I get on Roon to have another serious listening session...


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When you say “streaming” I think of Qobuz / Tidal and not downloading titles or ripping my CDs. So, I use a more limited definition of the term, though downloading titles and playing ripped CDs are a form of streaming too ...

So, I enjoy physical media more - better quality. If there was only streaming (my definition) ... I wouldn’t own the system I presently have. Streaming is good, but IMO it’s not prime time yet. Still lots to work out. Dependability of provider, weather, equipment, etc ... But it’s getting better everyday...
 
Calvin said:
When you say “streaming” I think of Qobuz / Tidal and not downloading titles or ripping my CDs. So, I use a more limited definition of the term, though downloading titles and playing ripped CDs are a form of streaming too ...

So, I enjoy physical media more - better quality. If there was only streaming (my definition) ... I wouldn’t own the system I presently have. Streaming is good, but IMO it’s not prime time yet. Still lots to work out. Dependability of provider, weather, equipment, etc ... But it’s getting better everyday...
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Sorry but exactly how do I get 192KHz/24 bits out of a CD? Because I get that quality out of Qobuz. Just curious
 
TheOctopus said:
Sorry but exactly how do I get 192KHz/24 bits out of a CD? Because I get that quality out of Qobuz. Just curious
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The music I presently enjoy wasn’t originally heard using 192KHz/24. I like the original tracks the way I remember them “back then.” For me this is better, this is real quality.
 
joeinid said:
No physical media or NAS at all?

I’m curious what the future holds. I generally prefer to hold physical media and enjoy the better sound, but the convenience of sheer volume of choices is bewildering.

There’s absolutely no shortage of music to listen to, as long as your internet connection is stable. With both Tidal and Qobuz plus a handful of other services, there’s really not enough time to listen to it all.

Is anyone thinking of maximizing their music stream and not even bothering with trying to keep physical media available?
Click to expand...

Yes. I largely do now purchasing only a few titles a year which if a CD or SACD, are ripped to my NAS and played exclusively that way. At this point, I rarely pay attention to whether ROON is playing Qobuz or from my NAS. I don’t have a spinner connected to my system.
 
Say for example you live in Colorado, or in California; you are eighty years old and you started collecting Opera and Classical music LPs since the age of seven. In seventy-three years you have amassed a fairly sizeable music collection on LPs. You also own a decent audio hi-fi system of music reproduction to honor life.

Last month your home was completely devastated by a fire, and along with your LP collection and everything else.

Can you survive with music streaming only? Can you adapt to a new world, a new life, lifestyle?
 
Calvin said:
The music I presently enjoy wasn’t originally heard using 192KHz/24. I like the original tracks the way I remember them “back then.” For me this is better, this is real quality.
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The music I enjoy best was all mostly recorded on Tape and with Tube microphones.. Not digitally and not on CD. Oh well. Qobuz will have to do. :D
 
NorthStar said:
Say for example you live in Colorado, or in Calofornia; you are eighty years old and you started collecting Opera and Classical music LPs since the age of seven. In 73 years you have amassed a fairly sizeable music collection on LPs. You have also a decent audio hi-fi system of music reproduction to honor life.

Last month your home was completely devastated by a fire, and along with your LP collection and everything else.

Can you survive with music streaming only? Can you adapt to a new world, a new life, lifestyle?
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Sad but true. All one has is memories and maybe an insurance check in hand. Good luck restoring that collection... Hopefully as long as one keeps up with monthly fee of $15 for the Qobuz studio subscription, the 60,000,000 songs are not going anywhere no matter what....
 
I gave that example because someone just shared very similar in another forum just couple days ago.
Plus I could share some of my own experiences.

The answer to Joe's question is yes, and the time it takes to re-adapt and be on that music wavelength between our heart, soul and the artist musicians playing is unique to each one of us. Music is music, no matter the medium, ... it's the connection, the inner essence.
 
NorthStar said:
I gave that example because someone just shared very similar in another forum just couple days ago.
Plus I could share some of my own experiences.

The answer to Joe's question is yes, and the time it takes to re-adapt and be on that music wavelength between our heart, soul and the artist musicians playing is unique to each one of us. Music is music, no matter the medium, ... it's the connection, the inner essence.
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Amen. Over the years I even enjoyed the transistor radio in the garage when the favorite tunes were playing and I was working on a project. It's all about the music or it should be really. The gear and medium is merely the messenger, not the message itself.
 
TheOctopus said:
The music I enjoy best was all mostly recorded on Tape and with Tube microphones.. Not digitally and not on CD. Oh well. Qobuz will have to do. :D
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Respectfully, re-read what I wrote. I didn’t comment on how the music was recorded, rather I commented on how I heard and remembered it. In other words how I listened to it back then.

I’m glad you like Qobuz and that’s what I use also - and if that is the ultimate for you, then so be it. But it’s still different than what I remember. My CDs on the other hand give me what I personally seek. Hopefully a turntable will join it in the near future.

The music I presently enjoy wasn’t originally heard using 192KHz/24. I like the original tracks the way I remember them “back then.” For me this is better, this is real quality.
Click to expand...
 
Calvin said:
Respectfully, re-read what I wrote. I didn’t comment on how the music was recorded, rather I commented on how I heard and remembered it. In other words how I listened to it back then.

I’m glad you like Qobuz and that’s what I use also - and if that is the ultimate for you, then so be it. But it’s still different than what I remember. My CDs on the other hand give me what I personally seek. Hopefully a turntable will join it in the near future.
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You certainly have a unique view on the topic. Not sure how how many live music events I attended in the past but it was a lot less than approx 10,000 albums I have sorted out in Roon so far. I certainly do not remember even one live event other than it was either loud or the acoustics were bad or the performance was only mediocre. So to me it makes no sense to compare. I listen to the best albums or work of any performer in whatever resolution available to me (typically as good or better than a CD and certainly a live performance that I can remember.) But whatever turns you on! I still own a few dozen SACD that I spin from time to time so I don’t forget how to do it...
 
TheOctopus said:
You certainly have a unique view on the topic. Not sure how how many live music events I attended in the past but it was a lot less than approx 10,000 albums I have sorted out in Roon so far. I certainly do not remember even one live event other than it was either loud or the acoustics were bad or the performance was only mediocre. So to me it makes no sense to compare. I listen to the best albums or work of any performer in whatever resolution available to me (typically as good or better than a CD and certainly a live performance that I can remember.) But whatever turns you on! I still own a few dozen SACD that I spin from time to time so I don’t forget how to do it...
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Yes, I remember very few of the concerts I went to either. But I’m speaking of playing vinyl and CDs 500+ times each and having that specific sound ingrained in my soul. That’s what I’m use to, not some altered version of it.
 
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