Could you survive with streaming music only?

TheOctopus said:
Oh I enjoy altered versions. :)

How does this one grab you?

Moonlight Sonata... :cool:

LoLa & HAUSER - Moonlight Sonata LIVE - YouTube
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Serge,

There is simply a difference between our preferences. It is more important for me to listen to music that I have a listening frame of reference to in the past, and that is not as important to you. No harm either way, but it will determine not only the media we prefer, but the equipment we purchase, etc.

For me and many others, CD quality is still better than streaming quality is at this time. As has been said many times before, this is a rather subjective hobby.
 
Calvin said:
Serge,

There is simply a difference between our preferences. It is more important for me to listen to music that I have a listening frame of reference to in the past, and that is not as important to you. No harm either way, but it will determine not only the media we prefer, but the equipment we purchase, etc.

For me and many others, CD quality is still better than streaming quality is at this time. As has been said many times before, this is a rather subjective hobby.
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Definitely no harm either way. There is only one thing that matters and that is the enjoyment of the hobby and music itself. If physical media brings you closer to nirvana, so be it!
 
If I had no option, then yes I could live with streaming.

My efforts and resource have put together a stellar playback option.

I prefer to have options, and will continue forward with vinyl and strongly considering R2R.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
TheOctopus said:
Joe, Qobuz let's you purchase your albums or individual tracks. There is "off line loading" when Qobuz and I believe Tidal as well are on portable devices. So being without the internet is not the end of music...
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Purchased Qobuz music can be downloaded, so that is not a problem with internet or service outage.

For Tidal / Qobuz offline modes, they are not supported by the native Tidal / Qobuz playback in Lumin or Esoteric network players. As a workaround, I guess it may be possible to use AirPlay to play offline music stored in the Tidal / Qobuz apps on the iPhone to Lumin or Esoteric network players.
 
Over a morning cup of coffee, I added 17 more albums of Ben Webster that I somehow missed the first time around for a total of 62 albums.
Added 6 more albums to Sonny Rollins tag for a total of 106 albums.
Added a new performer (Houston Person) for a total of 34 albums.

Total time spent on acquiring all the albums above 4 min.

Total extra expenditure $0.

The day has only started and I have more performers I need to add...

Safe to say my listening habits of streaming are not changing anytime soon. :P
 
Joe, not making fun but you wanting to hear the music the way you remember it reminds me of a good friend of mine. I understand what you are saying, my friend is a bit to the extreme.

My friend had a LP collection of 1,000's, he used to make compilation cassettes for himself. He eventually sold the collection, I think divorce led to that. Now, he buys LP's records them to his computer, then burns a CD, then gets rid of the LP. He is into oldies and songs that charted.

I tried to encourage him to utilize better technics and equipment, he says, "hell when I heard these songs I only had one speaker in my car" and "from being in the Navy my high range is shot". I used to make fun of him for buying cheap car speakers etc. he could afford better, he just didn't care. I tried to explain the virtues of a better cartridge, might as well be talking to one of my kids, LOL So now he just has thousands of these burnt CD's.

Not saying you are anything like that, I just had to share since you triggered the memories.
 
Physical vs. streaming, this is rare so far but check this out. As I was doing some listening after installing my new amp. I was playing this song from America off the Greatest Hits album, I noticed the vocals were all bunched in the middle and the guitar on the right was closer to the middle and not as pronounced.

A couple days later I played the song and it was as I remembered, the vocals spaced out and both guitars, left/right, are about even in presence.

Then it dawned on me I have this album ripped from CD, I'm sure a very old copy, possibly original. I also have a version added to my favorites from Tidal. So I compared and sure enough the not so good version was from the CD. The one from Tidal must have been remastered or from a different master. This is one instance where the streaming version was definitely to my preference.

I have had the opposite happen as well, with Sully Erna, Avalon, the Tidal version sounded noticeably worse than I remembered, so I went to my HD to listen to my rip which was much better.
 
I don't have any high end dedicated streaming device or accounts. If I listen to anything digital, it is flac or 320 MP3s from my hard drives.

I had a friend over last night that brought a stack of albums mostly from 1972 that have not been played in 30 years. As we listened, I read the Album notes which is what is lacking when you just stream. I was surprised to find that Tod Rundgren played lead on Hall & Oats. I would never have learned that from a stream.

I would miss fidgeting with the CD case and inserts, or Album covers if I only streamed.

It's sort of like a junkie, half of the addiction is everything that leads up to playing the disk or album. Hard to kick the habit.
 
Shadowfax said:
I don't have any high end dedicated streaming device or accounts. If I listen to anything digital, it is flac or 320 MP3s from my hard drives.

I had a friend over last night that brought a stack of albums mostly from 1972 that have not been played in 30 years. As we listened, I read the Album notes which is what is lacking when you just stream. I was surprised to find that Tod Rundgren played lead on Hall & Oats. I would never have learned that from a stream.

I would miss fidgeting with the CD case and inserts, or Album covers if I only streamed.

It's sort of like a junkie, half of the addiction is everything that leads up to playing the disk or album. Hard to kick the habit.
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There are tons of pictures, notes and biographic info as well as PDF files now with album booklets (when available) on Roon. The fidgeting with jackets and jewel cases in your hands part is still not available from any streaming service.
 
Mr Peabody said:
Joe, not making fun but you wanting to hear the music the way you remember it reminds me of a good friend of mine. I understand what you are saying, my friend is a bit to the extreme.

My friend had a LP collection of 1,000's, he used to make compilation cassettes for himself. He eventually sold the collection, I think divorce led to that. Now, he buys LP's records them to his computer, then burns a CD, then gets rid of the LP. He is into oldies and songs that charted.

I tried to encourage him to utilize better technics and equipment, he says, "hell when I heard these songs I only had one speaker in my car" and "from being in the Navy my high range is shot". I used to make fun of him for buying cheap car speakers etc. he could afford better, he just didn't care. I tried to explain the virtues of a better cartridge, might as well be talking to one of my kids, LOL So now he just has thousands of these burnt CD's.

Not saying you are anything like that, I just had to share since you triggered the memories.
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Yes, I’m not talking about anything like that. I had a turntable first (and before this my dad had a reel to reel and a turntable). I listened to the same music multiple times using this media. Then CDs (and after that SACDs) came out and I had a CD system listening to different music multiple times, etc. Those sound images are ingrained in my mind.

I’m not speaking about listening in a car, or just one speaker - LOL - yes a little extreme. Even now the majority of the time my car radio is off, unless my wife is listening to it. It’s just not enjoyable to me - never was.

If all there was is Qobuz, I won’t even bother owning a system. To me that would just a high end system playing a high end radio station. There would be no point, at least for me.

I use Qobuz when I’m ill and can’t get up to change CDs. And even then the majority of the time I use ripped CDs, which IMO sound better than just Qobuz. This is not to say that Qobuz isn’t good - and in time I believe the other factos that effect it will improve - but for now physical media is better and what I enjoy.
 
TheOctopus said:
There are tons of pictures, notes and biographic info as well as PDF files now with album booklets (when available) on Roon. The fidgeting with jackets and jewel cases in your hands part is still not available from any streaming service.
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Yeah, but you have to read it all on a PC, phone or tablet. I am on a computer all day for work and have a hard time reading from a PC, would rather read the same info in a book.
 
I find streaming the most practical medium, so I use it a lots. Roon makes all the difference to me, despite its deficiencies. Just last week I was not happy at the summerhouse, having to put up with the Aurender and its crappy UI.

But I also enjoy my vinyls, collecting and playing them. CDs I only buy, when nothing else is available. But then I immediately rip them. Don’t really see the point in downloads anymore, as I do get very good streaming quality.

For me its like reading: I buy hardcover books of stuff I’m really interested in (vinyl), and sometimes there are only paperbacks (CDs) or digital versions (downloads). But most of the reading is online, staying up-to-date with things, learning new stuff, exploring new ideas, and novel lines of thought (streaming). To browse though new stuff, and look for specific things when following associations crossing my mind, I Google (Roon).


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Yes! In spite of owning 4,000 LPs and many CDs, I stream exclusively, subscribing to both Qobuz and Tidal. Roon makes it a rich and effortless experience, offering up almost all of the world's music, and making it extremely easy to find whatever I wish. SQ is excellent.
 
Yep, I believe that I could.
For discovering new music.
For portability: Qobuz and TIDAL are on my phone, meaning that I can use them with the car stereo, Bluetooth boom box, friends and family’s systems, etc. This includes those albums that I have loaded to the phone for off-line listening.
Most importantly, for sound quality: I just popped in a CD yesterday for the first time in months, and I noticed that the SQ wasn’t in any way superior to that of my Lumin T2 (all other system components being equal).
 
Playing vinyl is still king to me.

Of course my family thinks I am crazy, they all are more than happy with Spotify and YouTube. I am not however. But, I could get by with Qobuzonly, I think. I don't want to...
 
Bones13 said:
...
Of course my family thinks I am crazy, they all are more than happy with Spotify and YouTube.

...
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The truth is that at $10, Spotify is a value proposition particularly when most people stream via their phones.
And YouTube, even though it is even lower audio resolution, benefits greatly from the visual to the point that it can provide a more involving experience.
 
One more thought. The OP asked “Can you survive with streaming only”.

If the user is looking for a VALUE AND SONIC proposition, digital streaming is THE best way to go because it is cheaper than any other option ($10-$15 per month to access millions of albums) and for the same amount of money, it can’t be matched sonically.
 
Spent a few hours yesterday closely listening and comparing streaming Qobuz to Tidal to SACD. That was was over my main system and headphones.
Neither my speakers (Harbeth 30.2) nor my reference headphones (ZMF Auteur Blackwood) are of the hyper-resolving variety but smooth, musical and very enjoyable.
The DAC used for both is Luxman D-06u and I used tube (Prima Luna Dialogue HP) and solid state (Luxman L590AXII class A) for both main system and headphone comparisons.

I did notice a difference between Qobuz and Tidal and it was that Qobuz sounded more analog to my ears. A bit more laid back in presentation, a bit quieter but definitely smoother and more musical. Not every genre (I listened to Jazz, Blues, simple acoustic arrangements and vocals as well) and not every album but Qobuz seemed more consistent and especially on the 192/24 bit recordings, it pulled ahead closer to my personal preference.

My DAC is not of MQA unfolding variety so perhaps that is the difference but Tidal MQA sounded like it had a bit of glare, hardness and artificial edginess to the sound.

It was much less noticeable on the main system vs headphones and that is to be expected. Headphones take out the speaker to room interaction and all that other stuff the gets between the pure sound and the ear.

Next up was comparing the SACD playback to streaming same album. On Qobuz, I tried to find a significant and meaningful to my ears difference and there was NONE to be found that I would consider worthwhile or to prefer one over the other.

So that settles it completely for me. I see no advantage with physical media (at least the CD/SACD variety since I don't do vinyl anymore).

As always, my system, my ears, so "YMMV" and all that Jazz.
 
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