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Any way to listen to wav or high bit files with anything approaching audiophile sound?

Forgive the question, but this is my first time posting on Audiogon in a few years and I'm not up on some of the latest technology.  I'm doing a project where I'm going through as much music as possible for a blog I'll be creating where I find my 1,000 favorite albums of all time and ranking them.  I'm most of the way through my thousands of CD's (don't do LP's), and I have decent audiophile equipment, though nothing top of the line.

For other music, I'm going to have to listen to it online or purchase a digital version of the music, as there's no way I can afford to buy thousands more cd's, or they're out of print on cd's (as much of the music I love that I don't have is somewhat obscure), or they never existed on cd.  Some albums I know I won't be able to find. 

First off, is there a way to legally find more obscure albums online other than illegal downloading? 

Secondly, is there ANY way to listen to said music in anything remotely approaching audiophile sound quality?  Does it have to be a certain file type or bit rate?  I've always stayed away from digital files in the past, but now I kind of need them.  Is there some kind of audiophile digital storage device where I can download music to and play it on my stereo system?  I'm pretty ignorant about these things, so again forgive me, and any help would be appreciated.  I don't expect the music to sound quite as high fidelity as using cd's on audiophile equipment, but what are my options to get as close as possible?
soulgoober

Showing 1 response by mlsstl

mlsstl
1,452 posts
 
I'm confused -- you mention your own music is on CD (not LP) and you apparently consider this appropriately "audiophile" for your needs. Then you ask if "digital" files are just as good. 

The thing to understand is that CDs are digital files. They are digitized at a 16 bit rate at 44.1 KHz. These digital files are simply stored on CD, just as if you bought a copy of Microsoft Excel on CD to install on your computer. 

Downloaded and streamed files are also digital files, but just delivered over the internet and either played "live" (streaming) or stored on your computer's hard drive (downloaded.) 

Streamed or downloaded files can come in a variety of formats from low bit rate MP3s, or CD quality (identical to what is on a CD), up to high-resolution files that are 24 bits, and up to 192 KHz, a much higher quality format than CD.

There are several streaming services that offer large music collections (tens of millions of songs) at CD quality and higher. I use Qobuz and have been very pleased with it. Tidal is another streaming service that is very popular with millions of songs.
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