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CD or Streaming... am I missing out?

I listen to CD in my headphone office system. Use a Theta Compli transport and a very nice and pricey tube 16/44 DAC. Have thought about a streaming capability and all its benefits but am both limited by SPDF and by 16/44 only. I also love the analog sound of my tube DAC. Does streaming sound far surpass CD? Am I missing out?
mglik

Showing 5 responses by cleeds

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cleeds
5,699 posts
 
vanson1
A streamer is a digital file and is at least 44khz or greater ... The most determining sound quality factor is the DAC just like in a CD player
This is completely mistaken. There are many streams of lesser quality than 44.1.

When playing a digital track - regardless of whether it’s from CD, NAS or a stream - the biggest "determining sound quality factor" is the quality of the file itself, imo.
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cleeds
5,699 posts
 
mglik
Whatever the sample and bit rate, analog is infinite.
No, analog isn't "infinite." It's bandwidth limited just as digital is.
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cleeds
5,699 posts
 
mglik
... analog has an infinite sample and bit rate
Were that true, analog would have infinite resolution which, of course, it doesn't. You probably hold the mistaken notion that digital "chops" the sound into discontinuous bits, but that's not how digital works. You might want to watch this.
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cleeds
5,699 posts
 
p05129
It was proven over a dozen years ago that reading music from a hard drive sounded better than reading it from a cd.
It was? Who proved that? Where is the proof?
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cleeds
5,699 posts
 
 

bezmania

... the CD player sounds substantially better than the Qobuz FLAC at the same sample rate. Beter soundstage, better definition. How? Why? If i assume that Qobuz doesn’t f*ck up the ripping proces, why is there such a difference?

Qobuz doesn’t rip files, it receives digital files directly from the record companies. When comparing a streamed file to a CD, it’s often difficult (if not impossible) to determine whether they actually came from the same digital master. So many recordings have been remastered that making comparisons such as yours is a tricky business.

A lot depends on the quality of the streamer, too, and the rest of your digital connection.

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