The OP asks if streaming is evolving. Boy, is it ever. And not always in a good way.
There is a thread in the Digital section on the Roon Nucleus. Apparently Roon did a software update that KO a lot of users who are now spending hours trying to figure out what went wrong. I had the same experience with Bluesound—many times—and Bryston. There have been threads from Innuous, Aurender, Auralic owners...Streamers are IT devices. Have you ever had an IT problem at work or home? A printer that suddenly got a divorce from what seemed to be a stable marriage with your laptop? Imagine the same thing with your music. When all other IT applications become hassle free then streamers will as well
CD players are also specialized computers, but it’s hard to beat the reliability of popping a CD in a tray and hit “play”. Transport-DAC combinations in my opinion are also as easy, the IT issues generally being of a much lesser magnitude than streaming.
And though as Audiophiles we argue endlessly about small sonic differences, essentially streaming and CD replay, into the same DAC, sound similar. Both are sending 1s and 0s into the DAC. An Uber priced streamer will sound better than a cheapo CD transport, but if both components are in the same price range, there isn’t much difference.
Streaming is about convenience. Get rid of those thousands of CDs. Have portability, and access to unlimited music catalog, and control it all from your phone without getting your butt out of the recliner. It’s all great, until it doesn’t work. My advice is explore streaming, but don’t throw out those CDs just yet
There is a thread in the Digital section on the Roon Nucleus. Apparently Roon did a software update that KO a lot of users who are now spending hours trying to figure out what went wrong. I had the same experience with Bluesound—many times—and Bryston. There have been threads from Innuous, Aurender, Auralic owners...Streamers are IT devices. Have you ever had an IT problem at work or home? A printer that suddenly got a divorce from what seemed to be a stable marriage with your laptop? Imagine the same thing with your music. When all other IT applications become hassle free then streamers will as well
CD players are also specialized computers, but it’s hard to beat the reliability of popping a CD in a tray and hit “play”. Transport-DAC combinations in my opinion are also as easy, the IT issues generally being of a much lesser magnitude than streaming.
And though as Audiophiles we argue endlessly about small sonic differences, essentially streaming and CD replay, into the same DAC, sound similar. Both are sending 1s and 0s into the DAC. An Uber priced streamer will sound better than a cheapo CD transport, but if both components are in the same price range, there isn’t much difference.
Streaming is about convenience. Get rid of those thousands of CDs. Have portability, and access to unlimited music catalog, and control it all from your phone without getting your butt out of the recliner. It’s all great, until it doesn’t work. My advice is explore streaming, but don’t throw out those CDs just yet