Grimm findings on streaming audio


I just wanted people here to know that Eelco Gimm, who makes Grimm streamers, spoke to a reviewer where he addressed the reason why most streaming from the likes of iTunes, Tidal and Qobuz sounds different from CD playback.  It's that the music is watermarked before you get it. It accounts for what he deems to be a fluttering around the edges of music. Everyone thought it was compression.

Also, when music is streamed, the first block you get is lossy, followed by blocks of lossless, so if the content is too much for the carrier, the lossy will get through without the listener's knowledge of the switch, unless you're monitoring it on a regular basis.

I understand why some streamers charge for the product, but to go further and mess with the content in the name of licensing, permanently degrading the content, is beyond me. This was from a very short article and more is said to follow.

I also want to add that all of this is over my head but I thought it would be of interest to those who stream and for those who wonder which is the best way to listen.

All the best,
Nonoise
128x128nonoise

Showing 1 response by ghosthouse

FWIW - Even with a HiFi/MQA Tidal subscription, some Tidal music files (as reported by Auralic's Lightning DS app) are AAC not FLAC. 

Examples include Joanne Taylor Shaw's White Sugar and Diamonds in the Dirt and also Joe Bonamassa's A New Day Yesterday - Live.  This admittedly infrequent use of the AAC file format is another source of SQ variability.