I stream from several sources and listen to my own CD's. I have several times compared the same music across the 3 formats. I have heard big differences across different performances/recordings (a recent attempt from a stream was so bad I stopped after 30 seconds and went to a different performance from a different stream) and (sometimes) small differences of the same performance/recording across streams vs CD's. But the difference between performances/recordings is *much* greater than the differences in SQ across streams or CD. Frequently, the artists record the same piece more than once, and the differences are noticeable. I have Yo Yo Ma's 1st and 3rd recordings of the Bach Solo Cello pieces; they are both wonderful but they are quite different. I have Hilary Hahn's early and later recordings of Vaughn Williams' "The Lark Ascending"; the 1st is not very good, the 2nd is almost transcendent. (Hahn had obviously grown a lot.)
Is Pretty Good Good Enough? Listening Habits In The World Of Streaming Services.
I'm a recent subscriber to Tidal and Amazon Unlimited. The sound quality of the cd quality music is surprisingly good. I find myself listening to more music because of it.
I've also found myself in a situation when I come across a very familiar recording that I find it missing some of the inner details of the recording that I'm very familiar with....overall, the recording is good, but I noticed the missing elements. Though I found it not as good as it sounds on my cd player, it was good enough that I didn't stop the song and went and got my cd and played it. In other words, I settled for pretty good. Interestingly, as I moved up the chain in the world of audio, it was always in pursuit of better equipment to extract better sound from the recording. I was always looking for better than 'good enough'. Well, 'good enough' has gotten a lot better than it used to be...and much more convenient.
Sadly, my critical listening time with my cd player and turntable is a lot less these days because of the streaming services. I've just started to fiddle around with burning wav files of my cd's to a hard drive to make copies of those recordings where nothing but the original file will do.
How have your listening habits changed since the higher resolution services have arrived?