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?

mitch4t

Showing 2 responses by danager

Good Enough? That’s the rub right, or is it ever good enough? Is only when ringing the most absolute detail no matter the cost of equipment or convenience good enough? Can a recording only be enjoyed after every minute detail has been analyzed, optimized and finalized? What about the next recording? Were the optimizations for one tune be good enough for the a different recording or genera of music?

What is most important content, convenience or both? With unlimited funds and a staff robots you could probably recreate the digital streaming experience in vinyl. You would have to actually make pressings of those albums that were never released in vinyl but to be good enough cost is no option, right? If you wanted to search for how multiple versions of “Skylark” sound different it could be done with analog but would take a huge database of all your analog recordings and multiple turntables and a robot task force that can easily be done by any music server or streaming service.

To be Good Enough depends upon priorities and your budget. There is no right answer here but there is a truth. With enough money it can always be better but whether it’s ever good enough depends on you.

 

The best bots come from Russia no Chi bots for me.

I think the difference is the player app. The CD player / transport doesn't have to adjust to different streaming rates or advertizing bloat.

When is congress going to decide on Ro vs Bott?