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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 3 responses by reubent

reubent
7,083 posts
 

Playing vinyl on my system is my favorite method of listening to music. It brings me the most musical enjoyment. I love the sound quality and I love the process of listening to records.

Somehow I "discovered" all the artist and LPs that I own and play. In the past, it was mostly radio that brought these "discoveries" to me. Today, most radio stations are corporate owned and mostly play the same very limited playlist. If you are lucky enough to have a great independent radio station within your reception range, I'm happy for you. Enjoy it. And support it. I hope you discover some great new music you can buy on vinyl or CD to enjoy it more deeply..

Unfortunately, many people do not have any good radio stations near them, so chances for "discovery" are severely limited. This is where streaming can be a godsend, even if the streaming sound quality in the user's system does not reach the level of their vinyl/CD rig.

Streaming internet radio, like Radio Paradise, or a streaming service, like Spotify, Qobuz or Tidal, are a great way to discover new (or new to you) music. It can help you expand your knowledge of music by exposing you to artists you would otherwise never likely hear. You can build playlists of music you like and want to hear again, or you can listen to internet radio or a streaming service and let someone else (or an algorithm) choose selections for you. The algorithms are pretty good. They will use the stuff you've listened to before, or songs you "liked" and create playlists of similar stuff. They sometimes stray off into areas you would have never chosen, but may really like.

I'm a music lover. I listen to music every day: at home, in the car, when I work in the lawn, when I exercise. It is great that over the last few years I've discovered new music via streaming either internet radio or streaming services or even youTube. I've discovered more new (or new to me) music over the last few years of streaming Radio Paradise and Spotify, than in the previous 15-20 years of the old method.

When I discover some great new music that I want to enjoy more deeply, I look to see if it is available on vinyl. If so, I buy it so I can enjoy it more deeply. And I hope the artist makes a couple more bucks in the process...

Enjoy your music, however you choose to listen.

reubent
7,083 posts
 

.... and, Radio Paradise, in full FLAC resolution, sounds so darn good. I'm occasionally shocked at how good it sounds streaming from my little < $100 Raspberry Pi based streamer.

reubent
7,083 posts
 

@mitch4t 

Is Pretty Good Good Enough?

For me? Yes. I listen to a ton of music on both Spotify and Radio Paradise. For me, it's about discovery and background music (mostly). We also stream from Spotify or Apple Music at my little local music club meetings.

Pretty good has become pretty darn good and it's convenience cannot be denied.

More to discover