The problem with streaming
As I sit here listening to America Includes: "A Horse With No Name", I realized the problem with streaming. Who knows what source material you're getting with streaming? The album I'm listening to is a Warners Brothers green label. Sonics are absolutely incredible! The band sounds like they're in the room!
Navigating the pressings to find the best one can be challenging but that's part of the fun of the hobby. I doubt the same care is taken when generating streaming recordings. You're stuck with what they use, thus missing the incredible texture of the best recordings.
Of course, great care must be taken to set up the turntable and match all components downstream. I find the effort to be well worth it! There's just no substitute for great analog!
OP,
Congratulations. Once you get a taste, it is easy to start realizing the possibilities. I used laptops and PCs for a long time… my moment was when I bought my first stand alone streamer (Aurlic Aries G2). It only gets better from where you are. There are DACs of better quality and nearly any stand alone streamer can provide better sound than a laptop. It opens a whole new world. |
Once streaming on my system equaled analog, CD, and stored files it became apparent the overwhelming cost and listening advantages of streaming and consequently it’s future. I have over 4,000 albums… typically I used to buy a few albums a month… that adds up over time.. so implementation a high quality streamer and for the cost of $15 / month my library almost became infinite.
You can justify a really good streamer and DAC as the least expensive solution over time… and unlimited access to music, no storage cost… and less getting up and down (I get lots of exercise). And honestly my discovering and enjoying soooo much new music has been incredible. I probably listen to one or two albums a week that I owned before streaming now. |
Wow @sgreg1 now that Dragon has been well amortized down to penny a day. Well done. |
We have reached a really exciting time in audio history. At long last digital can equal analog. So, for the next ten years or so, if you want the very pinnacle of sound quality you can go analog… but the shift is slowly tipping to digital. The digital and analog ends of my system are equal at this point (see my system under my ID). I am upgrading my turntable with a new arm and undercarriage , just for fun . But the two are completely in the same league… I suspect the upgrade will be a small improvement, fun. But in 10 years the least expensive way to sound quality will go to digital. I have really enjoyed analog. It has been the empirical ruler against which to judge sound quality since I was 7. But it is about to fall into history… as am I. Technology moves on, we enjoy the best there is during our lifetimes. Once it was 78rpm records. |
The fantastic fidelity you are experiencing with streaming is mine as well. At times the streaming version exceeds the sound quality I get from my excellent analog rig. But you are correct about the version being offered. Since streaming is in its infancy I am sure over time catalogs within services will become more robust with various versions and extended information available. Right now services are trying to build the biggest… some the most high Rez (Qobuz) best sounding libraries. It will come.
,On the other hand once I got used to streaming my world of music expanded so far beyond my 2,000 vinyl and 2,000 CDs that honestly if one album doesn’t have the very best ever mastering… I’ll just go on to ten other albums. Once in a while I’ll find some album and buy a heavy vinyl recording of it… although the last time I did this the streamed version sounded better… actually the last two. |
