On rare occasions I've experienced what sounds like vinyl sourced files from both Tidal and Qobuz, surface noise is the giveaway. Experienced same with cd's back in the day. Seems I've most often heard on compilation albums with previously unreleased tracks.
Vinyl-sourced files at Tidal (how common for stream services?)
Well, I finally bit the bullet and sprung for a streaming subscription. Tidal. And I did it mostly for hard-to-find artists and albums in lossless.
But it seems as if Tidal (maybe other commercial releasers as well) are using or contracting out subpar ripping.
E.g. on several Tidal offerings, I was surprised to hear vinyl surface noise and IGD:
https://tidal.com/browse/album/397646670
https://tidal.com/browse/album/397848939
And, yes, the inner tracks sound poor on Tidal!
Supposedly, Renaissance Records released both Novo Combo albums on CD in 2018. But I have a feeling those RR cd’s might be vinyls rips, too. Anyone know ?
Now, I am big proponent of ripping vinyl to lossless when the mastering for the commercial vinyl is superior to CD/digital .
I don’t mind surface noise or minor pops/clicks. But I am well aware of one of the major sonic drawbacks of vinyl: Inner groove distortion. There are ways around this issue. Use a linear tracking TT. And/or: use a fine line stylus. And/or: (for purposes of ripping) re-config the overhang for the inner tracks [Stephenson geometry]. Etc.
There are other over-the-top solutions, like laser turntables, long tonearms, exotic tonearms, etc. All pretty $$.
What I use: I have several "good" setups now for transcription, none of which are $$ high-end audiophile by any measure. One decent setup being: Technics direct drive TT, Ortofon MM cart, dedicated MM phono preamp, Focusrite Scarlet interface, Dell laptop running Linux. I aligned overhang and VTF per std. procedure and good tools. All LPs were LASTed.
Refs:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TIdaL/comments/k2z76i/tidal_master_is_obviously_a_rip_from_a_worn_vinyl/
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/vinyl-ripping-services-redux.1104072/