And we have a most obvious comparison. How does one cd rips in local storage compare to their streams? Many report, and I agree their streams are equal to the cd rips, what does this say about the importance of server farms, clouds.
We Need To Talk About Ones And Zeroes
Several well-respected audiophiles in this forum have stated that the sound quality of hi-res streamed audio equals or betters the sound quality of traditional digital sources.
These are folks who have spent decades assembling highly desirable systems and whose listening skills are beyond reproach. I for one tend to respect their opinions.
Tidal is headquartered in NYC, NY from Norwegian origins. Qobuz is headquartered in Paris, France. Both services are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud infrastructure services giant that commands roughly one third of the world's entire cloud services market.
AWS server farms are any audiophile's nightmare. Tens of thousands of multi-CPU servers and industrial-grade switches crammed in crowded racks, miles of ordinary cabling coursing among tens of thousands of buzzing switched-mode power supplies and noisy cooling fans. Industrial HVAC plants humming 24/7.
This, I think, demonstrates without a doubt that audio files digitally converted to packets of ones and zeroes successfully travel thousands of miles through AWS' digital sewer, only to arrive in our homes completely unscathed and ready to deliver sound quality that, by many prominent audiophiles' account, rivals or exceeds that of $5,000 CD transports.
This also demonstrates that digital transmission protocols just work flawlessly over noise-saturated industrial-grade lines and equipment chosen for raw performance and cost-effectiveness.
This also puts in perspective the importance of improvements deployed in the home, which is to say in the last ten feet of our streamed music's multi-thousand mile journey.
No worries, I am not about to argue that a $100 streamer has to sound the same as a $30,000 one because "it's all ones and zeroes".
But it would be nice to agree on a shared-understanding baseline, because without it intelligent discourse becomes difficult. The sooner everyone gets on the same page, which is to say that our systems' digital chains process nothing less and nothing more than packets of ones and zeroes, the sooner we can move on to genuinely thought-provoking stuff like, why don't all streamers sound the same? Why do cables make a difference? Wouldn't that be more interesting?
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In order to test for this one would need to directly connect their streamer to a server with locally stored files, no storage in cloud. This means server with original files at some record company/mastering concern/etc. Ain't never going to happen. And again I'll go back to analogy to power grid, audiophile insistence on providing clean grid/clean streaming chain is of no concern to these entities. Since this the case I guess we need to provide for our own power grid and local storage of Qobuz, Tidal, other music services massive libraries. Again, this ain't gonna happen. Point is why should we bother with things we can't change. |
Not exactly sure what the goal is here. My understanding of what you are saying is, in short, that we all receive basically the same digital signal when streamed through our ISPs and that the digital signal is of sufficient quality that when converted and played through an adequate home music system the result can be very satisfying. Is that what you want us to agree on? I am not sure why it is important that we agree. The evidence shows it to be true or otherwise why would so many audio enthusiasts have given up CDPs and turntables in order to have streaming as their sole music source. The evidence also shows that modifications to the playback chain, i.e., galvanic isolation, reclocking, power supply isolation, etc., can further affect/improve the end result of what we hear, whether or not those modifications change the 1s and 0s. Have I missed the point? In any event, as always, we vote with our wallets so, whether or not we consensually agree on the technical aspects of what is happening, the general purchase trends will tell the tale. |
Digital sounds like digital.(no matter what gear IMHO) Analog sounds like analog; to me anyway. Hey, I like them both. I guess I've been a wee bit over top with the hobby for years but I enjoy every minute. .......admittedly, I enjoy the convenience of digital but will spin vinyl whenever I can. To me it is also is very source dependent as well. Sometimes the best versions are CD's SHM CD's, DVDs SACDs or the "selected" vinyl version. Mono and Stereo ???........to me this what makes it all so very fun. |
I did not understand one word after "AWS server farms are any audiophile's nightmare". How? Streaming is streaming. Netflix handles a 100 times more complex requests than listening to a music file. Everything is built on the packages arriving, that's the whole point, zillions of hours of coding and scaling went into those projects, I don't see how it's a miracle (aside from electricity and the internet being a miracle). I honestly think our infrastructure and processing capabilities are way dumber than it should be. |
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Did we ever move past the question: Why does one vibrating stylus in a groove of vinyl sound different than another? Has anyone asked for proof how different turntable setups sound different? Or does everyone just accept that they do? Why don't all 300b tubes sound the same? It's all just a flow of electrons. |
Well I guess the hearing demigods amongst us should band together and buy these streaming services and make sure everything is sent through a vacuum to their home untouched. That is the only way they can hear the imperfections that are riddled in music cos the music is made with impure mics, impure tools like noisy controller stages. This obsession in this space has gone beyond just wanting to enjoy music so I engage less and less with people with certain supposed ideas cos it can become a loop of argument. I just let people be now @devinplombier |
I don't think its a great mystery that noise rides on grounds, clocks control the timing of data packets, the lengths streamer manufactures go to address these issues is part of what differentiates streamers.
Perhaps those noisy server farms are indeed limiting the full potential of high end audio streaming, somewhat analogous to the quality of the power grid and it's influence on our systems. May not matter as much for streamers since ethernet is galvanically isolated from grounds noise. |