"CD Quality" is nothing more than a bitrate. (which happens to be 1411 kbps). The audio that comes over those bits is what you should REALLY care about.... and what comes over the streaming networks is NOT the same as what you get from the actual CD.... much less if it's a 20+ year old CD. Nearly everything on streamers has been remastered to be very loud and compressed, BUT I'd rather hear an old 80's CD recorded with primitive A/D converters, that still retains it's natural dynamics. Some remasters are done sensitively, but not often in popular pop & rock genres.
What am I missing?
When discussing streaming we often hear the quality achieved by streaming compared to "cd quality". "Cd quality" seems often to be the standard by which streaming is favorably compared while cds have at the same widely fallen into disfavor as a medium. If "cd quality" continues to be a quality standard by which we judge streaming services -which it appears to be- why exactly do we hold cds in such disfavor? More sophisticated dacs can always be employed with cd transports as they are with streaming. I understand the convenience and storage issues with cds but I also understand that with streaming you will never own the music which you do with cds. This becomes even more unclear to me when considering the resurgence of vinyl and the storage and convenience issues involved with this medium. I don't believe the music industry ever wanted us to own the music we listen to but rather preferred we only rent and pay for that music each time.
Showing 4 responses by mirolab
@soix I have Tidal, and it's absolutely true. Everything has been remastered. I have many many original CDs, and what's on Tidal does not sound anything like the originals. I can pull the audio into my Audio Workstation and show you literally hundreds of examples of New vs. Old mastering jobs, where the new audio is much louder and compressed. And I mean dynamically compressed & limited, not data compressed which is a different thing. And as for Hi-Res..... same thing. What good is Hi-Res if the dynamics have been squashed out of the music? |
@soix Don't mean to drag this out, but I think maybe you don't understand what remastering is. It has nothing to do with bitrate. I've done remastering (& recording, mixing & mastering). I've done some great stuff, but I've also been paid to do some really terrible things to audio.... against my audiophile sensibilities! I do want to try Qobuz, as I really dislike Tidal's interface and music suggestions. They don't seem to tune into my preferences, and push modern rap & R&B music, which I don't like. Lately I've enjoyed the free version of Spotify more, just because they have better playlists than Tidal. I also don't care for MQA. |
Quality vs. Variety: I have a Node 2i for streaming, and I love its alarm feature. My living room system has a timer (thanks Anthem) and it turns on at 5:50am. The Node 2i alarm is set for 5:55 and I've set it to play a New Wave internet station (from Norway i think). I'm not sure of the bitrate, likely 128k, and I can definitely hear the data compression, but I love more than anything getting to hear several songs every morning that i've never heard before, in a genre that I like. Some of the songs are really awful, but that's ok. It's part of the charm. I'd rather hear something new and fun, than songs I've already heard a million times. It's a great way to start each day. |