2. digital
  3. 168295-163583

CD Quality Versus Streaming Quality

I realize this will be a contentious subject, and far be it from me to challenge any of the many expert opinions on this forum, but if I may offer my feedback vis-a-vis what I am hearing, and gain some knowledge in the process.

i will begin saying that my digital front end setup is not state of the art, but i have had the good fortune to listen to a number of really high-end systems. I guess the number one deficit in my digital front end is a streamer server, and no question about it that will improve the sound.

My CD player is a universal player; Pioneer BDP-09fd. It uses Wolfson DACs. It has been modified to a degree. I have bought and sold other players, but kept this one, because it has a beautiful sound that serves the music well.

Recently, i ventured over to my son’s place and we hooked up my player (he doesn’t have one and rely’s on streaming only) We compared tracks / albums of CD quality and master quality streamed on Tidal with ‘redbook’ CDs I have. For example, some Lee Ritenaur CDs and some Indian classical and the wonderful Mozart and Chopin.
His system is highly resolving.

we were both very surprised to find the CDs played on the player to be the better sound. And not just by a little. The sound was clearly superior, with higher resolution and definition, spatial ques, much better and clearer imaging. Very surprising indeed. Shouldn’t there be no difference? This would suggest the streaming service is throttling the bandwidth or compressing the signal?

i am most interested to hear others’ observations, and suggestions as to why this might be? I do love the convenience aspect of streaming, but it IS expensive for a chap like me of fairly modest means. The Tidal HiFi topline service is $30 per month I believe, something the good lady is not too thrilled about. God forbid I should suggest Roon on top of that I may likely get my walking papers. I jest, but only partially LoL. My point is, if I pay this sort of money, isn’t it fair to expect sound to equal the digital stream from the CD player and silver disc?
Thoughts?

AK





4afsanakhan
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
but whaddya expect for $12.49/month?

Trouble is it is/going to take over from CD no doubt, and if it becomes the only way of getting music, the hi-end will be Audiogon, and so will talk/maybe the owning of very hi-end equipment, because it suits cars, ipod, walkmans etc far better.
Cheers George
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
@georgehifi -- I wouldn't worry about the future. The audiophile community is notoriously well-heeled. If there's a buck to be made, there'll be a way. We gotta remember, too, that analogue and vinyl were supposedly headed straight to the dust heap.
sd40
40 posts
 
The concern is more than whether there will still be buyers for expensive audio systems.  It is whether the advocates of quality audio (note that I did not say "high-end") will find themselves shouting into the wind.  And whether an appreciation for it will simply die out, and with it the equipment designed for that end.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 


Like I said Audiogone, hello background/car/dinner music/walking music.
Unless the issue is fixed, and the only ones to do that are the hi-end guys to force it.
Others don’t give a **** if it’s compressed.

Again for those, listen to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ&ab_channel=MattMayfieldMusic

Cheers George
4afsanakhan OP
134 posts
 
Hi RichTruss,

Excellent system. I believe what you are saying and can understand why,, although others have different results with different players. Your scenario is not the same as streaming from a cloud service though, right?. You are playing FLAC files stored on a local NAS drive, so have full control of the stream quality / bandwidth. 
With respect to the high-end community turning its collective back on ultimate sound quality for the sake of convenience, I don’t accept that as truth. All of us love the convenience of streaming, and the access to vast and growing libraries of music, but there is a point in our community where ultimate quality is a deciding factor for the music we key up for critical listening. Listening to a well-recorded album with original dynamic range intact of, say late 60’s early 70’s classic rock can be a wonderful experience. Not so much so if the content is off in some way. 
Hi Roxy, by the way I like your idea of hunting for old CD treasures. One can run across pristine CDs like that. At the end of the day, for those on a budget with so many other financial responsibilities, that may find streaming cloud music services hard to justify, then having a decent disc spinner and enjoying the hunt for bargains is a great strategy.
More to discover