Old CDs and records

I ripped all my CD's to a hard drive then took them to a local store that buys them for 1 to 2 dollars a piece. I got several thousands of dollars in store credit with which I bought new LPs and a few Blu Rays.  

“Machete don’t text” .......or stream

Over the past few years I have sold or donated about 200 CDs. My impression is that values reflect the quality of the mastering as well as more obvious factors like disc condition and the performance itself. Between the Hoffman forum, the online dynamic range database, and other sources, buyers have sorted out what's good and what's not. I have 47 CDs for sale and probably half will end up going to Goodwill. This has nothing to do with streaming. While I was culling the junk out of my collection, I bought some 500 CDs and SACDs after researching and often doing comparisons to determine which ones offered the best sound quality. I rip everything, but it's only for backup--and to keep a copy of those CDs that I sell.

Regarding CDs, LPs, and streaming, I subscribe to Qobuz and Apple Music, and I also have about 10,000 LPs and maybe 6,000 CDs (adding more almost every day). And I listen to music through all those media all the time. But for different reasons. Streaming lets me hear music that I don't already own in a physical medium; CDs let me hear music that never existed on vinyl, and vinyl lets me hear music.

In terms of quality, the distinctions are extremely clear. On my system, which consists of PS Audio DAC and phono preamp, Well Tempered turntable and Soundsmith cartridge and Audeze headphones, vinyl offers more life, more depth, more feeling, more musicality than anything else, by a large margin. I found that CDs and streaming offered sound that was pretty equivalent--until, that is, I recently bought a transport for the CDs. I did that cautiously, not expecting much, and I was flabbergasted by the difference it made. Now CDs are to streaming what vinyl is to CDs: more life, more dimensionality, more flow, more musicality. And that's comparing redbook CDs to hi-res streaming and with a relatively inexpensive transport (an Audiolab 6000CDT). If I switch from a track streamed in hi-res from Qobuz to the same track on a standard CD in the transport, the difference is dramatic.

The convenience of streaming is very appealing, and the sound certainly isn't bad, but in my system and with my ears, there's more music to be had in physical media.