Unintended Consequences? Digital Streaming


My system has become more revealing through gear upgrades over the past year.  This is a good thing right?  Well perhaps yes and no.  I've begun noticing that even while streaming 24 or 32 bit/44khz files over Qobuz that many albums now sound compressed to me and that I don't lose that "compressed" sound until I move up into the 32 bit/96 kHz files and above.  This certainly adds to the magic I realize while playing through my vinyl front end which sounds humongous, open, and vibrant but much of my streaming digital experience has become less than satisfying. 

Am I imagining this compression while streaming supposedly lossless files?  Can anyone else relate or have similar experiences?
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Showing 5 responses by david_ten

: )  I respect the sell-admitted intellectual ceiling, Erik. : )

Good advice and perspective in your words.
it was more likely due to lesser quality, compressed sources instead

You mean recordings and NOT sources? 
I’ve concluded that I must have misattributed compressed sounding titles to a 16bit/44mHz format when it was more likely due to lesser quality, compressed [recordings] instead

Correct. +1