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  3. 152927-355

Grimm findings on streaming audio

I just wanted people here to know that Eelco Gimm, who makes Grimm streamers, spoke to a reviewer where he addressed the reason why most streaming from the likes of iTunes, Tidal and Qobuz sounds different from CD playback.  It's that the music is watermarked before you get it. It accounts for what he deems to be a fluttering around the edges of music. Everyone thought it was compression.

Also, when music is streamed, the first block you get is lossy, followed by blocks of lossless, so if the content is too much for the carrier, the lossy will get through without the listener's knowledge of the switch, unless you're monitoring it on a regular basis.

I understand why some streamers charge for the product, but to go further and mess with the content in the name of licensing, permanently degrading the content, is beyond me. This was from a very short article and more is said to follow.

I also want to add that all of this is over my head but I thought it would be of interest to those who stream and for those who wonder which is the best way to listen.

All the best,
Nonoise
128x128nonoise
ishkabibil
422 posts
 
Of course shenanigans are going on...what I thought were problems with my system are actually the delivery of content....I hear it all the time....

Some days it is worse than others so much so I cease to listen.

This problem will be around fof a long time.


mapman's avatar
mapman
21,837 posts
 
Records have watermarks too. It’s called ticks,pops and surface noise.   Pretty grim!
digepix's avatar
digepix
121 posts
 
When laser technology is gone and it won't be long I'll listen to my watermarked stream of music and say at least I have something.
corelli
941 posts
 
I'll buy an extra Marantz Reference CD/SACD player, maybe a spare transport, and no worries in this lifetime. At least I won't be held hostage to a bastardized music source.
buellrider97
365 posts
 
I’m sad to hear laser is going away . Guess I’ll just stick to my TT and magnetic tape ( I prefer chrome ) . Just kidding , don’t get hurt . Thanks for the info . I’ve sampled the 360* on Tidal and found it horrible , especially through my headphones . To the original post , I’m experiencing a distortion at the beginning of a song ( usually the MQA tracks ). Sounds garbled , so I pause and re start . I’m using a laptop to a Schiit Yiggy . I’m waiting on the arrival of a Pro Ject Stream Box Ultra next week . See what happens . Thanks , Mike . 
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