I remember a commercial on TV about 20 years ago. A customer is sitting at the counter in a diner with a juke box menu in front of him. The waitress says "every song ever recorded". I thought "whoa!". Guess it has come to pass...
A different world
For decades I have struggled to get digital even close to comparable to analog. Then finally a couple years ago after lots of upgrading and experimentation I succeeded. Streaming is equally satisfying with analog, very, very comparable. The full soundstage, instruments suspended in space, tonal balance, dead silent background, and details of brass cymbals … etc. Red Book CDs through my CD player are bested by my streamer with Qobuz or Tidal with hi-Rez versions.
A new world. It takes a while to get it. No longer confined to music you “own” to play over and over. Replay is supplanted by exploration. You love an new (or old album) and hit, “add to library”. It is yours.
So, HiFi+ magazine has an article on building a European 21st Century Jazz Library. I just start with the first album in the list and listen (add to library), the 2nd album (add to library), the third… the forth, fifth… a whole new category of incredible music to sit along side Miles Davis and Hank Moberly. Just a couple days in the life of a audiophile streamer. I could have never predicted this as a possibility ten years ago.
You love music? The goal of having an infinite audiophile library is now possible. It is possible at any high end level… just requires knowledge that it can be done… and I guess give up the idea that there is something special about your CD collection, or players.
I have a 2,000 vinyl albums, play them, usually one a day. They are fun, occasionally sound ever slightly better… but not significantly, I like them for nostalgic reasons.
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@dweller . It took a long time. But incredibly worth it. Like the gap between the promise of Windows and the reality, like 25+ years. I was in IT. My job was to separate the marketing hype from reality… it is so great when at long last it becomes reality. I am simply awed every day. |
It is not only one example. I stream alot, just typically not as good as vinyl even though my digital system cost in in the 5 digit range. The link below is a newer site but is doing our community a service by examining these formats in detail. 30+ popular albums analyzed which is not a lot by all means but it is a start. In no case is the vinyl version compressed. In the cases they have the streaming data, 90% of the Qobuz and Tidal version are compressed. This is statically significant. I was surprised that Amazon Music seems to be using less compressed versions than the other two. Too bad Amazon Music in not on Roon.
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