Streaming Is To Audio What Red Plastic Cups Are To Wine

Right, right, you thought you got steak and lobster, but, what you ended up eating was some chicken feet minced with donkey hoof. 

Now, go wash it down with some Jim beam and pretend its a remy martin or something.

@devinplombier +1

 Good for you! As some have suggested, "it’s your opinion " I agree, but it’s the right opinion. Some people prefer "bananas and rice" I prefer steak and lobster. 

Blind folded I can tell the difference between between drinking wine from a Red Solo Cup or a wine glass. 

@deep_333 wrote:

I was recently comparing the official studio masters (some 24 bit files) to the vinyl master for a couple of albums. 

Stuff on the low end’s gone, stuff on the top end’s gone (this album really needed it not gone, certainly not artist intent)....with a pestilent midbass and bizarre eq sht done to it...pure trash, i seriously can’t believe some of the TRASH masters that get pressed on the vinly plastic.

Some mind numbing bozos will deliberately lose things that were present in the music, so they can stick to their faulty bozo medium of loyalty, i suppose....It is no freaking "real deal".

It certainly goes to show how the mastering element is a vital part in assessing each format, and that the former is usually the more dominant factor. And that being the case the opposite scenario could be true as well, that a digital source has a crappy master; I've heard my share of particularly 80's or later produced CD's that sounded like b*llocks compared to their LP "equivalent" at the time. 

Barring format limitations that would keep LP's from going into LF galore-mode there's also the historical factor of masters that represent their time and that eschews lower LF and upper HF information since the speakers that were around back then didn't go that high or low. Didn't mean such master couldn't be great sounding for what they did.

Assuming similar-ish mastering outsets in either case I guess my position is that for LP's to really show their advantageous mettle vs. a digital format it needs to be played back from a rather (i.e.: very) expensive turntable rig/setup. Having said that I've heard cheaper turntable rigs that clearly distanced their digital counterpart in a similar price range, but one had the sensation that here it was more about differences in mastering. 

As to the premise of the OP, I just don't agree with it. Handling LP's and seeing them spin below a needle doesn't make it feel more like a bottle of Richebourg poured into a fine crystal glass as opposed to a streaming equivalent that's akin to using a plastic cup instead (and this is on me: filled with Merlot). Quite the contrary, I'd argue; to me hearing music that comes "out of nowhere" digitally (devoid of LP noise) is the more effective suspension of disbelief. 

I listen to Classical and the amount of choice in streaming is staggering .  So many concert releases that I didn’t know existed.  Limiting myself to physical media and I would miss the ability to hear most of it.

  I do love my box set of CD releases.  Nothing like pulling a box with 90 CDs by the likes of the Philadelphia Orchestra in their prime and playing a fantastic disc pulled at random. Most o these are available to stream but it is more fun to pull them from box.  However I’m out of storage space for these doorstops…

   So I get the physical attraction to vinyl and I respect those that admit their love of vinyl preference is a love for the ritual and not sound quality related.  I view that ritual with distaste, but that’s my perspective