@brett1976 @mahler123
This is getting annoying. Are you guys incapable of staying on topic so I can get back to enjoying music?
You can’t tell bashing from exploring the differences between two formats and expressing preferences. The latter is what this thread is all about. There is no bashing of either from me - I love both. It’s others who have tried to take this thread off topic with irrelevant talk of streaming having better sound quality and vinyl being too expensive.
Refusing to bash one is not the same as bashing the other. There is a good deal of projection going on here. Stop trying to gaslight me. It won’t work.
I defy anybody to say one is definitively better than the other. They are just different. Each has it’s own strengths and weaknesses.
MASTERING IS KING so there’s a lot to be said for having both to cover all the bases. But there’s no shame in choosing to have either one only.
I can hardly remember which one you are accusing me of bashing. If it’s streaming, you need to know that I did nothing but stream for five years up to 2024. Over the previous decades, my preferences have swapped back and forwards many times, but I am not married to either. They are just ways of listening to music.
I have recently made a change that has transformed the sound quality of streaming in my system after it has been disappointing for a while. This has delighted me so much - I am hardly going turn round and bash it now, especially after the huge amount I have spent on streamers, DACs, switches, servers, etc.
Is that clear enough for you?
Please either talk about the subject of the thread or let it rest, but for goodness sake stop going off at tangents.
@devinplombier
Well said! I am really impressed by what you write.
If we can get all the nonsense that is polluting your thread out of the way, I’d like go back to what I actually wanted to say about the topic in hand.
It occurred to me earlier today, that there is a curious pattern in my music listening. This may reflect the differences between streaming and vinyl.
If I sit down in the early part of the day, my listening tends to be exclusively streaming of ripped CDs, etc. Their sharp, precise, clear immediate sound seems to suit my wide awake state at this time. My mind is usually on other things, but the the sound cuts through even though it starts out as background wallpaper. The convenience of streaming matters at this time.
However, when it gets into the late afternoon/evening and light fades, I am far more likely to put on vinyl records. Here the more organic richer sound of vinyl suits my more relaxed state. This is more thoughtful and critical listening where I am aware of imaging and the texture of the sound. My active involvement in the process and greater absorption in the music is more appropriate than would have been earlier in the day.
To go back to the beverage cup analogy, the streaming early on seems to go with my morning Espresso. Yet later in the day, I am far more likely to be nursing a glass of red wine. Again, these feel like they suit the two respective formats.
I have never before thought about this dichotomy my in listening habits. It’s not something I’ve planned, it’s just what I tend to do without thinking. I rarely miss the vinyl slot, but often I’ll have other things on early in the day and my streaming sessions are quite intermittent. This probably explains why I listen to more vinyl than streamed albums.
I wouldn’t say that I enjoy one way of listening more than the other. They are just different and match my changing mental state throughout the day.
