D to A Converters

Just a general comment about album collecting versus streaming. When purchasing music was the only way, it began with surveying and then funneling down. filtering and eliminating until one found the highest value worth actually purchasing, since you could only own a few. Over time a few could be quite a few... I own 2,000 vinyl albums. But those albums do not represent the very best albums for me out of the millions of albums... they represent the ones I happened to find that were good enough. There are probably tens of thousands I would like better. 

So, enter high quality streaming. I found that I slowly let go of that search for the album to buy and my interests started broadening and the search for something to listen to over and over and over has disappeared. My horizon has broadened ten fold or more. The albums I have discovered have made me not want to go back an listen to the stuff I own (except occasionally) because they may not simply be as good in the broader picture or are  tarnished by overuse. If an album was not well mastered... I move on. 

Anyway, having access to streaming with as good or better than vinyl opens up the world and can the way you explore it may change to adapt to this access. Mine has. It just might be something to think about.

Streaming is awesome and there’s no doubt about it. Amazing selection, new music discovery using “radio” feature is really incredible.

Streaming has changed our listening patters and our listening behavior.
For some, it becomes a sandbox for tweaking network, playing with different switches, filters, cables, streamers, DACs, vibration control devices, power supplies, etc. This causes us to use music to validate our equipment. You end up with a playlist of crap (mostly garbage system demo type stuff) that you play over and over to validate the changes you just made to streaming. 
You skip thru songs endlessly, jumping from one artist to another. Music you don’t enjoy - it just sounds good. You’d never listen to it while working out, or in your car driving.

Then a few days later after the latest band-aid was applied and the novelty wore off, you are back to tweaking. And the process continues.

You’re in a great spot when you can sit down and listen to your favorite album, or favorite songs…the music you really enjoy for what it is, not for sounding good or making your system sound good. 
 

I have a very good streaming setup that I enjoy immensely. But when I want to hear music the way it should be heard, not digitally remastered with life sucked out of it, I play a properly mastered, preferably all analog, record of my favorite album on vinyl and I listen to it all the way thru. All in all, lately I’ve made it my goal to enjoy my favorite music on both formats and change the way I listen to get away from using music to evaluate components. That’s my rant for today…feel free to share your thoughts 

Your headline "D-to-A converter" is incorrect; it should be an A-to-D converter (analog-to-digital). You can also get combo units: DA/AD converters; I have the Alpha Design Labs (ADL) Stratos DA/AD preamp. With it, you can record LPs in studio quality (PCM, 26-bit/192 kHz) via the PC’s USB output. I did this with Steely Dan’s GAUCHO. The digitized LP sounds significantly better than the original CD. And that’s the case with all digitized LPs compared to CDs or streaming albums. I don’t regret the effort of AD digitization.

@dirkbusche , you're absolutely right A to D!  I appreciate your suggestions.

@audphile1 I understand completely.  I have no plans to sell my analog set up!  But, at the same time, I'm not sure I'll add thousands of albums to my collection at this point in my life.  If friends tell me that I really should have a certain album on vinyl, I'll get it for sure.  But, in the near term, I'll probably do most of my upgrading on the digital side.  That being said, there are turntables that turn my head!