Vinyl vs Streaming

I think when Michael Fraemer said that dCS's $250,000 streaming setup was almost as good as vinyl, that pretty much reinforced my feelings. I never question whether streaming will sound as good as vinyl, at least in my lifetime. Most of us spend maybe as much as $10,000 on a good streamer. Some might be able to afford dCS Bartok Apex at around $30,000 +. If the dCS assemblage costing $250,000 was "almost" as good as vinyl, the $30K dCS will clearly be inferior to vinyl. 

When I put on a good record, it almost gives me shivers it sounds so present. Streaming simply cannot capture the decay of cymbals or the tight bass without overhang that a good analogue setup can. And streaming simply does not have the air that surrounds the music the way that analogue does. Good streamers I've heard can capture each instrument quite well, but compared to vinyl, streaming doesn't sound like a group of musicians playing together in the same space. This is most easily  heard on well recorded, intimate jazz albums. Good streaming sounds like each instrument is well reproduced, perhaps even cleaner than vinyl, but it sounds like the instruments were cut out and pasted into one space as if  they're playing together. In analogue they are playing together, in the same place and sharing the same air. I think that's what streaming loses the most, air. 

To qualify this, my analogue rig is a VPI Prime Signature 21 with a VPI Shyla cartridge. Phono preamp Pass Labs XP-25. Preamp Pass Labs XP-30. Amp Hovland Radia. Speakers Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V. So, I have a very revealing system and pretty decent analogue rig. So, that's going to make a difference.

I purchased a Moon 280D streamer, which is decent, but kind of at the bottom of the high end. My CD player is a McCormack UDP-1, quite good 25 years ago. Yet I have heard better streamers at my dealer. The new Linn Organik which sounded very good. But was still lacking the air of my analogue rig, and apparently many other people who prefer analogue mention the same thing about capturing the air. 

@billpete 

Yes, it’s sad HDCD has gone. I bought one recently, Pieces by Manassas. It more than holds it own against all the high res stuff that’s around.

I do appreciate the world moves on and a lot of new technology is positive. But at times, I have found it frustrating that new formats have effectively been forced on me, when I am perfectly happy with the old ones.

Very little of the change in formats over the decades has been about improving sound quality. It’s telling that vinyl and CD can still sound at least as good as streaming.

Do you ever find yourself questioning Vinyl in the face of Streaming?

Yes, more and more, since I finally bought a DAC + streamer for my main system. I was an analog only audiophile until this year but that has changed now that I also have a digital front end. 

In my system, my analog front end is head and shoulders above my digital. But that seems to matter less and less to me these days. I like the difference in sound. I like the ability to find almost whatever I want, when I want it. I like the novelty of it. I like the fact that I can investigate and plan on a digital upgrade path. 

I suppose for me, at this stage in my audiophile journey (I got serious in 1999), I’m back to where I started: just listening and enjoying the music. For sure, when I get the itch for vinyl, I can scratch it and I’m still blown away. But I don’t really miss spending all that money trying to optimize it, find the very best recordings, etc.

Just my perspective. 

audphile1

 

And let’s be real. This is a mostly aged (ahem) crowd whose hearing is changing, and the draw of convenience & downsizing looms large at a certain point. 

Dismissing someone because they can’t hear 18 kHz is like dismissing a photographer because they can’t see ultraviolet.

Lots of great comments/feedback here.

It's very interesting to read everyone's perspective on this subject!