Vinyl vs Streaming

@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!

I just put a new Dynavector XX2 on my table and I was really surprised how good my LPs sound. They were good before but that xx2 really pulls a lot of detail and has big dynamics.  

Sure digital is great but with a great LP it's as good or better.  Sometimes just different,  but really enjoyable with that cartridge.