How many folk now use streaming and have sold all their other audio equipment?

[alphaGT]

I know these streaming companies claim 40 million songs, or whatever their claim is, but do they really have everything? Aren’t there some old rare records in your 40 plus year collection that are not found on streaming sites? I’ve got some rare albums I’d be shocked to see on a streaming site, but maybe they could surprise me?

And sound quality is a strange thing. My CD player plays clearer, and cleaner, more detail, more dynamics! Anyone hearing the same 20 seconds of a song on both would say the CD player blows the vinyl away! But somehow the vinyl playback still wins in the magic department. It has a quality I find hard to explain, the rhythm draws me in, more of the, “foot tapping magic”, from vinyl, I have yet to hear any digital source to match it. And my vinyl playback system is nice but far from top drawer. Perhaps I just haven’t heard the right streaming setup yet?

Russell

[jandl100]

I know these streaming companies claim 40 million songs, or whatever their claim is, but do they really have everything? Aren’t there some old rare records in your 40 plus year collection that are not found on streaming sites? I’ve got some rare albums I’d be shocked to see on a streaming site, but maybe they could surprise me?

Sure, not everything is available for streaming. Although tbh the sheer quantity is pretty darn amazing!
And that's the point for me - there are several orders of magnitude more albums available than I could ever fit on my shelves physically. It's just fantastic to explore what is available and is new to me. And new recordings appear just as soon as they appear on physical media sales sites.

I was a luddite physical media bod until Justin User211 finally managed to nag me into trying streaming. It only took him two years, I have to admire his perserverence!
My gawd - he changed my musical life. Total convert here.

And sound quality is a strange thing. My CD player plays clearer, and cleaner, more detail, more dynamics! Anyone hearing the same 20 seconds of a song on both would say the CD player blows the vinyl away! But somehow the vinyl playback still wins in the magic department. It has a quality I find hard to explain, the rhythm draws me in, more of the, “foot tapping magic”, from vinyl, I have yet to hear any digital source to match it. And my vinyl playback system is nice but far from top drawer.

And to my ears the sq is just fine.
In fact, I did numerous back to back comparisons (as you'd imagine most folks here doing) and I preferred streaming sq to my carefully honed CD playback system. Not what I expected at all!

As for vinyl - well, here I get contentious. It's just a subjective-preferred colouration medium as far as I am concerned.
The differences in sq between well thought of turntables and cartridges especially are just enormous. I mean HUGE differences in presentation. They really can't all be right. You just choose the ones that make the prettiest and/or most impressive noises to your own ears.
Different to digital and streaming? Of course - that's cos vinyl is just pretty/impressive, not accurate.
(Dons protective armour and mans the barricades. )

[Tim]

There is a flip side to the statement "not everything is available for streaming" in that there is a lot of OOP music available, or music that is so hard to come by it sells for hundreds of pounds on places like Amazon Marketplace, or eBay that you can access from streaming services. It's a double edged sword.

I was a luddite physical media bod until Justin User211 finally managed to nag me into trying streaming. It only took him two years, I have to admire his perserverence!
My gawd - he changed my musical life. Total convert here.

My story is an interesting one (been into FBA since 2011 and sold my CDP then) in that I was looking to upgrade my CDP and stumbled upon how good file based audio can sound by chance. I'm lucky that I used to work in IT, so I'm comfortable around computers and can build my own - I've tried/heard all sorts, laptops, custom servers, bespoke units you buy off the shelf and stripped everything unnecessary out of a Windows O/S and edited the registry. But in all honesty you don't need to go that far, at the moment I'm using a laptop with a tweaked Windows O/S, JRiver and Spotify.

As someone who considers themselves a music fan first, with a passing interest in being an audiophile, file based audio and streaming is the best thing to ever happen and as Jerry says, it has changed my musical life. Not just for convenience (I have over 4,000 CDs - all ripped to FLAC), but superior sound quality at a very reasonable price.

Here's a thought, I went to the Bristol Hi-Fi show recently (and a high-end Bowers & Wilkins/CHORD demo last night). Hardly any demonstrations involved a CD player, it was dominated by file based audio and vinyl playback - I can count on one hand the number playing CDs, it was all Apple laptops/Mac Minis (some Windows PC's) Roon based systems, Auralic file servers/streamers or some other in house music server. Roon/TIDAL was the software of choice for pretty much all, if they weren't using something bespoke to the player. I saw many systems costing upwards of £50K running from a Macbook. Yesterday's demo had a £60K B&W/CHORD system fed from a £2,000 Innous music server. That to me speaks volumes about how highly regarded file based audio is now - you can get so much for your money, in both value and sound quality from file based audio.

I still buy CDs, but don't have a CDP, they get ripped to FLAC immediately. The head of Polydor music claims that 90% of CDs sold these days don't even get played, they are ripped to some type of music file immediately. I have just bought a turntable, but that's just for fun - my serious music listening comes from a music server or the internet

My equipment hasn't really changed that much in relation to sources, I sold my CDP but bought a DAC and have a music server and a turntable. So I've actually got more gear!

[Haselsh1]

No and no real reason to.

[jandl100]

There is a flip side to the statement "not everything is available for streaming" in that there is a lot of OOP music available, or music that is so hard to come by it sells for hundreds of pounds on places like Amazon Marketplace

Yes, that's a good point.
Several albums I had been chasing for years and they only came along at prices I wasn't at all comfortable with.
Signed up to TIDAL - and there they were. Just available at the click of a mouse as part of my sub.

[Boyse6748]

Yes, that's a good point.
Several albums I had been chasing for years and they only came along at prices I wasn't at all comfortable with.
Signed up to TIDAL - and there they were. Just available at the click of a mouse as part of my sub.

It really is a treat to read so many positive responses, especially about unaffordable vinyl and the recording being available via streaming.

As I’ve said before, a Roon / Tidal advocate and possibly listened to more music than ever would have been possible, resulting in me now purchasing selective other media based on a listen first.

My other kit ( mainly vinyl) will never by set aside.... this is just a superb way of finding and listening to music and should be considered as a real bonus.

Yes, the better the DAC and ancillaries, the better the sound but isn’t that the same for all components?

And...... things can only get better in due course!!!

For me.......Happy days!!


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[Mikeandvan]

Heavily into Roon now for the past six months or so.... just knocked out by the shear choice and quality. Mind you, the TT / R2R / SACD / Tuner is going nowhere. That includes the record and CD collection.


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What exactly does Roon do?

[Mikeandvan]

Sure, not everything is available for streaming. Although tbh the sheer quantity is pretty darn amazing!
And that's the point for me - there are several orders of magnitude more albums available than I could ever fit on my shelves physically. It's just fantastic to explore what is available and is new to me. And new recordings appear just as soon as they appear on physical media sales sites.

I was a luddite physical media bod until Justin User211 finally managed to nag me into trying streaming. It only took him two years, I have to admire his perserverence!
My gawd - he changed my musical life. Total convert here.



And to my ears the sq is just fine.
In fact, I did numerous back to back comparisons (as you'd imagine most folks here doing) and I preferred streaming sq to my carefully honed CD playback system. Not what I expected at all!

As for vinyl - well, here I get contentious. It's just a subjective-preferred colouration medium as far as I am concerned.
The differences in sq between well thought of turntables and cartridges especially are just enormous. I mean HUGE differences in presentation. They really can't all be right. You just choose the ones that make the prettiest and/or most impressive noises to your own ears.
Different to digital and streaming? Of course - that's cos vinyl is just pretty/impressive, not accurate.
(Dons protective armour and mans the barricades. )

I am coming more and more to this conclusion. £1000 for a cartridge that lasts 1-2000 hours, bonkers. Not that I've got my streaming system sorted yet, not by a long shot.

[Boyse6748]

What exactly does Roon do?

Roon is a software interface that integrates with Tidal / Downloaded or NAS stored files. It also acts as a search engine to find music files you wish to store within your library. The interface is very slick and probably the best currently available

Additionally, Roon interfaces with your DAC to produce the best possible sound available.

A very brief summary.... I would suggest you look on the Roon website for a more detailed information.


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[Sherwood]

What exactly does Roon do?

Gives your bank manager sleepless nights!