Listening Habits: Streaming Subscription vs buying digital media

[1KW]

Do you have a favorite streaming service? Do you still buy CD’s ? I have not bought any digital media in years and never listen to my cd’s anymore. Curious what your listening habits are ?

[Jdsmoke]

I have bought physical media (vinyl, CD, SACD) in the last year. I stream via Tidal. The CDs are ripped and saved to my Roon system for ease of use via lossless transfer. We also have Spotify for the family.

[dkorbal]

Originally Posted by Jdsmoke

I have bought physical media (vinyl, CD, SACD) in the last year. I stream via Tidal. The CDs are ripped and saved to my Roon system for ease of use via lossless transfer. We also have Spotify for the family.

With the exception of Spotify I do exactly the same.

[Antonmb]

I still buy vinyl regularly (maybe too regularly). I stream via Qobuz but buy the download if I really like something. I only buy silver discs to rip if that's the only format something is available in.

[Puma Cat]

I listen to a mix of PCM and DSD files ripped from discs and tracks streamed from Qobuz.The ripped file library is presently over 3100 albums. If there's something I find I particularly like on Qobuz, I'll usually buy the disc of that, rip it (using XLD) and add it to the library of ripped files.

[clpetersen]

Very similar here. Have become very selective in what makes it into the library. A few hi-res downloads from time to time, but even more selective.

Have not had a CD player since 2011. CD's stored in sleeves for break-the-glass emergency recovery.

New to vinyl and enjoying, but still more selective.

For playlists, rely on streaming - library is album listening. Tidal/Roon works well here.

[audioguy3107]

I'm still about 85% physical media, part of that is that I do have space and have always been somewhat of a collector. I struggled with this when I completed my dCS Rossini stack, I spent a bit of time going back and forth, comparing streaming from Qobuz and Tidal to CDs and SACDs in my collection. Discs (and vinyl) was pretty much the winner about 98% of the time. I do stream to check out new music and to listen to stuff that I'm not that excited about buying but anything that I really like, I go ahead and order the disc. That being said, I already had a fairly large vinyl and disc collection, I'm not sure I would say the same if I was just starting out. Streaming for the most part is very very good.

- Buck

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

I'm still about 85% physical media, part of that is that I do have space and have always been somewhat of a collector. I struggled with this when I completed my dCS Rossini stack, I spent a bit of time going back and forth, comparing streaming from Qobuz and Tidal to CDs and SACDs in my collection. Discs (and vinyl) was pretty much the winner about 98% of the time. I do stream to check out new music and to listen to stuff that I'm not that excited about buying but anything that I really like, I go ahead and order the disc. That being said, I already had a fairly large vinyl and disc collection, I'm not sure I would say the same if I was just starting out. Streaming for the most part is very very good.

- Buck

I would agree, Buck, that I find the (ripped) disc of an album sounds better than the same album streamed via Qobuz.

[audioguy3107]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

I would agree, Buck, that I find the (ripped) disc of an album sounds better than the same album streamed via Qobuz.

Kind of a coincidence here, just yesterday, I was taking a look at a few classical labels that I really like, Hyperion and Channel Classics. Both offer downloads of high res 24/96 and 24/192 files on most of their releases. Anyway, I was curious just how close if not better their high rez downloads are compared to their CDs. I downloaded a 24/96 file of a Brahms string quartet and a 24/192 file of a new Stephen Hough Schubert piano disc, both from Hyperion. Loaded them onto a USB stick back into the Rossini. I compared the physical 16/44.1 CDs to the downloaded files. It was VERY VERY close, I spent about an hour listening and gathering some thoughts.....in the end the CD upsampled to DSD by the Rossini transport bettered the high rez files, but it was extremely close. I could hear slightly more texture, just a touch more realism from the discs. It's pretty hard to draw specific conclusions here since there are so many filters I could have tried, including upsampling to DXD. Anyway, point is, if I have the room and the disc costs the same as the files, I guess I might as well buy the discs I suppose.

- Buck

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Kind of a coincidence here, just yesterday, I was taking a look at a few classical labels that I really like, Hyperion and Channel Classics. Both offer downloads of high res 24/96 and 24/192 files on most of their releases. Anyway, I was curious just how close if not better their high rez downloads are compared to their CDs. I downloaded a 24/96 file of a Brahms string quartet and a 24/192 file of a new Stephen Hough Schubert piano disc, both from Hyperion. Loaded them onto a USB stick back into the Rossini. I compared the physical 16/44.1 CDs to the downloaded files. It was VERY VERY close, I spent about an hour listening and gathering some thoughts.....in the end the CD upsampled to DSD by the Rossini transport bettered the high rez files, but it was extremely close. I could hear slightly more texture, just a touch more realism from the discs. It's pretty hard to draw specific conclusions here since there are so many filters I could have tried, including upsampling to DXD. Anyway, point is, if I have the room and the disc costs the same as the files, I guess I might as well buy the discs I suppose.

- Buck

Interesting comparison Buck. I have a lot of DSD and hi-res pcm downloads from Channel and Hyperion, which sound very good to me, but have no disc player to make that kind of comparison. Almost makes me want to get a disc player...almost.