Buying vs. Streaming

[DavidW]

Depends on how well the buffer amp has been implemented, how high the output impedance is and what kind of electrical parameters your headphones have. Sound quality can be anything from poor to excellent.

He just misread my post but yeah.  The iphone socket back in the day (as Karl commented phones don't usually include headphone jacks these days) actually measures exceptionally well with low THD across the board and vanishingly low noise floor.  I also once had an htc phone that actually had a nice 1 V amp.  But I've also had phones that had lousy audio.

[Spotted Horses]

In principle storing as lossless is fine except that I started ripping discs well before "Storage was cheap" so I'm now at the slow/boring/laborious phase of having to re-rip mytoo-large CD collection.

That was what I wanted to avoid, discovering that I would have to do it all over again. I ripped classical CDs to FLAC from the beginning. To this day I rip pop music to whatever iTunes suggests as its preferred lossy compression format. Nothing "audiophile" there.

[71 dB]

To this day I rip pop music to whatever iTunes suggests as its preferred lossy compression format. Nothing "audiophile" there.

How do you define "audiophile?" For example AAC 256 kbps which is what lossy compression format iTunes uses I believe is pretty audiophile in my opinion from perceptual audio quality point of view, but if "audiophile" means astronomical nonsensical bitrates then obviously no lossy compression is audiophile.

Sound quality comes for the most part from how music is produced, mixed and mastered + speakers/headphones + speaker/listening position + room acoustics + headphone amp output impedance + somewhat high lossy bitrate or lossless (CD quality is all that is needed in consumer audio). That's the stuff that makes something audiophile quality. Everything else matters very little if at all.

[Holden]

This is not what some others are saying.

Edit: Also, if you'd like to take over the process and expenditure of working out all the accommodation for my overseas trip next year, you're most welcome to find out how easy it is to make choices.

I went through this process for my long service leave trip to the UK and Eire and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's fun making choices. Sorry for taking this a bit off topic.

[Madiel]

I went through this process for my long service leave trip to the UK and Eire and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's fun making choices. Sorry for taking this a bit off topic.

Fun and easy are not synonyms.

Moving on.

[foxandpeng]

As a streaming aficionado, I am happy to point out that it is incredibly annoying when Spotify remove much loved music so your playlists and choices are incomplete. George Lloyd symphonies and a movement from Antheil Symphony 4 come to mind in the last couple of weeks. Deeply infuriating, and a reminder than purchase is always better if you have the funds. Never at the mercy of others, in that scenario.

#downsides #firstworldproblems

[71 dB]

As a streaming aficionado, I am happy to point out that it is incredibly annoying when Spotify remove much loved music so your playlists and choices are incomplete. George Lloyd symphonies and a movement from Antheil Symphony 4 come to mind in the last couple of weeks. Deeply infuriating, and a reminder than purchase is always better if you have the funds. Never at the mercy of others, in that scenario.

#downsides #firstworldproblems

That's one reason why I'm not a streamer apart from streaming in order to explore new music. Whenever I discover music I really like I try to get it on CD. Sometimes that is not possible (music not released on CD/the CD is so rare the price is way above my will to pay) and I am FORCED to rely on Spotify and pray the music stays there. That's a very compromised position, but hey, that's life I guess... ...and yes, a first world problem.

[71 dB]

Please forgive the idiot question, but is it not possible to capture the audio stream e.g. in Audacity, and store it as a download?

Of course it is possible, but

1) It makes me feel I'm stealing music (even if it is legal).
2) I don't like music as digital files*.

* My Mac Mini has very small 256 GB SSD drive I don't want to fill with music. I bought a 64 GB UBS stick for music (ripped vinyls actually - I used to buy vinyls over 20 years ago and ripped them with my father's TT and burned them to dozens of CD-Rs, but those CD-Rs are of course deteorioting. That's why I don't want vinyls anymore. I am so fed up with them!), but I find it so clumsy and tiresome to deal with these files...

Just give me the damn CD! That's the format Sony and Philips developed to be the ultimate music format and it is!

[Madiel]

If buying a CD is not possible, I will look at buying a download.

[AnotherSpin]

Of course it is possible, but

1) It makes me feel I'm stealing music (even if it is legal).
2) I don't like music as digital files*.

* My Mac Mini has very small 256 GB SSD drive I don't want to fill with music. I bought a 64 GB UBS stick for music (ripped vinyls actually - I used to buy vinyls over 20 years ago and ripped them with my father's TT and burned them to dozens of CD-Rs, but those CD-Rs are of course deteorioting. That's why I don't want vinyls anymore. I am so fed up with them!), but I find it so clumsy and tiresome to deal with these files...

Just give me the damn CD! That's the format Sony and Philips developed to be the ultimate music format and it is!

Why capturing is a steal and ripping not?

[71 dB]

If buying a CD is not possible, I will look at buying a download.

I have bought some downloads over the years, but I don't like doing so. It feels stupid to pay for something I don't like/enjoy. Being without (and saving the money) feels often better option.

[71 dB]

Why capturing is a steal and ripping not?

Because I ripped vinyls I bought and paid for!

I did "capture" Carly Simon's album Another Passenger, because getting it for reasonable price was challenging, but I always intented to purchase the CD when I can get it for reasonable price. Two years later I got the CD. I was just so frustrated that this overlooked great album is so badly available on CD, still is today 10 years later as far as I know!

[Madiel]

I have bought some downloads over the years, but I don't like doing so. It feels stupid to pay for something I don't like/enjoy. Being without (and saving the money) feels often better option.

Well, you were talking about being forced to rely on Spotify. I choose it as a method of not being forced to rely on such things. Though I dislike Spotify specifically, and when it comes to classical these days I'd be relying on Idagio, so maybe I'd be less quick to go for a download. I'm not sure, it's been some years since the last time that I felt getting a CD was not realistic... and then thanks to someone here I got the CD from Melomania about 6 months later in any case!

[71 dB]

Well, you were talking about being forced to rely on Spotify. I choose it as a method of not being forced to rely on such things. Though I dislike Spotify specifically, and when it comes to classical these days I'd be relying on Idagio, so maybe I'd be less quick to go for a download. I'm not sure, it's been some years since the last time that I felt getting a CD was not realistic... and then thanks to someone here I got the CD from Melomania about 6 months later in any case!

Classical music in general is so much better available on CD than some other music. Very rarely do I experience getting some classical music on CD is difficult. In a way I feel there's TOO MUCH classical music available on CD. I could be buying cheap large boxes of classical music more than I have time to listen to it!

It's other kind of music such as 70's pop music released mostly on vinyl that can be a nightmare if not impossibility to get on CD (or even find on streaming services!)

[AnotherSpin]

Because I ripped vinyls I bought and paid for!

I did "capture" Carly Simon's album Another Passenger, because getting it for reasonable price was challenging, but I always intented to purchase the CD when I can get it for reasonable price. Two years later I got the CD. I was just so frustrated that this overlooked great album is so badly available on CD, still is today 10 years later as far as I know!

I am paying for my yearly Qobuz subscription.

And no, I am not ripping or capturing. To keep things is futile. Every-thing which appear will decay and disappear. It is natural, and should be welcomed. To keep things permanently is not natural and sick.

[prémont]

In reality, it's quite simple. Collecting CDs (whether you rip them to your HD or not - which is perfectly legal) ensures that your available collection is composed entirely in the way you want. With streaming, you are completely and utterly dependent on which music and which recordings the streaming service wants to promote, and here several other considerations than the purely musical can come into play. And CD has a fairly standardized sound quality, while the quality of streaming may vary. I have only used streaming by youtube and mostly as preliminary orientation about CDs I considered acquiring.

[Spotted Horses]

In reality, it's quite simple. Collecting CDs (whether you rip them to your HD or not - which is perfectly legal) ensures that your available collection is composed entirely in the way you want. With streaming, you are completely and utterly dependent on which music and which recordings the streaming service wants to promote, and here several other considerations than the purely musical can come into play. And CD has a fairly standardized sound quality, while the quality of streaming may vary. I have only used streaming by youtube and mostly as preliminary orientation about CDs I considered acquiring.

My experience with Apple Music (which I originally subscribed to because of a free trial, and then intending to listen to pop music) seems to address your concerns, which I shared before dipping a toe in the streaming world. If you type in "Beethoven's Fifth" you will get a hash, but if you have any idea what you want to listen to it is very easy to identify CD releases. Everything I have listened to is provided in a lossless format, identical or better than the CD version (sometimes it is hi-rez, which I don't find to be noticeably better). I still buy CDs or digital downloads for things I find "important", mainly not to have to worry about it disappearing, or to avoid the feeling that I absolutely have to maintain my streaming subscription. As far as availability, there is no clear winner. There are unfindable CDs that are available on Apple Music, and there are CDs that, inexplicably, are not there.


What I get on CD nowadays are the big archival sets (complete mono recordings of so-and-so) which typically don't make it to streaming.

[Spotted Horses]

I despaired of every finding a copy of Rubsam's complete organ works on Philips without paying a kings ransom. It was released relatively early in the CD era and never reissued, that I know of. They've put it up on Apple Music!

[Papy Oli]

I despaired of every finding a copy of Rubsam's complete organ works on Philips without paying a kings ransom. It was released relatively early in the CD era and never reissued, that I know of. They've put it up on Apple Music!

In case you buy FLAC, it has just come up on sale today at Qobuz (£40 instead of £69).

[Spotted Horses]

In case you buy FLAC, it has just come up on sale today at Qobuz (£40 instead of £69).

Alas, in the US it is available to stream from Qobuz, but not to download. Solves my quandary, whether to get it.