CD Player vs Music Streamer: Which One Is Better for Your Hi-Fi System?

[AgarWave]

Main system is CD only. Don't like subscriptions, prefer to browse a physical library, like to choose my mastering where there's options. Don't like to wrestle with I.T problems when I just want music. I only listen to full albums.

TV system has my laptop connected via HDMI so I can stream Youtube to check out music I don't own. Very rare what I'm after isn't on there, SQ is acceptable, costs nothing. If I really like it, I order the CD.

Starting from scratch without large CD collection? Probably I would just stream. But I do like record shopping, it's the only type of shopping I enjoy. As in, going to a physical second-hand record store and rooting through the CDs. I would miss that if I was streaming only.

I completely get the romanticism of physical media mentioned here, and I still keep a few CDs for nostalgic listening sessions. But honestly, for daily driving, the diminishing returns on high-end CD transports hit hard when you look at modern streamers. Once a device is audibly transparent, it all comes down to the software implementation.

 

[Chrispy]

I completely get the romanticism of physical media mentioned here, and I still keep a few CDs for nostalgic listening sessions. But honestly, for daily driving, the diminishing returns on high-end CD transports hit hard when you look at modern streamers. Once a device is audibly transparent, it all comes down to the software implementation.

There's never been a particularly good reason for "high-end CD transports" at all, would be mostly bs. I live where internet/phone service isn't always available, especially outside of town limits so I have music when I drive ....much prefer to have my own content accordingly. I definitely have more issues with video streaming than audio generally, tho.

 

[Joe Smith]

Amazing how variable opinions are on this…I just love it all…it’s nice to have the room for a big media library, even though I probably stream about 70% of the time now.

 

[amper42]

I use a Samsung Fit USB Drive on a RPi5 with Moode. It contains my CD collection and hi-res purchases on it. Easy to access any album and there's something about the clean sound it provides over USB to the RME ADI-2 DAC FS that's consistantly a step up from my Qobuz wifi streaming.

I use Qobuz streaming via Audirvana to try new music but if I discover something I really like I buy the CD or the Hi-res file from BandCamp or Presto and keep it on the RPi5 Moode setup. It's so much easier to play my favorite music this way and I'm not limited to 44.1 kHz CD audio. Choice is good!

 

[RexrothPigeon]

streaming my own file library ftw

 

[JSmith]

All the world’s music available at the touch of a button

That's the thing... it's not all the worlds music. It's just the music they decide to make available or what catalogues they can access.

Just like movies on DVD/BD, there are many that are only available on physical media and will be lost to time...


JSmith

 

[goat76]

I use a Samsung Fit USB Drive on a RPi5 with Moode. It contains my CD collection and hi-res purchases on it. Easy to access any album and there's something about the clean sound it provides over USB to the RME ADI-2 DAC FS that's consistantly a step up from my Qobuz wifi streaming.

I use Qobuz streaming via Audirvana to try new music but if I discover something I really like I buy the CD or the Hi-res file from BandCamp or Presto and keep it on the RPi5 Moode setup. It's so much easier to play my favorite music this way and I'm not limited to 44.1 kHz CD audio. Choice is good!

You should investigate what the problem is on your end with your playback system, and what causes the perceived reduction of audio quality when streaming from Qobuz compared to your locally stored audio files. Granted that the same master of the songs are compared, they will sound the same no matter if they are streamed from Qobuz or from your hard drive.

I have done a null test between a ripped file from a CD and the same mastered version from Tidal, and the two files were identical. The result should be the same with Qobuz.


But with the above said…
It can still be a good idea to manage your own music library, as the streaming services, at any time, can lose the right to stream an artist, or may not provide a specific master of an album that you prefer. But the best part with buying from Bandcamp, is that there is a good chance that the artists will earn more money that way, compared to what they will get from the streaming services, especially if they are a small independent band.

 

[Mart68]

I completely get the romanticism of physical media mentioned here, and I still keep a few CDs for nostalgic listening sessions. But honestly, for daily driving, the diminishing returns on high-end CD transports hit hard when you look at modern streamers. Once a device is audibly transparent, it all comes down to the software implementation.

Well I never said anything about 'High end transports' which I agree aren't necessary, although I do have quite a fancy one just because I can, and because it's in use every day I wanted a device with high build quality that looks good.

Mastering aside, there's no SQ advantage over streaming (I've blind tested that). But it isn't romanticism either at least not for me.

 

[Crook]

I burned all my CDs to flac, I don't listen to them now, streaming gives me them all and millions more. I have vinyl, but mostly for late 80s, early 90s house music and techno. Some of that is not on streaming at all, in particular certain mixes, you may get the main mix online, but not the more obscure b-side ones, which were popular in the clubs.

 

[Mart68]

streaming gives me them all

They don't necessarily give you the good mastering though.

 

[URS]

For Stationary / Home enjoyment: I more or less strictly use physical media only , such as CD and an analogue chain of “sufficient” quality.

For mobile / outdoor, I use one of these DAP (mobile players) with a video option. Supplemented with good Custom IEMs, this is quite OK, of course depending on the very variable data/file - quality.

“Streaming” is not on my menu.

Regards
Urs

PS: As I’m collecting records and CD’s since many years, I own about 2000 pieces each…
PPS: New / actual Classical Music is currently rare: most classical stuff after about the 80-ies was recorded digital

 

[Willem]

Why not have both? A good Bluray player/transport with a digital stereo output costs almost nothing and gives you video as well. Similarly, a streamer does not need to cost much either. I use a Chromecast Audio's optical output and the coaxial output of a cheap Bluray player into an RME ADI-2 and the sound is superb in both cases. I similarly use my television's digital stereo output into the ADI-2 for proper video sound quality at the cost of a cheap cable.

 

[ShadowFiend]

Honestly, why would we limit ourselves? All of CD Player, Streamer and turntable can coexist in one system, for example for a basic setup, without much room EQ can be had Wiim Pro Plus, Fosi Merak (or other CD Player) with optical output and Turntable with phono preamp can cover almost everything you needed. If TV sound via HDMI is a must then we can replace Wiim Pro Plus with Wiim Ultra (but losing AirPlay) or Fosi S3 (but less refined software)

 

[Mart68]

Honestly, why would we limit ourselves?

If streaming services were free then no reason but I already pay out monthly for water, power, council tax, TV license, cable TV subscription, broadband and mobile phone and I don't really want to add another outgoing for something I wouldn't use that much. It's not the cost of hardware as a competent streamer's not expensive and is a one time expense.

Plus renting music isn't something I'm that comfortable with. Most of my life it was physical media and radio only. Probably just stuck in my ways to an extent but there it is.

 

[pinger]

For me i only listen to Classical at home. I can see streaming or whatever for rock/pop in the car etc. Classical doesnt really go good in the car . I never replaced my rock LP's with the CD equivalent because i switched to Classical when CD's were rolled out. My original comment was geared more toward Classical. I also post on talkclassical.com which i may have been thinking of when i posted it LOL.

 

[ShadowFiend]

If streaming services were free then no reason but I already pay out monthly for water, power, council tax, TV license, cable TV subscription, broadband and mobile phone and I don't really want to add another outgoing for something I wouldn't use that much. It's not the cost of hardware as a competent streamer's not expensive and is a one time expense.

Plus renting music isn't something I'm that comfortable with. Most of my life it was physical media and radio only. Probably just stuck in my ways to an extent but there it is.

Streamer is very versatile. It is not limited to subscription music services. You can browse your own rip music with your phone efficiently and stream it to your streamer for playback. You can also stream audio from video source like youtube to your streamer like Wiim. I discover excellent live music on youtube that are possibly never released on CD or DVD that way.

 

[audio_tony]

The only internet streaming I do is radio.

I have my own library of music (CDs that I own and have ripped) I've collected over the years, and that's enough for me.

When I hear something I like on the radio, I'll buy the physical media if it's available and add it to my library.

 

[Blew]

Why not do everything and have the best of all worlds? I love having a physical CD collection of all the music I really like, and enjoy spending time listening to them properly. I also like to control my own music so I can choose the master and always have access to it. Yet I don't want to always be tethered to my CD playing systems or deal with the inconvenience.

So I:
* Stream music services when investigating new music or playing a genre playlist for background music. I use LMS to stream Tidal to the music systems around the house.
* Play CDs and/or vinyl when spending time appreciating the music and its album artwork. My listening systems feed all sources to the same DAC and room EQ DSP, including the vinyl turntable.
* Rip CDs to network storage for streaming around the house and on the go. I use Foobar2000 on my laptop and UAPP on my phone streaming via SMB to the local network and WebDAV to the internet.

I was an early adopter of music streaming, but I'm recent years have really doubled down on CD collecting.

 

[popej]

IMO CD format is outdated. I still have a collection of CD and 2 optical drives connected to my amplifier, but I rarely use them. Today I look for multichannel music and Atmos, which is outside of capability of CD, but available on streaming.
Isn't it Atmos a way to finally end loudness war, which damaged CD attractiveness?

 

[Mart68]

Streamer is very versatile. It is not limited to subscription music services. You can browse your own rip music with your phone efficiently and stream it to your streamer for playback. You can also stream audio from video source like youtube to your streamer like Wiim. I discover excellent live music on youtube that are possibly never released on CD or DVD that way.

Well I do have Youtube access on my TV system which I do use for checking stuff out. So that is streaming. But no way am I going to invest time copying my CDs to a hard drive. There's a lot of them but stored alphabetically and by genre, so it's no problem finding a specific album to play.

I can't get with the idea that it's an 'inconvenience' to do that. Take it off the shelf, put it in the player, press play. I mean, really, we can't be bothered to do that anymore? And for browsing for something to listen to I prefer looking along shelves rather than at my 'phone screen.