I admit I thought about it too: CD or streaming or file? Which is the best. I have dedicated a lot of time and many tests have been done. Many systems have changed in my environment but above all the way of building and positioning the systems has changed over time.
The turntable is the only different one, if by different we want to consider a sound that is easily recognizable even with your eyes closed, without too much effort.
I have always thought that the CD, when well implemented, was superior to the "liquid" digital. Then I started using third millennium devices, and slowly I arrived at a substantial neutrality.
One thing I can say, however: my old, original CDs present some differences, compared to the same streaming songs. But I think these differences are more attributable to the quality of the recording/master, diffusion.
We have also seen some album reviews here on ASR where very often some frequencies are cut and leveled in the resampling.
But we are always talking about the seasoning of the dish. Let's say we have some spices and a pinch of salt more or less depending on the version, it's hard to say that the dish is ruined.
To all this has been added a fact in recent times. My ears and my hearing.
They are no longer what they once were, but are those of a forty-eight year old. I admit that I'm starting to re-evaluate, when I listening, that light patina of distortion that like a light November fog makes the contours of what you see fade.
Yes, I need a more relaxing, less detailed sound. I listen in the evening, usually, after long and boring days of work. I just want to relax now and, if I didn't have to get up every 15 minutes, I would put on a nice vinyl record and let myself be lulled by the clicks and pops that are so reminiscent of the crackling of a lit fireplace...
does streaming or file sound better? I'm not very interested in these issues anymore, I prefer to devour a few dozen good songs and go to bed with a smile... thinking about the next speakers to buy or a new modification in my room, to make it more friendly with my system...
even if I discovered scientifically tomorrow morning that a file is 0. % better than streaming, I wouldn't care, my listening experience would remain almost identical... I repeat, it's like having two more rosemary needles on the Florentine steak...
I think that the average level of digital of each format is now totally very high, and that finding and looking for differences between competent digital devices has become very difficult...