The Cloud and Music. A new Paradigm

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
6,455
29
405
Hi

I was prompted to write this noticing that my music buying has decreased dramatically while I am listening to not only more music but to more new and exciting music. Having been an audiophile for decades, perhaps longer than most. Started before my teens and am in my fifties now .... I am an enthusiastic user of Roon, Tidal and Spotify which has announced it will be offer lossless soon although ( here at the risk of losing my hard earned Audiophile creds, I am listening to more SPotify 320 kbs mp3 than I am willing to admit :b :b :b :b and enjoying it) , I haven't embarked on the MQA adventure yet... Although I know that resistance is futile and that I will be assimilated :D. If MQA sounds as good as it is purported to...

A badge of honor for many music loving audiophiles, is the size or the heft of their music collection. I was in that mode for a long time with a (about) 4000 CD collections and almost that many on LP (which I will likely keep but hardly listen to these days); since discovering the power of music streaming , I hardly buy CDs. I stream and only buy if it isn't available on Tidal or Spotify. I would like to get Qobuz because of its Classical music wealth but it is not easy getting it around here and they're not officially offering it in the USA yet... There is a perception of not much available on the CLassical front on Tidal for example ... then there is the reality of Classical Music available on Tidal.... There is knock on Tidal about its ownership .... The reality is that Tidal has Classical Music, lot of it and lot of Jazz and lot of everything, period! and the rate of growth is such that no particular audiophile can match it .. They add new titles on an everyday basis ... a "yuge", but YUGE collection of music available a the click of a button and with quality to match (almost ?) anything the audiophile has ... Same with Spotify that will soon, if not currently, offer ..lossless.

Of course there are manywho claim the physical thing and the rituals of cleaning a record and ... I understand ( intellectually) and respect that, but would suggest to try streaming. It is easy: A PC and Voila ... The audiophile will make sure to add complications and complexity: Optimizing the PC (Personal Computer) to death and using the largest processor and memory and PC (audiophile Power Cord) and ...and ... but at its most basic, a good Internet connection ( an afterthought in many places nowadays), a computer and perhaps a USB Interface such as the excellent BADA USB interface and one is done .. Music.. Lot of music. High Quality sound, lot, lot , lot , lot of music. The put down is quality over quantity is lame as in anything there are good and bad and Streaming/The Cloud have tons of albums , many if most of the gems we talk about or sometimes items of which we are completely , thoroughly ignorant of ... I lurk mostly at TalkClassical and from time to time there you hear name that most will never hear outside those specialized and sometimes snobbish corners of the 'net... Two names came up as extremely interesting and to my ears they are : Olga Scheps and Helene Grimauld .. 2 up and coming pianists of the highest caliber IMO of course they are on Tidal and on Spotify ... There a few things I haven't been able to find on those two ... and Tidal is lossless and Tidal is MQA and Spotify is to be lossless too soon... The truth is that there is a lot of quality CLassical on both Spotify (not yet? lossless) and Tidal ( already lossless and MQA)

Things are changing fast in the universe. I basically don't buy print books anymore. Amazon Kindle apps to the rescue .. nor do I buy Magazines... Texture is there to save the day. The reality is that Music is in the cloud and most of the Music we may desire is there . conveniently There ... My advice and conclusion: You are missing out, and a lot, if you don't stream. If only for music discovery purpose.
What says the collective what are your thoughts? Why haven't you taken the plunge? ...
 
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Rodney Gold

Member
Jan 29, 2014
983
11
18
Cape Town South Africa
Im more or less in the same boat as you.
I recon 80% of my music listening is streamed .. and im listening to more new music and exploring avenues I generally wouldnt venture into
Roon and tidal is just about all anyone needs to dish up a smorgasbord of music
Im not big into classical .. so shortcomings in that genre are moot for me.
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,601
5,411
1,278
E. England
I'm close to making the jump this way
Having been a died in the wool physical media guy, and analog head as long as I can remember, 2k lps, 1k CDs, I've only been listening to music in the last 12 months solid at Blue58's place on SGM and Dac8, Tidal, upped to 512 w HQP
Color me fully converted
So much so that w the benefits of my new room being so radical, my only Hifi spends are going to be passive isoln to tt and taking the plunge w SGM and then I'll be done
I'll spend the rest of my audio "career" just discovering music on Tidal
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
2,794
73
1,635
Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
I have considered going this way as well. All of my CD's are on a server .... and I sold all of my analog stuff since I had WAAAAAAY more music than I ever had time to listen to !!!

So (a newbie question is forthcoming) what EXACTLY do I need (hardware and software) to get access to these streaming services. Are there streaming "boxes" [a product built specifically for that purpose] available?
 

Rodney Gold

Member
Jan 29, 2014
983
11
18
Cape Town South Africa
Keep it simple .. all you need is a silent laptop computer and a dac with usb input (or use a usb to spdif convertor)
Roon playback software and a tablet to control it all
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
2,794
73
1,635
Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
Keep it simple .. all you need is a silent laptop computer and a dac with usb input (or use a usb to spdif convertor)
Roon playback software and a tablet to control it all

Is "silent" only important if the computer is in the listening room? And I assume if my surround processor (Datasat RS20i) has a USB and/or spdif connection, I'm good?
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
4,698
2,790
Portugal
You do not need a computer to have access to quality streaming - in my upstairs living room I have a Bluesound Note 2 box (around 550 euros) http://www.bluesound.com/en-eu/products/node-2/?cl digitally connected to a Devialet 220 pro. Streaming is great to burn-in equipment, although not as efficient as the Purist Audio CD enhancer ...
 

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
Nov 19, 2015
1,665
318
355
Hutto TX
ibelieveinhifi.com
I would agree and disagree. :)

The cloud based streaming now that lossless is becoming a much more viable alternative, has the potential to replace your physical format, but it depends on what do you value?

Just like MP3's became the norm most of the demographic who purchased this format didn't care about quality. Then Mp4 is introduced and quality is improved over mp3's to further taking market share from those who still found better sound on CD's. With sites like HDTracks and others introducing high resolution uncompressed audio for the formats you can find it moves the needle even further.

However, even if they get every available album online lossless and available to stream or download you are still leaving the final draft in the hands of "________". While I do enjoy the benefits of streaming and digital downloads of high quality recordings I will never let go of ripping the media myself.

I don't know what methods and compression algorithms , gain, etc are applied to the "lossless/high rez" download. When i rip the physical media myself I can control how much compression (in my case none), extensions like FLAC instead of WAV, and custom gain settings to ensure seamless vloume level across all of my recordings. Then there are the aspects of better recordings in the analog format that even if available in lossless digital may not be better. You can still rip your LP's to digital format and preserve the benefit of buying the product once but using it in both mediums.

I am glad to hear more and more people adopting the significant benefits of digital streaming and digital in general.
 
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