Has Streaming Services changed the way you listen to music

[Matthew J Poes]

I'm a big fan of this service. There has been a lot of controversy around Tidal and especially their use of MQA. I can't help but feel like those views miss the bigger point. Tidal is offering a service that provides lossless CD quality on our phone and 24 bit and high sampling rate nearly lossless on a laptop or numerous hardware devices. I think this is amazing. It's amazingly great sound quality and a level of access to music that is unbelievable. I was born when Records still ruled, CD's were a new technology, and most of my friends collected cassette tapes. Who remembers the "mix tape." I find it absolutely amazing that I can now gain access to a music library that I could only dream of as a kid. I envied people with 10's of thousands of albums or CD's. Now we can all have that. For me it's helped bring back my love and passion for music, so I have to say I'm a big fan.

I know I'm focusing on Tidal and MQA here, but to be honest I'm technology agnostic. I love the concept of streaming music services, but After trying the others, I couldn't deal with the loss in sound quality as compared to CD's.

 

[ShpongleDMT]

I love Tidal for many of the same reasons you said. I have a pretty extensive digital music collection all in FLAC but Tidal really helps me stretch it. I also really like the "similar artists" tab that helps me broaden my horizons.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I love Tidal for many of the same reasons you said. I have a pretty extensive digital music collection all in FLAC but Tidal really helps me stretch it. I also really like the "similar artists" tab that helps me broaden my horizons.

Yes the similar artists is helpful. Some of the suggestions are a stretch but I’ve found some interesting stuff.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Stream is amazing... there’s no doubt about it. I do enjoy the physical nature of tapes/LPs/CDs, though.

I also run TIDAL Hi-Fi... I can hear a difference in quality, however. If I stream a song and then play the same song of a CD, the CD still sounds fuller and more fleshed out.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Stream is amazing... there’s no doubt about it. I do enjoy the physical nature of tapes/LPs/CDs, though.

I also run TIDAL Hi-Fi... I can hear a difference in quality, however. If I stream a song and then play the same song of a CD, the CD still sounds fuller and more fleshed out.

That’s an interesting experience. I’ve not had quite the same experience with Tidal vs CD, but then lots of things can explain that. I’ve found that Tidal often has many versions of the same album and often are remasters. I like that in the sense that I can listen to each and decide which I like best. I dislike it in that it isn’t always clear which was the rereleased and remastered album. That is really the only time I hear a difference between the two.

I too like physical media, but my musical taste can be so weird at times that streaming helps me just explore the random musical theme my mind has chosen for the moment. Be it ten versions of “Give me shelter” or ten recordings of great piano sound. It’s harder to do that with cds and records.

For records I of course have other likes. First is that more often than not the loudness war did not yet exist and even if it did the record could not have tracked properly with so much compression. As such the records are often much better dynamically balanced. I love the tactile process of taking the record out, the old musty smell some records might have, and the process of lowering the arm. It also has a very different presentation of the music and right or not, I find it enjoyable.

I also find some recordings are far more listenable in analogue formats like records. The white strips for example tend to be very bright and in your face. I find the record vastly more listenable than the cd recording.

 

[leecreek]

I do no streaming, Youtube or embedded videos here. Data charges too high. YMMV

 

[Todd Anderson]

That’s an interesting experience. I’ve not had quite the same experience with Tidal vs CD, but then lots of things can explain that. I’ve found that Tidal often has many versions of the same album and often are remasters. I like that in the sense that I can listen to each and decide which I like best. I dislike it in that it isn’t always clear which was the rereleased and remastered album. That is really the only time I hear a difference between the two.

I too like physical media, but my musical taste can be so weird at times that streaming helps me just explore the random musical theme my mind has chosen for the moment. Be it ten versions of “Give me shelter” or ten recordings of great piano sound. It’s harder to do that with cds and records.

For records I of course have other likes. First is that more often than not the loudness war did not yet exist and even if it did the record could not have tracked properly with so much compression. As such the records are often much better dynamically balanced. I love the tactile process of taking the record out, the old musty smell some records might have, and the process of lowering the arm. It also has a very different presentation of the music and right or not, I find it enjoyable.

I also find some recordings are far more listenable in analogue formats like records. The white strips for example tend to be very bright and in your face. I find the record vastly more listenable than the cd recording.

One of the biggest mistakes I've made is selling off my entire record collection... I was young and needed some quick cash. Doh!

I agree though, the process of handling records is entirely pleasing and satisfying. It's truly a joy.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

One of the biggest mistakes I've made is selling off my entire record collection... I was young and needed some quick cash. Doh!

I agree though, the process of handling records is entirely pleasing and satisfying. It's truly a joy.

We’ve all done something similar. I sold off an old Audio Research Tube amp because I couldn’t afford to fix it. It’s worth many times more than I got for it.

I sold all my classical records in college as part of a “cleansing”. Totally wish I still had those.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Well said.

 

[Mark C Flick]

Never heard of Tidal... I do stream Pandora on occasion though not as often as I did when I had Dish Network. I also do the occsional You Tube stream of stuff like Darrel's House. In a way it has changed how I listen to music... I no longer have to get up and change the CD.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Never heard of Tidal... I do stream Pandora on occasion though not as often as I did when I had Dish Network. I also do the occsional You Tube stream of stuff like Darrel's House. In a way it has changed how I listen to music... I no longer have to get up and change the CD.

Tidal’s claim to fame is that if you purchase their HiFi monthly service you get access to CD quality or better. It’s all streamed in lossless Flac format such that worst case you get Cd quality, but because they use MQA, best case is 24 bit 192khz.

If the sound quality is important to you, you may want to try Tidal out. It and Deezer are the only services that offer streaming that can equal or exceed CD quality. All other streaming services use lossy compression, which while fine for casual listening, is inferior for more serious listening.

 

[Mark C Flick]

One of the biggest mistakes I've made is selling off my entire record collection... I was young and needed some quick cash. Doh!
I agree though, the process of handling records is entirely pleasing and satisfying. It's truly a joy.

Thats too bad. I've been dragging around my record collection and my comic book collection for years, even though I no longer have a record player. When I moved I got rid of a lot of old cassettes, CDs and VHS tapes and a bunch of other stuff but not the records.

 

[GFOviedo]

I listen to a lot more music now than watching movies. I would say I listen to music 85% compared to 25% movies now. I’ve tried Tidal HiFi, Spotify Premium, Weezer Premium, Pandora Plus, And YouTube.

I did hear a difference in sound quality with some music with Tidal HiFi, but not worth $20 a month for it. I was using it for a while since I can get it for $10 a month via student discount. However, I stayed with Spotify Premium since I am only paying $5 for it and that includes Hulu as well.