AudiocRaver
Loved and Remembered Emeritus Reviewer
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- Preamp, Processor or Receiver
- Onkyo TX-SR705 Receiver
- Main Amp
- Crown XLS 1502 DriveCore-2 (x2 as monoblock)
- Additional Amp
- Behringer A500 Reference Power Amplifier
- Front Speakers
- MartinLogan Electromotion ESL Electrostatic (x2)
- Center Channel Speaker
- Phantom Center
- Surround Speakers
- NSM Audio Model 5 2-Way (x2)
- Subwoofers
- JBL ES150P Powered Subwoofer (x2)
Art Rock Lovers Rejoice! The studio album libraries of Porcupine Tree, King Crimson, and Tool are now all streaming!
The sometimes quirky/picky leaders of those bands - Steven Wilson, Robert Fipp, and Maynard Keenan, respectively - were holdouts who long refused to have some or all of their works available on the popular streaming services. They have seen the light, and the libraries of those three Art Rock bands are now available on Tidal and Qobuz.
Porcupine Tree’s last five albums have been my favorites, and were all mixed in 5.1 surround on DVD-Audio. Having obtained FLAC versions of these, I have been a big fan of those mixes. I have kept a Raspberry Pi active as a media server for those and other surround and hi-res albums. The Raspberry Pi will continue to be useful for listening to surround albums, and some hi-res albums, although Qobuz with their extensive hi-res streaming library will now fill that need.
King Crimson’s earlier albums were available on Tidal a few months back, along with many live recordings, but the ‘81 through ‘03 studio works were not. Those albums included all of the tracks with the Robert Fripp / Adrian Belew combination on guitars, for me the most interesting of the K.C. works by far, so I was not satisfied. To have the entire catalogue streaming has been a treat, and I have been enjoying tracks that I have not heard in years.
Tool held out the longest, just releasing their studio works to Tidal and Qobuz last week. I streamed Undertow this afternoon, my first listen to this album in 10 years. What fun!
For those not familiar with those bands or their music, here is your chance. For those who are fans already, rejoice and feast!
Another quick note on Tidal: My two complaint for years were (1) that albums recorded and mastered for gapless play between tracks, or through a whole album side, would not play properly when streamed, and (2) that tracks downloaded to a mobile device would skip around between track segments at random from time to time. Both of these problems have been resolved recently. The gapless play still has some problems if streamed through another application, like NAD’s BluOS or Oppo’s Sonica app. Ah, well, the streaming universe is not yet QUITE in perfect order. But it is now three giant steps closer.
The sometimes quirky/picky leaders of those bands - Steven Wilson, Robert Fipp, and Maynard Keenan, respectively - were holdouts who long refused to have some or all of their works available on the popular streaming services. They have seen the light, and the libraries of those three Art Rock bands are now available on Tidal and Qobuz.
Porcupine Tree’s last five albums have been my favorites, and were all mixed in 5.1 surround on DVD-Audio. Having obtained FLAC versions of these, I have been a big fan of those mixes. I have kept a Raspberry Pi active as a media server for those and other surround and hi-res albums. The Raspberry Pi will continue to be useful for listening to surround albums, and some hi-res albums, although Qobuz with their extensive hi-res streaming library will now fill that need.
King Crimson’s earlier albums were available on Tidal a few months back, along with many live recordings, but the ‘81 through ‘03 studio works were not. Those albums included all of the tracks with the Robert Fripp / Adrian Belew combination on guitars, for me the most interesting of the K.C. works by far, so I was not satisfied. To have the entire catalogue streaming has been a treat, and I have been enjoying tracks that I have not heard in years.
Tool held out the longest, just releasing their studio works to Tidal and Qobuz last week. I streamed Undertow this afternoon, my first listen to this album in 10 years. What fun!
For those not familiar with those bands or their music, here is your chance. For those who are fans already, rejoice and feast!
Another quick note on Tidal: My two complaint for years were (1) that albums recorded and mastered for gapless play between tracks, or through a whole album side, would not play properly when streamed, and (2) that tracks downloaded to a mobile device would skip around between track segments at random from time to time. Both of these problems have been resolved recently. The gapless play still has some problems if streamed through another application, like NAD’s BluOS or Oppo’s Sonica app. Ah, well, the streaming universe is not yet QUITE in perfect order. But it is now three giant steps closer.
