Stop Talking About CDs vs Streaming! 

CD, HDCD & SACD = The ONLY thing that exist for me, not even radio or LP here and absolutely no streaming.

I purchase cd's that I want forever, that I will be listening to over and over into the future. One day, I'll be cutting off the cost of streaming and will still have 'my' music.

I have over 4000 albums on CD. I have seen disc rot only one time and it was on a DVD that was stored in a hot environment.

Andrew, you've persuaded me to invest in a CD player or transport. You may be able to get better sound from a turntable, but albums take up more space, require more frequent cleaning and are more expensive than CDs. I loved my albums, but I also like CDs as well. I think the audiophile-grade CD players and transports are quite good now; and with the advancement in dacs, Redbook CDs can sound very, very good. Plus, it seems to me that building a very good analogue system can become pretty expensive depending on how far you want to push it. Separate costs for cartridges, tonearms, phono preamps and the turntable itself can really add up, and I know I would be tempted to upgrade those components over time. CDs are a compact physical medium that you can still enjoy even through internet outages or when you want an alternative to streaming. I would consider you an evangelist for CDs, lol. Keep up the good work.

My Cds aren't going anywhere. I have thousands..Streaming services are starting to raise prices more often now. I don't buy music to rent and never will.We do think alike

The problem with CD's is the physical space required to keep your collection; audiophile Gen-Zs in their small apartments don't have the room. My 300 CDs collection (small by your standards) is in storage . With ripped, downloaded CD or Hi-RES quality files loaded onto a decent quality music server (which can usually stream as well) one can access, create mixed playlists (CDs and streamed) and play music with all the convenience of the application without the need for a quality transport (CD) and to get up to change your CD every time you want to listen to something else. While "controversies" increase RU-vid viewers, 2024's solutions will be better suited to attract a younger generation into the audiophile community.

If I buy a cd,sacd,dvd A, or blu ray it's mine. Streaming never will be

I used to feel this way about vinyl as you described Michael regarding the tangible aspects of enjoying CDs. 💿 It was a ritual-like thing to pull an album out and cue it up, after cleaning stylus and cleaning record itself. The whole experience was fun. Then reading liner notes and looking at covers while listening. I resisted CDs. I grew up with vinyl records. I also worked in radio broadcasting. From a disc jockey’s perspective, CDs made everything so much easier while on the air live. I bought my first CD ten years after their introduction. It was Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes Greatest Hits. I now have a great collection of CDs and not looking back. I have embraced streaming too, but use it to audition and discover new music. That saves me money too. When something really moves me, I’ll buy the CD. Streaming is convenient no doubt, but I will always have my CD collection. 👍🏼🎶😎

Fine segment. Thanks. One feature of CDs that you didn't mention, although I may have missed it, or someone else may have in the comments, is the value of the booklet that comes with it. Cover art, added photographs. The who performed, when and where it was recorded. And an essay or original liner notes by the likes of Nat Hentoff or Leonard Feather (jazz, my passion) add so much the the listening experience. I have an Alexa. And I use it to explore new artists and genres, or just for background music. I also collect vinyl. It's all music, important to our well being, and each technology has its place in my life. Keep up the great videos.

To me one must have dog hearing to really tell the difference between high res and a standard cd unless your watching a wave file.

Hi I've been buying cds💿since 1985..my first 2 cds were YES 90125 & Tears for Fears ..Songs from the big Chair.I have a very large collection.CDs will only last as long as there are players made...?

I'm gen z but my first car only had a cd player. So I had to build a cd collection my first 5 years driving. After getting a new car with Bluetooth, I definitely noticed a difference between my favorite cds and their Spotify version.

Use streaming if you want to listen to music. Buy CD if you want to cherish it

Awesome take on this. I haven't bought a CD in about 10 years and just recently purchased one from an artist I listen to a lot. The experience of unwrapping the case and carefully putting the CD into my gaming console (since that's the only device I have that takes disks) was something special. It was an awesome feeling. Not long after that, I bought a used Sony Walkman and a used iPod along with some more CDs, lol. I want to own the music I pay for going forward and eventually stop paying for streaming services.

Great opportunity to do a double blind test conducted by a third party to prove the difference is undeniable.

I listened to all my CDs and wrote the song track numbers I liked onto a post-it note and stuck it onto the front of the CD cover, then I ripped only those tracks at 320 kbps to my MP3 media library on my laptop, in the days when laptops had a CD burner. It was very convenient for me at the time. I disposed of only the CDs that I couldn't find any tracks I liked, which was considerable. Typically I found only one or two tracks that were great, the rest was what I would consider " fill in material".

As long as there is any form of physical media for movies, music and video games. I'm only supporting physical media and not digital and not streaming since the digital content is already being abused by the greedy corporations with force arbitration that's already included in the terms and conditions of service and it's get swept under the rug because it has become normalized and everyone is already doing it. Nowadays, it's like the only choices that the consumers have is either getting ripped off or not get ripped off but it always ends up being the former instead of the latter. I rather own everything and be happy about it while keeping preservation alive. It's like preservation of consumer products and services and right to repair are taking a backseat and are on life support metaphorically speaking.

Despite a number of purges, I ran out of storage space for my CD’s, at which point, I moved to streaming. I originally had accounts with Qobuz and Tidal and found the sound quality comparable with the high end CD transport I previously used. However, I do prefer to own music so I added a server to my system, after which I imported the CD,s, which are now in storage boxes. New purchase are made from Qobuz and are conveniently downloaded to the server automatically. I still have a streaming account with Qobuz as this allows me to listen to albums before deciding whether or not to purchase them.

“I’ve never had the chance to A/B test it” = your next video. Keep the CD content coming!

The difference between HiRes and CD quality from streaming is HiRes is easier for my DAC to decode. It’s actually quite complicated and something I can’t explain but there are others that agree. That said CD’s still sound better than HiRes streaming. Maybe that’s due to lack of compression or bit rate of 1411 kbit/s. I’ve yet to see CD quality streaming with that high of bit rate. It’s usually around 700 to 1000ish. I’m using Apple Music and Amazon HD music currently. Is Qobuz much better than other streaming services? Thanks so much for listening.

I'm 67 and I have CDs from 1985. I stream a lot because I'm getting lazy. LOL I actually prefer MP3 CDs in my truck because of all the road noise. Compression is actually preferred in that case. How are you feeling?

Mastering engineer Bob Katz feels the benefit of higher sample rates is perhaps less due to the extended range we can or cannot hear, but it makes it easier to avoid distortions in the DAC that occur at 44.1, which he feels are audible. This due to the very steep filter cutting sound off ae 22kHz.

mp3 is my main music collection. I've collected a lot of cds. but I ditched them because my room is small.

I think Tidal has pretty good quality. I’m using a decent DAC (Schiit Modi 3) and a decent bridge (Allo with RPi3) over Roon. Quite comparable to CDs’ PCM 44.1. Having said that I still prefer pulling out my vinyls as I do enjoy the rituals of playing records on the turntable.

CDs eat shelf space. Otherwise, they are superior to any other media or format: sound quality, durability, ease of use, tangibility, collectability, presence of physical artwork and liner notes, no Internet connection or subcription fees or passwords needed... Like others, I use streaming only to discover and audition music: anything I like I buy on CD. Since their advent, they've always been for me the best and only real way to listen to music, other than live performance.

I live very far from USA so streaming here is really tuff & several hoops to jump thru, too much hassle to hear music

And you're right, the answer is BE your own streaming service! I personally use the Samsung Music app on my phone (and it only works on Samsung phones) for all my ripped albums. It's the closest to the old Google Play Music app that was discontinued a few years back. I have a dedicated phone just for my massive library of ripped CDs.

Vinyl???

I have all my CDs ripped to flac. However I re ripped to MP3 360 because on my system i cannot in any way tell the difference, 128 yeah when the music has lots of range. Even in my headphones the difference is negligible, at most. Spotify and RU-vid music sound perfectly fine, I'm not sitting in a music room, I'm on a couch with a giant sliding window on one side and a kitchen behind me or in my car.

I've almost 2000cds. I'll never have given up buying them. Also,I do stream a lot,mostly on the move and while driving. Having said thay I must admit I do not know anyone aged 20 or so who buys cds,worse luck. [Myself being 50+]

The big issue is the push by corporations to acquire the music catalogues of music artists. Abba, Biily Joel, Springston to ZZ top have all sold their catalogues. What this means is the profiteers will now look to capitalize on their acquisitions. By having CDs you are insulated from any future shock. Believe me its coming. I liked it better 7-10 yrs ago when the CD market was dead. I could purchase new CDs for 3.99. Now the price has doubled. Now my collection is massive.

Same. Stream albums via Tidal and if I like them I buy them on CD. Saves me a fortune compared to buying every CD where there might be only one or two good tracks and not worth the outlay. CD is still my #1 medium for listening to music.

I buy cd’s but the rip with Apple Lossless. I feel streaming wasteful for me while i already alll the music i listen to.. i rarely buy new music

Another thing I wonder is why do artists push streaming over cds when it’s the least profitable (allegedly)

3:56 God bless you too!

I think the record industry should embrace DVD audio as the future CD format. People now expect 24-bit/96kHz quality, and the hardware is converging to support this. Many people today use DVD players as transports linked to decent DACs for CD playback. I do this myself, and I know quite a few others making this transition. Among audiophiles, there is a real backlash against streaming, but CDs are considered outdated technology. Hi-fi manufacturers should consider producing a high-quality separate unit that plays 4K, SACD, DVD, CD, and more, but configure it to high-fi sizing. This way, people can have excellent CD players that also double as DVD players and start enjoying physical media again. The record companies need to support this because, in these tight times, I know several people who record music from their streamers and keep the recordings, much like tape in the old days. This is problematic because these recordings are bit-by-bit perfect copies. Unlike tape. You can even buy devices off Amazon that allow you to record the audio stream at perfect bit by bit quality. The recording industry should plan for a different future because streaming may play a minor role, and there needs to be a backward-compatible physical media format that provides a great listening experience. Vinyl doesn’t integrate well with the digital world in my opinion as is so bloody expensive. Future combined CD and DVD players could meet this market need, encouraging people to collect and pay for music again rather than RENT in the WEF’s be happy and own nothing future. Personally, I like to pay for my music and own it to connect with it. Streaming for me is strictly for auditioning.

i only use streaming for discovery i then buy the cd or flac files and listen to it on cd or cdr lol.

Streaming sounds great and super convenient. For me personally though, I just want to own my music. CDs are so cheap. Sometimes you can find the digital file even cheaper. I'm just so freaking tired of subscriptions. I don't care if it costs me more. Even with TV and movies, I find DVDs and Blu-rays and I have more than enough to watch. To each their own, enjoy.

I still buy cds but also use Apple Music for on the go

This analogy is similar to the 6:46 debate about movies you rent if you want to watch it once but buy if you like it and want to watch it more than once. Also physical media have othe advantages such as cool liner notes and sometimes great essays and photos in great books and for operas the libretto

I have thousands of CDs and continue to buy them. Mostly reissues especially if they have unreleased concert recordings or other unavailable music. I stream too but find the sound quality with a well mastered CD through my 2.2 music only system is better with the CD than streaming. To me CDs and streaming are the best of both worlds. Streaming exposes me to new music and so much music beyond what I have bought. If I love it and want the highest sound quality or get music not available online, I buy the CD (and the occasional BlueRay disc included in some box sets). I Have your t-shirt, So Loud It Hz, and it’s my new favorite T. Rock on!

There is one serious flaw in the pro-CD argument. Dynamic Range. The dynamic range of music is the ratio between the loudest passage or instrument and the quietest. When natural instruments are played live that range, loudest to softest, can reach 60db or more. CDs are generally cited for 96db of dynamic range which is more than adequate. But recording engineers being who they are, a whole lot of nutmeg gets tossed into the koolaide resulting in a decades long run of CD music produced with almost zero dynamic range... that is, the LOUDER the better and to hell with fidelity. In fact some of those heavily compressed CDs were carrying an inbuilt distortion of 25% or more, which is clearly audible, even on cheapo systems. This wonderful "Loudness War" escapade is chronicled on "The Dynamic Range Database" (do a search) where the actual range of thousands of albums and songs are measured. It's only in the last year or so that recordings for CD or Streaming are returning to Vinyl levels of dynamic range (typically 16db or less). This is no coincidence since streaming services are turning these monstrously loud CDs down to Vinyl levels (called the "alignment level") to prevent listeners from being blasted when one of these compressed monstrosities come on. This is one of the things giving credence to the claims that Vinyl sounds better than CDs ... because it actually does! The levels of dynamic range compression used on most CDs would make a record skip or loop rather badly. So it's not used there. And no, the painful irony of the medium with the best range being used to produce music with the worst is not lost on me.

I have a ton of cds. I just started ripping them onto my laptop to disperse to my Hiby DAP so that I can possibly one day just eliminate paying for streaming. Great topic!

Can somebody explain what is different between WAW AND FLACK ? I rip my CDs on WAW Format . What is best ?

I rip my vinyl, CD and cassettes to MP3 for use everywhere outside of my home (phone, vehicle, garage, etc.). I lost hearing in one ear a few years ago so the quality doesn't bother me as much as if I had two perfectly functioning ears. To be fair, I was never a purist anyways. Whatever allowed me to enjoy my music is what I gravitated to. I do not do streaming as it doesn't really help any artists other than the ones with deep pockets anyways.

I download FLACs. Why are idiots debating CDs and streaming?

Great cd playback a d great streaming go together! I think of streaming as a high quality library..and if I like something..I’ll try and get the 💿

I like CDs 🤗🤗🤗 No streaming

Ive definately observed more "air" as it may be best described, when listening to high res on a pretty resolving system on pretty resolving headphones....but i mean, most dacs have filters just after 20k. So my suspision, is its something our lizard brain may catch as a sense of added naturalness... perhaps the very subtle tiny gains from having full extension to the filter shelf, or perhaps more bits in a given space somehow impact ringing in a way we havnt fugured out yet. I hear it and know its there, just feel like its more silly a thing than we give it credit for. No magic or voodoo or anything

I don't think you can do a definitive a/b test between CDs and streaming. I have always found a difference in mastering between the two.

I started buying CDs again. First thing I do is rip them to flac then stream them. lol. But still love to spin some disc!!

And then you talked about it!!! Tidal=50 million songs CD or better quality. $11.00/month. Bluesound Vault2, Gumby DAC. Sounds plenty good. enough.

I buy cds/sacds rip them and play them off of roon. Still love cds just dont play them as much as I should.

Ima cd collector seller and buyer in 2024 and ima keep buying them and support Artist forever To me streaming dosent exist 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤢🤢🤢🤢 physical media forever cds 💿 forever better sound quality I get target 🎯 bonus tracks No internet and ur favorite artist gets more money on physical media 😅😅😅😅😅 streaming is a rental file 😂😂😂🙏🙏🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

My hearing is going. Too many concerts.

Oh Michael 🙈 Each to there own mate But Tidal / Quobus / Apple Music are easily good enough ,in most cases as good as CDs , the quality of CD pressings vary massively anyway we all have a handful of really good recordings , but a huge number are not great , poor dynamics , too load etc etc . But the deal breaker here is convenience , not just in the car or AirPods , in the home via a quality streamer using an app on my phone I find a hundred times more MUSIC to try , it’s all about the music available to me and the ease of finding it and of playing it the differences between a quality streamer and a Cd player are negligible it’s a fact . IMO ..your argument is simply wrong and all of the people cannot be wrong all of the time , which format is ..THE FUTURE ?

I couldn't agree with you more. I have a small collection of LPs, DVD, and CDs (music DVD, but not DVD-audio) As much GB or MB the file might have. I burn it to DVD, at 24/96 or 16/48 depending. I have one request if I may. Some LP recording of some years ago can be burned to DVD/CD. Can you do a video on how to use all the tool from Audacity or Adobe Audition on which and what to use? More importantly, in which order to use the tools. (Compression, Limiter, RMS etc)

I missed a lot in high school and after. Borrow as much as possible from library.