Streaming Rules the Marketplace

MRJAZZ

Industry Expert
Jan 20, 2014
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Mike
What is PCIe High Rez? Is that a streaming service available to the public?

BTW, I was surprised to find that Tidal MQA was preferred to Qobuz Hi Rez about 50% of the time. More relaxed, natural presentation particularly for solo piano recordings. But not consistently. Nice to have options.
Marty

I actually find Tidal somewhat better than Qobuz, even non MQA. TIDAL has a somewhat richer, denser quality to it, that seems to make it a little more relaxing to listen to. I find Qobuz to be clearly more “transparent”, with a better sense of pace (PRAT), and generally somewhat more “alive” sounding.
It really comes down to one’s priorities and how your system is “tuned”.
Both are excellent.

Cheers....
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Mike
What is PCIe High Rez? Is that a streaming service available to the public?

PCIe is the circuit architecture that is used for the hard drives inside my SGM Extreme server. it is a lower noise and faster version of SSD drives. so my now 20tb of music are on these ultra low noise super drives.

BTW, I was surprised to find that Tidal MQA was preferred to Qobuz Hi Rez about 50% of the time. More relaxed, natural presentation particularly for solo piano recordings. But not consistently. Nice to have options.
Marty

that's not the result i got last time i compared. i will make it a point to revisit that compare, especially on piano. i listen to lots of streaming piano. and piano reproduction performance was a main focus of my dac choice. i'm sensitive to doing it right. i'd agree that all of it is quite good and i enjoy the MQA files.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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jturbo

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2018
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Mike
What is PCIe High Rez? Is that a streaming service available to the public?

BTW, I was surprised to find that Tidal MQA was preferred to Qobuz Hi Rez about 50% of the time. A more relaxed, natural presentation particularly for solo piano recordings. But not consistently. Nice to have options.
Marty

Im assuming that MIke is referring to HIRES files stored on PCIE attached M.2 NVME storage as used in the extreme. As contrasted with SATA attached SSD storage used on most current servers.
 

Kingrex

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2019
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I have Quboz (highest level), Tidal and PCIe files to choose from.

Current sonic ranking of file and streaming choices. the differences between categories are not absolute, but this is my general view right now.

Tidal normal files < Tidal MQA (varies considerably) < Quboz redbook < PCIe redbook files > Quboz High Rez < PCIe High Rez files.

all those choices are fully satisfying to listen to.

most listened to category is easily Quboz High Rez- mostly classical (24-44 and above)......basically unlimited really super sounding music. And the interface allows for excellent flow from one title to another.

Another favorite is making a 90 minute playlist from all catagories. I never think that what I’m hearing is not excellent. Then sit back.

This is music on my terms without any limits anywhere. Just......music........without any critical thinking involved.

Wherever we were going with ease of use and music, we/i have arrived there.
Qobuz high rez. Are you dow loading into the offline library before playback. It use to sound much better on my system that way. My new software is not setup to run an offline library at this time, so.I dont know.
 

Ovenmitt

Well-Known Member
Nov 21, 2017
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It’s music. It’s good! I really do like having so much music at my fingertips and very much enjoy streaming. It’s nice to make my playlists and then have them on my phone, when I’m driving or traveling too.

I have been able to discover some really good new music through streaming. I’ve also been able to hear some stuff that I thought was total crap and it saved me from wasting the money on a piece of vinyl.

The best part for me though is the choice; the choice to listen to the unlimited smorgasbord that is streaming. Or, the choice to put an old mono record on my Garrard and lower the needle into the groove.... then there’s trying to decide what to drink
 
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Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
Feb 23, 2015
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I know it sure has changed my listening habits, saving wear on my vinyl. I have not purchased a cd in more than a decade save for a couple thrift store finds to spin in my truck now and again, but even there I now stream. My next purchase was going going to be a turntable upgrade but has shifted to streaming/dac solution.

As we prepare to move here in the very near future the thought of lugging a couple thousand pounds of vinyl across the country again also weighs heavy on my mind.

My biggest issue with streaming is I get like a girl in the car turning radio stations after every song looking for the next song. I have a hard time listening to a whole album when streaming as one song makes me think about something else and so on. Sometimes I do not even make it through a track before onto the next and that disappoints me.

On the other hand I/we all now have vastly increased our libraries to limitless proportions.
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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You find all yr prog and deep genre searches on streaming? Tbh, this is one of the biggest reservations I still have moving away from physical media.
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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There are a lot of choices now. Amazon is CD quality. This pisses people off, but Spotify is damb good and a hugh library. Our gear is getting so good, a quality recording on many less than 16/44.1 streaming services sounds very good. Not good enough to satisfy a sound snob. But darn good for most. Especially if it means finding music you like. I don't ever listen to music i don't like even if its a good recording. I will go for a little less quality if I love the band.

Qobuz and Tidal are not going to find many of the bands you want. They may introduce you to new. In all honesty, i find more music I like at friends houses, and the many forum threads on what are you listening too. Streaming services let me find some of the titles. Nonwhere near all.

Streaming services also allow you to make playlist. I much prefer a playlist to most album. Especially when music becomes background such as entertaining, cooking, coffee in the morning.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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almaaudio.com
You find all yr prog and deep genre searches on streaming? Tbh, this is one of the biggest reservations I still have moving away from physical media.

I think I've answered this like a dozen times, but yes. Between Tidal and Qobuz, it's mostly all there. Spotify does seem to have a larger/deeper library, though obviously the quality sucks, but it'll do for an initial listen.

Where streaming is deficient is telling you EXACTLY what version of that said album you're listening to. No catalog #, no nothing, so unlike a CD, you never know what you're listening to. With older albums, with many different "remasters" of varying quality, it'd be great to know.

But that's where Roon comes in handy. You can rip your own CD and compare to the version(s) on streaming services.
 
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Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
Feb 23, 2015
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You find all yr prog and deep genre searches on streaming? Tbh, this is one of the biggest reservations I still have moving away from physical media.
there is a free version of Spotify go check it out, you will be surprised whats out there, quit being so damn stubborn and join the club, it certainly cuts down on physical media purchases to find out if you like something or not. You wont hate it I promise you that. For the cost of half of one album a month you have access to millions of albums and it goes with you every where you go. Step up and hang out with the cool kids! :cool:
 
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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Prog fans have never been considered cool.
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
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Hey, "be cool or be cast out". Neil Peart tapped right into that angst...the suburban kid and also the teen prog fan. As truthful as it gets.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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? http://www.magnumdynalab.com/mdt-1ms-music-streamer/

"... triode tube audio section for analogue playback and HD-USB to 24/192 Asynchronous ESS Sabre DAC with sampling to 384 and DSD."

• Features Tidal (with MQA), Roon, Spotify, Deezer and Qobuz

MSRP: $3,995 US
 
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Holli82

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Jun 6, 2010
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Where streaming is deficient is telling you EXACTLY what version of that said album you're listening to. No catalog #, no nothing, so unlike a CD, you never know what you're listening to. With older albums, with many different "remasters" of varying quality, it'd be great to know.
I enjoy streaming and this is my only complaint.
 
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marty

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Apr 20, 2010
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Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
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Really interesting. They have a good pedigree so I'd be interested to see if this is the real deal at a bargain price.
I looked for a comprehensive review but could not find one, it sure has my attention however!
 

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