Do you download or stream music these days?

[gsgary]

The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl

This is B.S. There is crappy vinyl and crappy digital. There is also quality vinyl and quality digital. The 44/16 digital format used for CDs has more DR and stereo separation than vinyl is capable of. The difference between a record and a CD is in what you don't hear, namely the effects of the recording medium itself on the music. A lot of the differences also come from playback medium. People tend to sit down in a warm room and play records on a full size, proper stereo set up with quality components. People tend to stream digital music at low bit rates through cheap DACs and even cheaper, tiny little speakers. That's assuming they aren't on the go and streaming really low bitrate music through really crappy earbuds or "fashion" headphones.
Another issue with modern music is the master. As people move towards cheaper, "good enough" headphones and desktop speakers for their music, sound engineers are mastering the music to sound "good" on cheap devices. They are literally "dumbing down" the music to accommodate cheap playback devices. I remember this coming to light a while back with the Guitar Hero game being released with higher quality versions of some modern music than what was available on the albums.
All that said, when it comes to quality sound the biggest factors are the playback devices used. DAC (for digital or needle for vinyl), amp, speakers/headphones. Playing a 256kbs mp3 on a phone through the included earbuds will sound like crap. run that same file through a dedicated DAC, then a dedicated amp, to a quality pair of reference class headphones and the whole experience is transformed (assuming you're working with a quality master, i.e. not pop music).

With that said, to answer the OPs question, I have a mix of CDs and downloads, and I stream as well. It is situationally dependent.

I'm talking about the quality vinyl you can buy

 

[gsgary]

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers

 

[Scatterbrained]

The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl

This is B.S. There is crappy vinyl and crappy digital. There is also quality vinyl and quality digital. The 44/16 digital format used for CDs has more DR and stereo separation than vinyl is capable of. The difference between a record and a CD is in what you don't hear, namely the effects of the recording medium itself on the music. A lot of the differences also come from playback medium. People tend to sit down in a warm room and play records on a full size, proper stereo set up with quality components. People tend to stream digital music at low bit rates through cheap DACs and even cheaper, tiny little speakers. That's assuming they aren't on the go and streaming really low bitrate music through really crappy earbuds or "fashion" headphones.
Another issue with modern music is the master. As people move towards cheaper, "good enough" headphones and desktop speakers for their music, sound engineers are mastering the music to sound "good" on cheap devices. They are literally "dumbing down" the music to accommodate cheap playback devices. I remember this coming to light a while back with the Guitar Hero game being released with higher quality versions of some modern music than what was available on the albums.
All that said, when it comes to quality sound the biggest factors are the playback devices used. DAC (for digital or needle for vinyl), amp, speakers/headphones. Playing a 256kbs mp3 on a phone through the included earbuds will sound like crap. run that same file through a dedicated DAC, then a dedicated amp, to a quality pair of reference class headphones and the whole experience is transformed (assuming you're working with a quality master, i.e. not pop music).

With that said, to answer the OPs question, I have a mix of CDs and downloads, and I stream as well. It is situationally dependent.

I'm talking about the quality vinyl you can buy

So am I.

 

[Scatterbrained]

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers

Which does nothing but support my earlier point.

 

[gsgary]

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers

Which does nothing but support my earlier point.

Plug an mp3 in and it sounds **** compared to vinyl

 

[D-B-J]

Stream Spotify and Pandora religiously. Buy some music here and there.

Jake

 

[Scatterbrained]

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers

Which does nothing but support my earlier point.

Plug an mp3 in and it sounds **** compared to vinyl

Put in a well mastered CD. Extensive A-B-X studies have been done between formats and you'd be surprised at the results. I used to have crates of vinyl (EDM and classical). The best vinyl sounded like quality digital. Cheaper vinyl has the characteristic "warmth" of a high noise floor that is so typical of vinyl.

 

[Scatterbrained]

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers

Which does nothing but support my earlier point.

Plug an mp3 in and it sounds **** compared to vinyl

Are you using a quality DAC, or just whatever is around? I have a seperate DAC (digital to analog converter) hooked up to my computer just for music. There is a distinct difference between the sound quality of the music when played off of the motherboards soundcard vs through the DAC.

 

[tecboy]

At Bestbuy, it is nice to try out the high-end headphone. However, I can't tell the difference from high-end and low-end headphones.

 

[Scatterbrained]

At Bestbuy, it is nice to try out the high-end headphone. However, I can't tell the difference from high-end and low-end headphones.

What kind of "high end" headphones does Best Buy actually carry? I know they have the expensive "fashion" headphones, but I don't think I've ever seen any audiophile or reference grade phones from firms like AKG, Beyerdynamic, Grado, HiFiMan, Sennheisser, etc. in my local BestBuy. It's usually crap like Beats or SkullCandy.

 

[tecboy]

At Bestbuy, it is nice to try out the high-end headphone. However, I can't tell the difference from high-end and low-end headphones.

What kind of "high end" headphones does Best Buy actually carry? I know they have the expensive "fashion" headphones, but I don't think I've ever seen any audiophile or reference grade phones from firms like AKG, Beyerdynamic, Grado, HiFiMan, Sennheisser, etc. in my local BestBuy. It's usually crap like Beats or SkullCandy.

Hmmm... A $1,500 headphone. How much are you making per year?

Beside, my dad has a lot of vinyl records from the 50s and 60s and a pair of old crappy speakers. These still sound very good than the CDs.

 

[dannylightning]

I buy CD,s. Than I put them in my computer using a lossless format like flac, CD sound sounds so much better than downloaded or streaming music when you have a nice audio system.

Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

 

[jcdeboever]

I have a crappy system for vinyl but I don't care all that much. I like the music. I am playing bread right now n my headphones. All my hardware stuff is from the 70's... Thorens turntable, Sansui receiver and amp, jbl and dynaco speakers.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[gsgary]

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers

Which does nothing but support my earlier point.

Plug an mp3 in and it sounds **** compared to vinyl

Are you using a quality DAC, or just whatever is around? I have a seperate DAC (digital to analog converter) hooked up to my computer just for music. There is a distinct difference between the sound quality of the music when played off of the motherboards soundcard vs through the DAC.

Don't have music on my computer

 

[myvinyl333]

It is like Pete Townsend replied when asked what new music he listened to... he replied with all the access to music it is impossible to hear all the good music. It is not like the late 60's when there were a few of us (Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, Cream, etc)
I feel what ever makes your "clock tic"wind it up ! Listen while you can before your "clock" stops.