beammeup
pfm Member
Streamer all the way!
...
In terms of sound quality I’m a firm believer that a CD, an online stream, USB stick or a local hard drive are all interchangeable digital transport media. There can be no way that bits should sound different depending on the way they are delivered to your playback device. That different playback devices (CD, streamer) might sound different, yeah that can be the case. But different CD players can also sound different to each other - it the playback device, not the data file that causes the difference.
I’m still using the Logitech Media Server (LMS) as my streaming platform. I like the way it integrates local music, streaming services, internet radio and a wide variety of supported playback devices (such as Airplay and uPnP). Although Logitech stopped the Squeezebox devices, they still have somebody maintaining LMS, and with it being open source now the functionality has only increased. It is a very good (and free!) alternative to Roon in my view.
No way I’m going back to CD’s!
And no way am I going to invest in CD's either. There could be significant improvements in sound quality using CD over streaming - this has been a debate for some time - so on the strength of the review of the Audiolab dedicated CDT I am taking the opportunity to find out for myself if there is much in it or not.
If the CDT sounds much better then I will know where I stand.
This doesn't mean I'm going to invest in CD's if I find the CDT is much better - it just means I am going to try and match the CDT with a streaming tweak or solution of some kind. Basically,
it allows me to find out for myself.
Yes streaming is far more convenient.
I do know that streaming is capable of superb sounds - because regrettably I heard a dCS Rossini Apex yesterday streaming Qobuz - totally gobsmacked!