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Does a streamer sound better than a CD player?

Octavian said:
Why would it be interesting? I fail to understand the relevance. Playing is entirely different from listening. I used to be a flutist. How my playing sounds to me is very different from how the audience hears me.
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I would also suggest that in the case of a rock drummer what they hear acoustically in the room is very different to what is recorded using separate closely placed mics on each part of the kit, almost certainly then run through a compressor.

Though most drummers over a certain age are stone deaf anyway so perhaps it's a moot point!
 
As a drummer, you *really* wouldn't want the recorded drums to sound like live, untreated drums. In some respects even the best drums present a fairly horrible sound at ground zero (in audiophile terms), and on the rare occasions when I was in the studio, the *very last* thing I wanted was that overtoney mess captured 'as is'. Much better to get the balance and separation right. Live drums is another matter, for acoustic sessions, but in terms of conventional studio type multitrack captures, no. And I have a good kit, well tuned, and (ahem) fairly well-played too. But it's not a sound that (IMHO) works for most music. Far too harsh and uncontrolled.
 
@JTC: I could't agree more. Most people think what is on a record is the natural sound of a drum kit. It couldn't be further from the truth. You can say the same about a saxophone or brass instruments. Such instruments can sound harsh and make you wan't to leaver the room ASAP if you don't wear ear protection when you are too close.
 
Del monaco said:
In the past I fell into the upgrade urge. It’s an addiction that means you’re never satisfied with what you have...
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I had the upgrade urge, too - because my system simply wasn't good enough.

Now it has achieved (not perfection, I'm sure, but) sufficiency - for me, anyway; it is, after all, a very personal thing.

It gives me a convincing window into a concert hall at the far end of our living room, and it never makes my ears hurt. It is reliable, good-looking and gives me access to almost any piece of music that takes my fancy. What more could I ask for?

And it's only taken 45 years :rolleyes: :)
 
I’d say I’m pretty contented with my set up.

Im not going to say no to the occasional upgrade but if it stayed like this forever I’d be happy.
 
Looks like 'Bariks in your avatar. Whats the rest of your system that won't convey the sense of drums?
 
Guinnless said:
Kick drums on vinyl I can feel in in my chest, it's not as good on digital.
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david ellwood said:
You make is sound like CD offers perfect sound, I’ll be impressed when digital starts to make drums that sound like drums.
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This happened around 1980, so only about 40 years ago ;)
No, digital from this early period wasn't perfect but it was extremely capable in the right hands.

This whole notion that only certain formats or media delivery methods can convey the 'tune', emotion or the sound of drums is for the birds.

The performance, recording and mastering trump everything and regular old Redbook CD can sound stunning, from the disc or streamed.

The CD format and 16/44 is extremely capable for home audio. Only in a studio setting do the limitations start to appear.
Tons of superb sounding neddledrops out there from high quality vinyl sources, and guess what? - they sound like high quality vinyl.
 
Two tracks where drums sound good on my Maggies are Cha Cha Loco with Joe Jackson and Take Five. You can hear the speed and skin very cleanly.
 
Guinnless said:
Kick drums on vinyl I can feel in in my chest, it's not as good on digital.
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That punch and attack is probably a product of vinyl and it’s warmth and inaccuracy (think typical upper bass / lumpiness) or a lesser digital system. Good digital is generally faster, cleaner, and harder edged than vinyl. My wife plays DW collectors series so I’m intimately aware of how fast, hard and unbloomy a good set of drums sound.
 
There’s a superb interview on YouTube of the great bass player Ron Carter talking to Rick Beato. Ron Carter talks about how he would go to Rudy Van Gelders house on the Saturday before the recording date and spend hours experimenting with microphone positions and instrument positions because recordings of his bass never sounded like the real thing.

 
david ellwood said:
In that visceral way that a real drum sounds with punch and attack. Like a stick hitting skin with gusto.

Try ‘The Sixties’ by Tbone Burnett
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An interesting choice. I get the visceral element of it to some extent i.e. they’re loud, but nothing “real” in any sense. The drums are compressed and have some (minimally) gated reverb on them. They couldn’t sound less “real”.
 
In answer to the OP, it makes no difference if you listen to a CD or a lossless rip of the same CD through the same DAC.

As far as drums are concerned, I lost my vinyl copy of Paranoid ages ago, but Rat Salad still sounds great on any of the 3 digital masterings I have of it.
david ellwood said:
Whether it’s an authentic and natural sound I still want it to convey the impression of it being a drum.
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As opposed to what? A Bassoon?
 
The idea that vinyl conveys drums better than other formats is rubbish. There are differences in presentation with CD being cleaner & vinyl having a little more warmth or body on some recordings. However, I don’t think warmth or body equals accuracy.

I tend not to duplicate recordings across formats as they all get close enough for me to enjoy the music on a pretty revealing system.
 
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