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Streaming is inferior to redbook CD playback?

It's an utterly pointless argument. Unless you have a fundamentally broken device of either type they are essentially perfect. All you are listening to are your filter choice, the output stage design and the vagaries of mastering.
Pointless? I don't think so if the point of the discussion is to enjoy (online) dispute and conversation with other enthusiasts. There does not have to be a resolution and the question certainly is too general for there to be one answer. But it's precisely that vagueness which leads to interesting discussion.

For my part I agree with you that my objective is to make the same file, whether hosted on a CD or hosted on a streaming service sound the same. That's what I enjoy and I think I achieve that through good enough engineering. I have been called names for that way of enjoying the hobby and it's rather clear that others have different relationships with technology, objectives, expectations and experiences. It would be a dull world if this were not so.
 
Audio CDs are basically printed and contain errors out of the factory.
Many older ones also have corrosion of the aluminium layer, adding to the gaps.
Indeed, but the design of the CD system as a whole is very well thought out and remarkably robust against quite a lot of imperfections. Also, both discs and players have improved over more than 40 years since introduction. IMHO the nervous audiophile worries about getting uncorrupted data off CDs rather more than it deserves.

The US Library of Congress has archives on CD-Audio. It has conducted a number of studies about the quality of discs as manufactured and after accelerated ageing. These can be found online with a simple search. Printed CDs are neither error-free, just as you say, nor of infinite longevity. However apart from a very small number they tested they remain well within designed error-corrected playback capability on normal players for a very long time if stored well enough. That cannot be said of written CDs, of course.
 
Audio CDs are basically printed and contain errors out of the factory.
Even if they do, the chance of an uncorrected error is negligible.

Is the CIRC error detection/correction process perfect?
No practical error detection system can detect all possible error patterns. It will always be possible for random errors to mimic ‘good data’ which then appears correct to the error detection system. A good error detection system will try to minimise the probability of an error going undetected, but this probability will never be zero. The likelihood of the CIRC system missing an error depends on the average bit error rate (BER). At a BER of 10-3 (i.e. 1 error in every 1000 bits), there will be less than one undetected error every 750 hours (i.e. one bad sample in 750 CD’s). A new disc will typically have a BER of around 10-4 and at this rate the probability of an undetected error is negligible.

from: https://docs.linn.co.uk/wiki/index.php/CD_Ripping_Terminology. Worth a read.
 
I have been called names for that way of enjoying the hobby and it's rather clear that others have different relationships with technology, objectives, expectations and experiences. It would be a dull world if this were not so.
Very true. But at the expense of a little bit of dullness, it would be nice if people's relationship with factuality (by which I mean caring whether what they say or believe is actually true) were more explicit. It might save some time (assuming of course that one regards saving time as a good thing.)
 
Unless the listening is done with proper volume matching and controls in place - the results then analyzed statistically - you will not find truth in the listening.

If the differences are so slight that proper volume matching is necessary I’m not going to worry about the nth degree of change between the two formats.

I am looking for an obvious change perhaps in tempo or sound staging / room filling experience. For that I won’t need to level match - but out of curiosity I will use the meter app from my iPhone.
 
probably - but this is a hobby - we all have a little time for our hobbies. Anyway I need to get this debate of bits are bits off my chest and my own home listening environment will be the answer for me - forums are a mess of inconclusive information.
I hear you but instead you could be listening to a new artist or perhaps caretakers latest rendition on the ukulele.
 
Listening to Laura Marling - ‘Soothing’ through a circa £1600 HD streamer it is better than my previous £4k plus CD player.

Speakers make the biggest difference & that is where the money should be spent in a digital context.
Sounds very good through my Yammy as well. It’s a well recorded album.
 
Much the same here. And that with a 6m Amazon Basics USB cable, god forbid. Trumped by vinyl though.
 
If the differences are so slight that proper volume matching is necessary I’m not going to worry about the nth degree of change between the two formats.

I am looking for an obvious change perhaps in tempo or sound staging / room filling experience. For that I won’t need to level match - but out of curiosity I will use the meter app from my iPhone.
You need to level match. As far as I know, level matching should be done with a volt meter and the accepted standard is 0.1 db difference at most.
 
I listen to steaming a lot these days.
But I much prefer handling CD’s and records, even though the jury’s still out about SQ on any of my systems, from the A9 to the big Cabasses.
 
Listening to Laura Marling - ‘Soothing’ through a circa £1600 HD streamer it is better than my previous £4k plus CD player.

Speakers make the biggest difference & that is where the money should be spent in a digital context.

Yes speakers make the biggest difference - but it's still garbage in garbage out. So if you change you speakers and notice a big change because you have larger woofers for example - it's still the same shit feeding your new speakers :).

My listening experience with a Grimm Audio MU1 tells me the source is where you get it right first - and then change your speakers. This is my experience of course.
 


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