I don't think Tony messes with new lossy codecs enough. They are seriously impressive now.
For music I am a vinyl, CD and SACD buyer. I have no subscription service, nor any interest in such things beyond YouTube and iPlayer, though I do have, and hardly use, Amazon Prime (mainly for free same/next day delivery).
These services can sound great though, I thoroughly enjoy the little system I use in the TV room (Audio Synthesis passive pre, Quad 303 and Spendor S3/5R). It certainly sounds more than good enough to gain real enjoyment from whatever I’m watching, explore new music etc, though I’m always pleased when the record or whatever lands and I play it on the main system in the other room.
My view of streaming is it is ‘good enough’ in most respects, but for those of us with good systems who really care about mastering to the point of hunting down and comparing specific versions of a title there are certainly gains to be had. It is the key area where the ‘source first’ rule can not be denied. Mastering > everything else.
That said no way will I knock YouTube. I spend far more time there than I do on terrestrial TV these days and I’m subscribed to around 300 channels spanning music, electronics, vintage computing, politics etc. The sound quality often surprises me as to just how good it is despite the data compression being employed. Many of the music channels, e.g. Boiler Room, Tiny Desk, JHS Show etc can sound stunningly good, but again that is a ‘source first’ thing, and is down to good mic placement, mixing and post-production.
