[Krutsch]

I just pray there will continue to be the ability to play physical media (LP's & CD/SACD) for a long time to come, myself I could give a rats rear end about streaming ................

I own and love a LOT of physical media (LPs, SACD, CD, Blu-rays).

Last weekend, I watched a 4K HDR streaming version of Heat (1995) on a 4K Apple TV connected to a 2018 55" Samsung 4K panel.

It's the first time I've watched something in my home that really looked like a theater viewing. Seriously, I was slack-jawed by the video quality.

I am finished buying optical plastic for movies. Music, I will continue to collect...

[Metal Forever]

James,

I agree, the dealer landscape has drastically changed over the past 20 yrs and we all understand the resulting problems.  On the other hand, I think that we, the consumers, have more information and sometimes dealers are reached to either making the final decision or for placing an order.  This must be great news for the dealers that have stayed in business.  Unfortunately, sometimes dealers may offer other products that can bring better profits to them.  For example, my dealer suggested me to purchase another amp. even though I was inquiring for a 4BSST2. By that time, I have already made my decision and I purchased my brand new 4BSST2.  Now, I'm a proud owner of 2 4BSST2, 1 14BSST, 1 SP2, 1 Powerpac 120, 1 B60R & a pair of A3.  If Bryston had been in the speaker business when I purchased my main speakers, I would probably have purchased the model T instead of my 1.7, which are absolutely fantastic as well...

Moral of the story... maybe less but better dealers is better than more but not so good dealers...  and believe me... I understand that there are some astonishing dealers...

[gene9p]

I own and love a LOT of physical media (LPs, SACD, CD, Blu-rays).

Last weekend, I watched a 4K HDR streaming version of Heat (1995) on a 4K Apple TV connected to a 2018 55" Samsung 4K panel.

It's the first time I've watched something in my home that really looked like a theater viewing. Seriously, I was slack-jawed by the video quality.

I am finished buying optical plastic for movies. Music, I will continue to collect...

if you only knew how compressed the video/audio is while streaming. Look into it for yourself. Perhaps try the disc and the stream at the same time and see for yourself. McDonald's makes great burgers, but did you grill one at home. ...LOL

[Grit]

Someone on another forum was kind enough to clip some images from various streaming services as well as bluray. I know there's a few issues with this... how the images were compressed on the computer, resolution and magnification on the computer screen, etc. I look at the images and can clearly tell which looks best. As with all things A/V, decide for yourself. If you can't hear/see the differences OR they aren't important to you, then there's no benefit for you to spend your money to obtain them. High customization to fit everyone's wants/budgets.

http://www.avsforum.com/tag/streaming-comparisons/

- Garrett

[HsvHeelFan]

I'm in my mid 50's and I've been on the compact disc train since 1984.

I prefer my music to be delivered via compact disc.  As long as CD's are available,  I'll continue to purchase my music in that format.

I  built a PC that functions as a music server and it does have a wireless connection to my network.  I convert the CD to FLAC on the music server and play it from there.

I store the original CD media in large plastic storage bins.  I back up the FLAC files to 2 different external hard drives.  The external hard drives are from different manufacturers so that I have less chance of having a manufacturer based defect with both external hard drives at the same time.

I'll probably never consider streaming a viable music source.  I'm certainly not going that route voluntarily.

As a musician,  I tend to listen better to just music.  If there is video, that distracts me from listening.  So,  I'm not a big fan of Concert videos.  I'll watch a concert once, but once I've watched it,  I'm more likely to listen to the audio from the concert without the video.

HsvHeelFan

[Grit]

I'd give up physical media *IF* the streaming variety was of equal quality. Unfortunately, mass consumers who usually listen on free/"included with" headphones and/or in cars are the ones driving the market. There's little reason to increase the quality for them when they don't want it.