How do you listen to your music these days? And more format pesto.

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #40 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 06:44 pm »

So does anyone have a view on where things are going? Or at least where you may like things to go?

I can't imagine Vinyl collections or CD ones for that matter are going to disappear from any of your households. I do however see availability of new material diminishing longer term despite the current revival of the vinyl presses.

Haider

geowak · « **Reply #41 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 07:53 pm »

I used to think, when CD's first arrived on the scene back in the 80's that record albums were a thing of the past. Boy was I ever wrong!
Got rid of my Thorens turntable and albums as the CD format was getting better. I thought albums were dead.
At some point I though CD's were dead, as the digital age and the internet came into it's own. Music sharing and Hi-rez files and formats have changed the music landscape. But nothing ever really dies from the past. I heard that many Audio shows have had tape machines for playback. So EVERYTHING has it's own merit and can sound fabulous. There is nothing more organic, simple and musical as an analog system. Nothing complex, just place the album on the platter and drop the needle. WOW that still sound fantastic. But you cannot take it portable and have thousands of recordings like MOG gives me on my Iphone. And I can listen while I am running at the gym, or in the car. Digital audio on my computer and Hi-rez files are sounding very refined, but it will not be the end all format.

Now I am of the mind, it's all got a place. Old and new, just sit back and enjoy. And it's ever changing. No time to sit back and wait, where will the dice fall. Just pick a format, or two, or three and enjoy.

MtnHam · « **Reply #42 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 08:13 pm »

I jumped on the CD bandwagon in 1985, thinking it was "indeed perfect sound forever." Fortunately, I did not dump my extensive LP library which started in 1961. My vinyl equipment was inferior, thus CD's sounded better. Today, my table/arm/cartridge/phono-stage are superb, and my extensive LP library is a treasure I enjoy daily. I do have a very good collection of CD's, an extensive HD library and a great DAC which is very enjoyable. I continue to buy used LP's, a fantastic value and exciting treasure trove of historic recordings, many of which are superior to anything being produced today. New music will most likely be Hi-Rez downloads.Thus, it all has it's place.

Devil Doc · « **Reply #43 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 08:20 pm »

Where are things going, you ask? To hell in a hand basket is my answer. I require hard copies of everything from records and CDs to newspapers and books, to gold and silver. I need to be able to touch the things I own. Let's face it, as far as I can see, when you down load a Hi-rez music file, and pay whatever they're asking, you don't really own anything.

Doc

maxboy00 · « **Reply #44 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 08:54 pm »

So continues the steady death spiral of the CD, and the march to digital down loads and streaming as physical media is sweep into the dust pan. However, I continue to buy and collect CDs and play them often on my CD player and I have no plans to end this practice. No doubt CDs are going the way of CRT TVs and flip phones but the CD media will not disappear as fast as those and will live and thrive as a cottage industry.

SteveFord · « **Reply #45 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 11:00 pm »

Internet radio - I dunno.
I'm really stuck in the stone age and just plug a set of Grados into my laptop so it's not really any sort of a fair comparison to what I normally use (tube tuners from the 60s). I can't see the independent FM stations going away as there will always be colleges with their radio stations.
Where things are headed?
Neal Young keeps threatening to revolutionize digital so that may be the way of the future as he has a good ear.
I think that tape will make a modest comeback over the next few years and vinyl will continue to grow in the market place.
CDs will be around but will continue to decline in sales as something about them just couldn't capture that particular sound quality that analog has. Is it the medium, the recording and manufacturing techniques, the playback equipment or a little of each?
Whatever the case, it just never reached out and grabbed me despite owning a gazillion CDs and players at one time.
In all fairness, I never splurged on a real expensive CD player so maybe a cost no object piece would have me feeling differently.

I could be wrong about all of this but one thing I'm sure of: the 8 track tape will NOT make a resurgence anytime soon!

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #46 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 10:31 am »

Quote from: maxboy00 on 19 Nov 2013, 08:54 pm

So continues the steady death spiral of the CD, and the march to digital down loads and streaming as physical media is sweep into the dust pan. However, I continue to buy and collect CDs and play them often on my CD player and I have no plans to end this practice. No doubt CDs are going the way of CRT TVs and flip phones but the CD media will not disappear as fast as those and will live and thrive as a cottage industry.

Thanks Max, Yes indeed I am still buying CDs and it remains a strong and convenient testing format for developing hifi products. In Audiophile terms I think CD has been let down by a lot of the reproduction equipment available. Too many technicians focus on the extremities of the spectrum and forget that the music has a middle and a soul. The Sonic success of Vinyl has a lot to do with its perceived technical failings in a purist high fidelity sense. This little bit of humanity is often, and not deliberately, designed out of CD players. We as designers are often limited by our own knowledge. It only takes a little bit of research to understand more. This is probably why many say the Sedley and the Byron sound quite similar.

I also love having a physical booklet to read when I buy a CD. I am sure there is an app for that, but I quite like turning pages.

Haider

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #47 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 10:36 am »

Quote from: SteveFord on 19 Nov 2013, 11:00 pm

Internet radio - I dunno.
I'm really stuck in the stone age and just plug a set of Grados into my laptop so it's not really any sort of a fair comparison to what I normally use (tube tuners from the 60s).

Wow! we are associating laptops with the Stone age already!

I'd hate to see the demise of FM but I think the governments want the spectrum. Also as we head towards Gigabit broadband streaming at high resolution become a possibility. Some of the European Classical stations are already transmitting some decent quality. If we consider that most FM broadcasts are dynamically compressed we may see a quality crossover quite soon.

Haider

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #48 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 05:40 pm »

Quote from: MtnHam on 19 Nov 2013, 08:13 pm

I jumped on the CD bandwagon in 1985, thinking it was "indeed perfect sound forever." Fortunately, I did not dump my extensive LP library which started in 1961. My vinyl equipment was inferior, thus CD's sounded better. Today, my table/arm/cartridge/phono-stage are superb, and my extensive LP library is a treasure I enjoy daily. I do have a very good collection of CD's, an extensive HD library and a great DAC which is very enjoyable. I continue to buy used LP's, a fantastic value and exciting treasure trove of historic recordings, many of which are superior to anything being produced today. New music will most likely be Hi-Rez downloads.Thus, it all has it's place.

Yes indeed Vinyl playback equipment is better than it has ever been. In fact I could also say the same of CD. Though I think we will see record players and phono stage head amps available on shop shelves for a while yet. The stand alone CD player on the other hand may not be so fortunate. To paraphrase the Stones it's just a RIP away.

Haider

JohnR · « **Reply #49 on:** 21 Nov 2013, 07:03 am »

Quote from: haiderSonneteer on 19 Nov 2013, 11:27 am

So you FM listeners, how do you find the quality of internet radio? Does any of it cut the mustard for you?

It works for me, I think it's a pretty good trade for the vast amount of content you get access to, not to mention the much higher degree of control you have over what you listen to. Bitrates are only going to get higher. FM has always sounded slightly strange to me, although to be fair I've never had a high-end tuner.

JohnR · « **Reply #50 on:** 21 Nov 2013, 07:33 am »

Quote from: Devil Doc on 19 Nov 2013, 08:20 pm

Let's face it, as far as I can see, when you down load a Hi-rez music file, and pay whatever they're asking, you don't really own anything.

I think the way to look at it is that what you own is the right to play it. As a related example: software downloads are pretty much the norm now, and it's always been the case that the physical media is not what you own, what you own is the right to run the software. I've also been somewhat attached to the physical media but I'm becoming less so. I suppose (now that I think about it) this is the natural evolution of digital content.

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #51 on:** 21 Nov 2013, 11:34 pm »

Quote from: JohnR on 21 Nov 2013, 07:33 am

I think the way to look at it is that what you own is the right to play it.

Yes, a big debate that's getting the legal profession's juices up. I can pass my CDs, LPs and cassettes to my children when I'm gone, but digitally downloaded media seems to be a grey area. Amazon giving the MP3s of any CD or LP bought via them to you for free is an interesting twist on that one though. I am not sure but it does suggest you actually own these ones in the same way an LP or CD.

The all you can eat subscription media is probably where it is heading. For good or ill.

At least we will always need amplifiers.

Haider
sonneteer.co.uk

HsvHeelFan · « **Reply #52 on:** 26 Nov 2013, 04:02 pm »

Quote from: haiderSonneteer on 15 Nov 2013, 06:41 pm

Thank you for sharing.

Did it take you a long while to rip everything? How are you finding FLAC compared to CD? Oh and how do you play them back?

Haider

It took me a month of evenings to rip the 1000 CDs or so that I have.

My system has an ASUS Xonar Essence XTS sound card that is sending analog to a Parasound pre-amp. The pre goes to a Bryston 4B-ST. Speakers are a 2.1 system with KEF Q70's running full range and a late 90's vintage Velodyne sub covered the very bottom freq.

The music server, running FLAC, has improved channel separation and instrument placement compared to the 2 CD players that I replaced (a Yamaha and a Denon).

In JRiver, I'm running in WASAPI Event mode and the ASUS is running in direct Hi-Fi mode. I tried resampling in both systems (the ASUS bloatware) and JRiver. Running direct was the cleanest sound out of the system.

As soon as I started adding re-sampling, I found that to be noticeable and not in a good way. Straight out of the box, the music server was worse than my standalone CD players. It was because I hadn't found the correct setup and with JRiver and the ASUS control center, there are a LOT of options.

HsvHeelFan

HsvHeelFan · « **Reply #53 on:** 26 Nov 2013, 04:07 pm »

All of my CDs go into storage in plastic bins in a closet. I only own 2 albums that I don't have original physical CD. I purchased both from Amazon and they were delivered as MP3's. I'm not a fan of MP3s and both have been had a physical CD created and stored as well.

I'm going to purchase Frank Sinatra's "Sinatra and Company" CD this week via Amazon download here in the next week or so. I really dislike downloaded purchase copies, but when a CD is out of production or unavailable, I will go that route.

HsvHeelFan

Mortsnets · « **Reply #54 on:** 26 Nov 2013, 09:11 pm »

35% Radio (Sherwood vintage tuner)
30% CDs (Modified Playstation 1)
20% LPs (Two turntables vintage and more modern)
15% Computer (AQ Dragonfly DAC + Headphones)

I love FM radio and luckily there are a lot of good shows locally on non-commercial stations. I have quite a few CDs and LPs I listen to For gifts I ask for CDs, LPs I buy mostly used. Computer is for Album previews and distant radio shows in MP3.

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #55 on:** 3 Dec 2013, 02:48 pm »

Thanks guys,

i have to say the poll results are shaping up quite nicely. If we polled again in six months to a year would we see computer music surge into the lead I wonder?

Haider
sonneteer.co.uk

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #56 on:** 6 Mar 2015, 04:38 pm »

Quote from: geowak on 1 Nov 2013, 05:14 pm

I like MOG. I have been exposed to so many musicians and genres that I might not hear. Its playable on my IPhone or Menu on my TV thru a Roku box. Sounds great to me....in a mobile world. I can take all my music...with me anywhere I go. For home, add a quality amp/preamp and DAC , throw in great speskers and your in!!

To wake this up again. It has been a while since we asked this question.

Has anything changed? How does your Partner/spouse, son, daughter, nephew, niece etc. listen to music. How much do they care and what do they about?

If you are on this forum we assume you already care a great deal. So how have(if at all) your listening habits changed? What's next?

Thanks for all the feedback once again.

Haider

stlrman · « **Reply #57 on:** 6 Mar 2015, 04:48 pm »

100% Spotify , via iPhone to Shure 846 iem. Very happy with the sound, and all the music I could ever want.

simoon · « **Reply #58 on:** 6 Mar 2015, 05:09 pm »

Vinyl, CD's and now (just got a high res music player), High res music files.

I hardly ever listen to music where I don't care about sound quality. Only when exploring new artists and composers on Youtube do I not care about sound quality.

When I listen to music, it is my primary activity. I do not use music as background while doing something else.

No lossy formats for me.

haiderSonneteer · « **Reply #59 on:** 6 Mar 2015, 05:19 pm »

Quote from: stlrman on 6 Mar 2015, 04:48 pm

100% Spotify , via iPhone to Shure 846 iem. Very happy with the sound, and all the music I could ever want.

Thank you. That's enlightening. So do you no longer buy music to own?

Haider
sonneteer.co.uk

Poll

Format Pesto: How do you mainly listen to your hifi music?

How do you listen to your music these days? And more format pesto.