I suspect a lot depends on when you went “Digital” and what your library looked like when you did, in my case that was 10 years ago.
If I was going digital now I suspect streaming would be higher , but I had a very large physical library after many years of collecting , I simply had to convert that to files. Then I was let with a veritable mountain of physical disc to store.
If I knew Then what I know now …
That said there is still the inevitable question of material going in and out of the likes of Tidal and the financial stability of streaming services, although now Apple and Amazon and in the game its less of a worry. For example JRiver will still not touch streaming a la Tidal as their CEO firmly believes it will fail sooner or later, I am not sure I share his view BUT
Kinda depends. Ripping CDs was no problem. Digitizing vinyl … I did a fair bit of that, but I eventually gave up and decided that I can find pretty much everything I had on vinyl streaming from Qobuz, with much less hassle.
What are your thoughts on Hi Res? If there’s a 24/96 version on Qobuz of a CD you’ve ripped do you still listen to your 16/44.1 local file or stream the 24/96 version?
What’s Qobuz ? I live in darkest Africa. They haven’t discovered Africa yet , they onl recently discovered the Southern Hemisphere
But seriously , I am 72 so my Golden Ears Years are behind me. I have compared HR 96 and 192 against 44.1 and I can’t tell the difference so I am not getting into that debate. To be honest there is so much variation in recording quality it’s hard to get excited. I have loads of disc space so its not an economy measure. My main system is Naim Unity Atom HE / Sennheiser HD800 , I am headphones only.
We have Tidal but I do not use MQA , I have often thought of dropping to a Hi Fi sub , just never seem to do it. I recently updated kit and didn’t get MQA mainly because the kit I wanted didn’t support it no other reason, but not to start yet another rant , I have no opinions either way.
I use Tidal to preview stuff and to fill in gaps , I admit I buy very little these days
Since upgrading my LP12 and investing in a better SACD source, my time spent streaming has dropped.
Probably only 30% streaming now, and the rest with physical media.
I don’t know about Tidal, but I find it hard to determine the provenance of files on Qobuz. Particularly with jazz, where there will be nine different versions of a Coltrane album. Definitely seems like an argument to buy a CD you know over streaming something you don’t, until Qobuz can do more in this space to curate multiple versions better, or simply remove the bad ones.
I would love to end up in a situation where most of my listening is vinyl and SACD. Streaming might just be a stop gap at the moment, but it has let me spend my money on building a system. When I was buying records in my 20s I had no money left for anything else
With my system everything is upsampled to a max of 768mhz or 705.x and I am very happy with the experience. The original resolution sounds great so I don’t make a decision based on resolution
I didn’t answer the OP’s question above. My use of streaming is about 95% to 5% vinyl because my desire to listen to vinyl is usually inspired by my streaming new music on Qobuz. My analog source is very satisfying.
Another “streaming auditioner” (mainly Qobuz) here:
100% local content (= 65% ripped CDs + 35% downloads)
I might add my buying habits have changed quite radically. Until two or three years ago, I used to buy CDs only. Today I only buy CDs if there’s no download available.
