As ever the debate gets increasingly polarised.
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Yes I did predict this. 
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Fine as long as polite and not attacking people - which so far it has remained.
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Agreed. A mass debate may well need vigour, but not abuse.
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Polarised? I buy CD:s but play them with local streaming.
I know people that recently bought small systems with CD-players. Just to play music - they were just irritated when the seller tried to explain all the features of streaming. Maybe Lejonklou has got this right - his 6000 euro streamer/dac does spotify, airplay and nothing else.
It is good well-recorded music that sell hifi. Not the other way round.
I was merely referring to how people can seemingly just see the benefits of one or the other.
What I mean is if they had sat down and thought about what they were building and how to grow it they probably had included some pretty simple API:s so, as an example, Naim could have a “purchase” button on their remote that worked with all services. Even if it just sent a notification to your phone to do the actual payment. And the file could have been downloaded and placed on the disk in a format compatible with what your system accepted (what every HTTP GET says in its headers) and integrated in the catalogs. Now every manufacturer have to hand-code every new service (or buy the code and adapt) and users have to wait, and wait … It is like every internet radio station used their own private protocol.
A no consumer should have to understand why an ALAC file does not play when a MP3 works fine.
That is why I think streaming is immature - but still it works fine on an app-level so if there is airplay it is o.k. To use one small example. Clubhouse was a big hit during covid - only existed as an iOS-app.
I think I have 8 CD players at last count, each with its own function within various systems. Safe to say I’m pretty wedded to the format.
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I listen to music in the following way,
- LPs with a Rega TT
- CDs , mind you the CD players broken but I’ll get another.
- Streaming with a Mu-so and an Atom HE
My order of preference is as above, all have a use for me. I know that I’m going to be limited to the number of LPs and CDs I’ll be able to store, that’s why I stream, it helps me make a curated selection.
It’s mentioned on the thread and previous ones, that with streaming, you don’t have to get off your backside, to change a LP or CD. With the prostate I’ve got, an LP side is just about right. I am private Godfrey.
I just wonder if streamers wear compression stockings recommend for long haul flights. 
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They found some usable VAM 1202 mechs, how long they will last, who knows
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I would pit my Taiko Extreme and rip against any CD and player. No contest.
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Similarly, if I want to listen to albums properly as opposed to having on background music, then my hierarchy is…
- Vinyl via Rega RP6.
- Ripped CDs via UQ2.
- Occasional streaming via Apple Music (until the trial ends!).
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Interesting how people’s preferences differ - though of course undoubtedly based on experience. True comparison of sound quality is only possible where the digital and vinyl are from the same master, and, for example digital not bastardised by the ‘loudness wars’ abomination, so mostly comparisons can only be general not specific.
In my own experience digital as reproduced through a good modern DAC (such as Chord Hugo or better still Dave) surpasses any vinyl I’ve heard, not least because it seems vinyl always has at least some surface noise. Whilst it is certainly possible to ignore and listen through the background noise, forgetting it is there (as I did when I had a TT), music, particularly with very quiet passages, is so much better without. I suppose vinyl would be closer to digital in sound quality given a perfect pressing, pristine and machine cleaned before first play and then regularly, and before played too many times, but I don’t recall hearing any without at least some background noise. On old recordings of course there is hiss from analog tapes, which is nothing to do with vinyl and will also be audible via digital replay.
But the talk of vinyl is rather aside from the thread theme of CD vs local (as opposed to online) streaming, both of which are digital!
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I would hope so it is expensive.
I will always keep my CD collection, and I will keep buying them, especially now with so many deals to be had. I still buy many new as well, especially Japan UHQCD/SHM-CD & MQA CDs as these sound better than any “Hi Res” streaming I have heard. Broken jewel cases is never an issue for me, I have never broken one, and if buying used or having shipped, I have a couple hundred spare brand new jewel cases for this purpose if they do arrive smashed. CD’s still sound better on my system than streaming from any streaming service, however, I am hard pressed to hear much difference when streaming ripped CDs over my network. I have ripped my entire collection for convenience over Roon, however, I do still enjoy sitting down once in a while and spinning that silver disc and I think I always will.
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Harsh
Merely the regular peril of a visual impairment which doesn’t reward re-reading.
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Each to his/her own of course but I’ve never quite got this. But I’ve always been the same, right from my early interest in hi-fi when I was around 10 years old. To me it makes sense to just have one source, the one that you find the best sounding. If I had a turntable and I thought it sounded better than say my CD player then I would never use the CD player. Why would I want to waste my time listening to an inferior source? Also rather than waste funds on a source which I thought didn’t sound as good I would divert them into buying a superior turntable.
No criticism intended here - please don’t take offence. We are all different in our listening habits and the way they fit into our lives. I’ve always disliked backround music. To me when I listen to music I have to sit down and concentrate on it - I couldn’t do anything else at the same time. My wife is the opposite - she has music playing most of the time wherever she is. No room in our house is without a music player of some description - even the bathroom. I never use any of them - only the main system in the lounge.
Ah yes, then there’s the background noise issue with vinyl. That was a big factor in my dislike of vinyl as a teenager. I’m sure I was guilty of not looking after it as well as I could have, but, when listening to my first CDs, the background silence was deafening, so to speak.
Obviously, this can’t be a reason for preferring CDs to streaming (unless you’re streaming needledrops from dirty vinyl, I suppose), but it is one reason why I was so keen to stretch my teenage self financially to jump to CD and have never felt any desire to return to vinyl.
Mark
No offence taken of course. 
That observation was fairly sweeping as I consider both my RP6 and ripped CDs as my primary sources, although I use the CDs more for background music in some ways due to ritualistic nature of playing vinyl. Streaming is just to sample new music and for the odd playlist. I would imagine this balance may change when I eventually get around to upping the digital source quality - goodness knows when that will happen though, certainly not in the near future.
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