Ok on Apple a streamed track I receive $0.01496 but this does seem to vary which I don’t understand why and for an iTunes download (hidef lossless) I receive per track $0.694
1 Like
From Dec 2022 above:
Possibly different now but from memory Qobuz always topped the lists, but if that’s correct it may be Tidal.
3 Likes
Good to see Jeff Boffhead Amazon is doing his bit to keep everyone poorer than him.
5 Likes
I am a ‘very limited’ buyer. (sadly)
when I was young I put ALL my disposable wealth into signed discs and gold discs and new releases including artists I hadn’t heard (‘on a whim’);
Then I became a student for a couple of years and made good my CD burner to survive, entertainment wise… (copied PSX/Dreamcast games and audio CDs)
Then, missing album artwork and ‘good quality pressings’ -even though I had upgraded my burner to the Yamaha (Pro) Audio burners that wrote noticably longer pits and grooves… and always used best quality media- just didn’t feel I was at quite the same level of quality… :anyone owning a few GOLD CDs and a nice rig have no doubt heard the differences.
So I got back into purchasing discs a decade after I started my hifi journey, at a time when every man and their dog were moving to ‘high bitrate’/‘variable bit rate’ MP3s etc…
Second hand CD stores were my zen.
Never knew what you would find, and sometimes you could land a ‘gold pressing’ or ‘nice picture disc’(/heavy weight etc)…
The true benefit was that the reduced cost of the CDs meant I was much more likely to buy 1/10th of my collection based on Artwork or Disc/Track titles. (sometimes finding artists I really liked)
Sadly, of course, this meant no money going up the tree to the artist, as I was buying discs that had already been sold once and the only person making coin of the resale was the second hand CD store(s).
I did enjoy supporting that market though -in part due to having had several burglaries that had reset my collection to zero on multiple occaisions-… the mass market CD stores only sold ‘best ofs’ and latest discs by any given artist, and seldom had much of what I was after…
Where as browsing a second hand CD store was a random affair, never knowing what joy might be found on any given visit.
Nowadays- those stores are all gone.
Op Shops and Thrift Shops, owing to having had a run of girlfriends who enjoy these stores above all else, means that I oft find myself thumbing through the racks.
Hock Shops DID up until around a decade ago, still go to effort to resell CDs.
The mass market stores seem to sell CD rereleases, often for 1/3rd the original cost, and more often than not on GOLD MEDIA. (like as if CD is doing a format war with Vinyl and sound quality matters again)
For such low prices for such decent pressings, it is pretty hard to say ‘no’ to those mass market stores…
but over the last few years, my only new discs have typically been favourite artists new releases bought from dedicated smaller bricks and mortar stores (I like to support the market I WANT to buy in).
I have never amazon’d a disc to my door, and even though I have a free Amazon music sub, I have NEVER USED it.
I do like the streaming platforms to listen to ‘that new album’ until I have the coin to get it…
CDs, today, are ‘so cheap’ (especially vs Vinyl) that supporting my favourite artists this way is an easy decision to make.
If I were starting with nothing the figuring out the value of an annual (online) subscription vs buying second hand discs to equal value,… the first few years of ‘building that collection’ would be a long wait.
Having a collection already, a little bit of streaming is helpful.
Mostly for me for ecclectic stuff (Scott Bradlees Post Modern Jukebox) and rare one off albums that are only findable via streaming, and to listen to my Vinyl collection ‘via my DAC’.
2 Likes
Wow, that’s even less than I thought,
Money grappling assholes,
I reckon we should start a club, choose an artist or band
When you are away from your kit,
Have it playing a track over and over again,
Let’s say 100 people played the same track for 24hrs or more,
It may help a little bit,
Just a thought
1 Like
I’m listening to Lou Reeds New York album in 96/24 WAV and it’s brilliant. Lou always (well nearly always) made sure his albums were well recorded often using valve amps and classic electric guitars which makes huge difference regardless of which format you prefer.
2 Likes
I’d be very interested in hearing about your journey as I’ve always been impressed with your conviction and ability to describe exactly what you hear.
.sjb
3 Likes
I commented on this awhile back and got no answer, think most of us are impressed with his knowledge and how he explains the almost unexplainable.
1 Like
Well briefly…
I guess I started my main journey into Naim with a CDX2 with Cyrus pre and mono amp system. It was a punchy lively setup… I was curious and moved into Naim amps… I sold my Cyrus mono blocks… and bought a 202 HiCap and 200 … but to be honest I felt overall I had moved backwards… so quickly upgraded to the 282DR and 250… here I felt I had a system at least as good as my Cyrus setup … . I ran this for a while, and had an opportunity to buy a well cared for SuperCapDR at a great price. I powered my 282 with it, but found I preferred my HiCapDR, so my SuperCapDR stayed in storage… but the itch came too strong to get a used 252…and I did… wow I really enjoyed the sound … but it was quite a sprawl of boxes, I did ‘upgrade’ my NDAC/555PS to a Hugo 1… I was really really pleased, and surprised, and wrote quite a lot about it on the forum at the time.
Some time later I discovered some Bitcoin I had bought had transformed in value. I sold most of it… paid the deposit for my daughter’s house and bought an ex demo 552DR. I thought good fortune had landed, and although 552 was good technically, I felt after many months it was not as musical to my tastes as 252DR… I had borrowed but felt it was not a good match for the 552… although on my Empyrean headphones I could hear how superb the DAVE was.
But at this point I was starting to get a little disillusioned… there was a lot of boxes and wires and something where I felt I had taken a wrong turn somewhere.
I was not listening to music as much … so I sold the 552… and bought the DAVE to go with an Etude… it sounded very good… possibly more like my Cyrus mono block sound in some ways… but after a year or so… I was listening to less music… and I was missing that 252 /250 sound… but I just didn’t want to go back there… and at this point I was focussing more on my own music in my little studio… which coincided with some courses I took on sound production… and that made me realise formally what I had suspected, much music is so heavily processed to make it sound enjoyable, time well and musical… and really spending vast amounts on a replay device if you have a wide gamut of musical interest is a fools errand. I also discovered the importance of smear free loudspeakers, and the effects of crossovers in the sensitive mid frequencies… I started to hear the deficiencies of my passive ATCs compared to my studio Yamaha actives… I started to feel so much in hifi was just on the wrong path, including digital… it is acting against how modern music is produced…
I had fallen out of love of hifi at this time… and was rarely using the replay system other than to proof my masters on a hifi system…
I then later heard about the Nait50… small and simple and uncomplicated… I went to audition one, and decided to borrow one… albeit with my ATCs… I was listening to music again… it wasn’t trying to be perfect, just enjoyable … ie a good match for most produced music.
I auditioned some different speakers… a few bum steers, but I tried the RK RED 50s and they did the trick with the Nait50… fast, detailed with no exaggeration or embellishment, with a bit of lower mid warmth and reasonable room friendly bass extension … I was in love again… and I am enjoying music again… and my system is now all in a modest Fraim rack.
11 Likes
Simon, for those, not in the know, who do we look for to add to your royalties 
1 Like
Drop me an email… I will let you know… don’t want to advertise here 
1 Like
Think a number of us might like to have a listen though 
1 Like
Its electronic, lofi, though Apple class it as ‘chill’ I think… my latest EP available is Blah Blah by Tunesque… another single should be coming shortly….
4 Likes
Thanks for this, was going to mail you, but your profile is hidden, so stumped how to contact you offline, unless I’m missing something?
Good stuff, 2nd track in, should be a few more pennies coming your way.
3 Likes
Fascinating, thanks for posting.
I’d love if you had the time to expand or elaborate on the above.
.sjb
2 Likes
(I’m using _DR_ here to distinguish it from dynamic range. This can get confusing… and maybe part of the point. 
)
If you are using dynamic range to target purchases, be aware that ‘Dynamic range (R128)’ as shown in Roon for local copies may be different than _DR_ numbers you can find out on the internet and generated by some tools.
For example, Chasing the Dragon - Vivaldi in London 24/192 wav (recently purchased - thanks @JonathanG) has a Dynamic range (R128) of 12 in Roon. In a different tool I have, it generates a _DR_ of 14.
From what I have found, the _DR_ measurement was potentially started by the Pleasurize Music Foundation to help combat the loudness wars. (I’m not an expert, just dove into this on the web a few years ago.) Note that case matters here, they have a logo with upper case _DR_. I’m starting to think _DR_ may be more of a marketing gimmick than anything. I believe the numbers are real, just don’t know if it’s any better than the R128 dynamic range value.
In any case with R128 or _DR_, bigger numbers are more dynamic. You just can’t compare them 1:1.
1 Like
Glad you are enjoying the Vivaldi in London gsuzor91 - it’s an absolutely superb recording and performance isn’t it?
I’ve just received the vinyl test pressing, one of only ten in the world and it’s utterly jaw dropping and is staggeringly close to what I was hearing in the room with the musicians. I don’t think there’s anybody in the world today producing better classical recordings (and a few jazz too) than Chasing the Dragon.
Enjoy!
Jonathan
Given that quality means conformance to spec, I assume that in the context of music it is meant to be some indication of how well it meets the listener’s expectations. If I have interpreted the question correctly, then I suppose that since I find few, if any, new releases (of those I’ve sampled) make me sit up and listen or stir any emotion in me, I can only conclude that there is no quality in new music. In other words, it doesn’t meet my ‘expectations’, whatever they might be. However, that’s not to say that another listener would feel the same; he might be seeking formulaic music where autotune has been used for vocal correction, for example, in which case his expectations might well have been met, in which case he would consider it quality. It’s a difficult issue to address.
1 Like
I suspect you have merged two considerations? There is technical quality and there is subjective musical quality… I suspect you really considering the latter in your reply. If the musical quality is there for the listener the technical quality matters less. However the technical quality can be effectively perfect, but if the musical content doesn’t resonate with the listener… it becomes irrelevant.
In many modern productions I am aware of the technical quality to some extent tends to map to the style of the musical content… and often the production technique adds to the creative process.
1 Like