Keep in mind that you are not in the US and the availability of streaming or downloadable music is not the same as in other markets due to rights issues. I stated a few illustrative examples of recent changes TIDAL and Qobuz US made in the month of February alone to demonstrate how lossless streaming continues to be in flux. No, I don’t feel subscription based or download services are fully matured in the US nor do I feel any have complete enough catalogs. As it relates to classical, I have one of the largest known private collections of rare and out of print classical violin recordings and the majority of those albums are not available and will never be available in streaming or download services because of rights issues. I have spent some 30 years sourcing early and out of print recordings and the Blu Mk II makes sense because I have tens of thousands of physical albums (CD and LP). I also listen to newly released music across a wide range of genres and the reality of more and more
labels beginning to supply ONLY MQA encoded files to TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, Apple Music etc. is disconcerting. In my post I also alluded to the fact computer and server based audio (specifically USB) itself is riddled with issues that make it imperfect and undesirable. Initially I didn't see the need for a CD transport in the M Scaler but given the worrisome changes record labels and streaming services made in February 2019, the Blu Mk II’s ability to play CDs natively is proving to be useful-- that is the point of my original post which you missed.
Hello iDesign,
Not to worry chicken curry, I fully understand your point of view and I AM fully aware of the sad situation in the US where commercial interests always seem to take precedence over all other interests.
This fact was clearly obvious already in the analogue era.
US LP pressings were generally much worse than the European ones and often made from mastertape copies on inferior vinyl.
No wonder LP had got such a bad rep among the masses in the USA.
Even the Russians often made better pressings than the USA.
Quality aware companies like Telarc and Sheffield Labs often had their LPs pressed abroad.
Back to the Present.
What if some of these competing platforms and streaming formats go bust in the next inevitable economic crisis?
What will all those who have invested in streaming solutions do then?
TIDAL seems to hang a bit loose,and even Qobuz was near collapse not long ago.
And frankly who really needs MQA more than the people behind it?
But unlike you with a more restricted taste in music, I am really amazed over how many Great Classic Recordings from the European Majors like DGG or DECCA Philips and some old EMI Classics that are now becoming available as hi res downloads on an almost daily basis.
Albeit often at a price I normally consider too high for re-released material that in most cases has already earned the labels lots of money.
But both eclassical.com and Highresaudio and quite often Qobuz too have tempting offers on these and many newly recorded albums too.
I bought the entire Ring from DGG/KarajanBPO for roughly 40€ a couple of years ago.
And BIS has got ALL of their new recordings at special offer price for a limited time just after release.
Most of them sell for around 10-12 USD for the first few weeks.
And unlike with rbcd physical discs if you pay for the hi res version,you get not only hi res stereo one most often in 24/96, but also since quite a while also the mch version as well plus rbcd and mp3 thrown in.
No plastic involved either.
.
And Robert von Bahr's site sells music without any restrictions internationally all over the world as far as I know.
For me it simply doesn't get better than that.
Especially DGG/Universal seem to be digging deep into their archives now, way beyond their main Goldmine the Karajan Era, with both Fricsay's and Markewich's recordings turning up online as hi res releases.
Yesterday Ferenc Fricsay's 1959 DGG recording of Mozart's masterwork Don Giovanni was released over at Highresaudio.
And I already have Böhm's early 60s recording of Die Zauberflöte both in its original LP format and as hi res download from the same site. And turning 90 this year a lot of Haitink's still good recordings for Philips are coming as hi res downloads too.
His classic Bruckner/ Mahler cycles from the Concertgebouw are just out in hi res and as downloads.
And talking about the violin,Wolfgang Schneiderhahn's classic recording of Beethoven's violin concerto which I already have on two LPs is also avalable as hi res download from Highresaudio , and so are his recordings for DGG of Mozart's five Violin Concertos.
As far as MY personal needs are concerned the situation could hardly be better than it is now.
I can now download direct from mastertape hi res transfers of some of the best recordings of the greatest music I know.
And once downloaded I am completely independent of whether the internet is working or not.
No subscription bills to worry about, no need to worry if the company I am paying will still be there and still loves me " when I am 64"
As an example again, via M Scaler long stretches of Karajan's mid 60s DGG recording of Wagner's opera Das Rheingold sounds almost as if it was recorded only a few months ago with little evidence of its age and the same goes for lots of other classics from both DECCA and EMI ranging back into the late 50s in some cases.
Tech standards were limited compared to today's best standards. But the recording engineers mostly knew how acoustic music sounds live in a real hall unlike some of those working today unfortunately.
I use a mbp on my travels, but I have never bought any music from Apple and have no plans ever to do so either.
Nor would I touch TIDAL or MQA.
I am very happy living both in Europe and Asia.
And regarding spinning rbcds HMS can be connected to any transport or cd player with optical out so I am ok there as well for my limited needs.
PS Why Karajan in his sports car ?
Just curious.
Finally a hint to "analoge music", if I move to Asia permanently I may consider selling off, not giving away my not inconsiderable LP collection, there are some gems that would fetch decent money in there. How about the Beatles LPs in mint quality? Or some of Sheffield Labs out of print Direct Cuts?
I know those alone could fetch decent money.
But not until I have "digitized" my most treasured gems.
And yes the transport in BLU2 is probably one of the best from a tech point of view. But unfortunately it comes both at an exhorbitant price and is more than a bit cumbersome to use without putting fingerprints on your CDs compared to most of the much cheaper competition.
You basically have to aquire a special technique to drop the discs into place without scratching them.
For me it was never an option.
Cheers Controversial Christer.