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rayschoepfer
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Feb 3, 2019
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I've been following this thread for a while and realize that the most important question has NOT been framed in all the posts.  That is "Why am I listening to music in the first place?"  To me there are two main reasons, as a pleasant background to what I'm really doing at the time … or.... ONLY listening to the artist, music and recording he is making, with no other distractions, just the music. (There are different reasons to listen within serious listening but they are not worth discussing for this topic.) So if your goal is to create a pleasant background to what you are doing, then I fully agree with all that say the quality does not really matter that much.  You'll never here it while your playing a game, studying for a test, posting on Facebook, etc.  I know because part of my listening is just this kind of listening, background while I work or am cooking or having a party.  I still have pretty good equipment for that purpose but it likely is not necessary for the purpose it serves.  And the source material sound quality is of little importance.  Content is far more important.  For my background listening, I usually stream a good jazz radio station (WWW.JAZZ.FM) which offers pretty crappy sound (in absolute terms), even though I have a Tidal subscription, and could easily be listing to it. I do use the odd Tidal composed playlist for parties every now and again but all reports say that Spotify play lists are way better.  When I have time, I'll spend some time with Spotify and see if it is worth getting it, as well, for their playlists. But when it comes time for me to LISTEN to the music, I head downstairs to my dedicated HiFi room, close the door and put on vinyl, cd's or Tidal.  All playing on my mega expensive equipment that I've invested hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours setting up for optimum sound (speaker based system).  And I'm still playing around with the room (currently adding corner traps all over the place).  When you actually sit and listen to the music, the smallest improvements jump out.  And once your used to listening  for them, they become painfully obvious. But you HAVE to be LISTENEING. So the first question anyone has to ask themselves, is "Why do I put on music".  If your answer is to create a pleasant background, save your money but if your serious about actually listening to the music, get ready to spend way too much time and money on chasing the Holy Grail :-) BTW, for all out there that say they want both, then your stuck with chasing the Holy Grail (meaning your going to have to spend the time, but not necessarily TOO much money, if your smart about it).  Everyone out there, enjoy life.  And to quote the great jazz/pop singer, Al Jarreau,  "  It's nice to be important.... but it is far more important to be nice"   
Feb 3, 2019
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