What is your favourite recorded source media?

SACD here.

But it doesn't change the fact that I'll use and prefer whatever format delivers the best mastering of an individual title in question.

I voted for SACD because if SACD is done right, it is indistinguishable from top quality vinyl.

Given this equality, SACD wins on the basis of convenience, pressing consistency, and touchless playback (ie no play wear).

Dream format is DSD128 download, which wasn't listed as a choice.

However, almost every format has at least a handful of standout titles that have the best masterings and smoke all the others. So one is always well-advised to maintain a diverse array of high quality sources.

ccm

 

Haven't heard any really good needledrops of stuff that is badly mastered on CD? Like, say, the Frank Sinatra Capitol Catalog?

 

I was meaning the portability of CD. Car, home, carrying it on person, at the office etc.

Most of the other choices, are limited, either in selections of titles or portability.

SACD, DVD Audio, HD files all very hard to find a lot of stuff, Open reel and vinyl, not portable in the least.

 

CDs are only slightly more portable than LPs (well, about 4x more portable, but still..). A smart phone or iPod, even a hard drive can hold hundreds of albums and thousands of songs that will fit in your pocket. According to your definition, those folks are the true music lovers.

 

Vinyl rules! No question!

 

I'll probably get smack for agreeing with you, but I do agree with you. Assuming other factors like mastering / availability is taken out of the picture, digital files / high-res is the most portable and gives one the most flexibility of all formats. You can literally walk around with an entire music library in your pocket - it doesn't get more convenient than that (unless technology eventually puts a chip in my head).

See above. The real-world scenario is that CD's have both portability and a large selection. And right now a healthy used market which reduces cost. But if we go one step further and use digital files as the end point (if permitted in this hypothetical), you can rip CD's to digital files and "have your cake and eat it to".

 

Great Point, I agree 100%

In all honesty, lately ive been doing a TON of radio streaming. I like to hear things ive not heard before and will be on that kick for a few weeks, then resort back to my CDs.

I think sometimes "We" as in not meaning anyone in particular or you or me, but just audiophiles in general, sometimes lose sight of the music as the goal.

I had a young female friend, that had well over 10,000 songs on her hard drive. I was gonna start questioning the audio quality, as I noticed many were not even 320k and so on, until we spent a few hours just listening......it was addictive to have that much stuff and her to recommend things she liked. It was like a kid in a candy store, where all can be sampled.

I thought to myself, with my several hundred CDs, who is really the music lover, her or I ??

 

I'd actually argue that streaming is, in an ideal setup, the best choice of someone who loves music over media. Because, ideally, streaming would allow for tens of millions of tracks and complete portability. You essentially no longer have a library at all, be it physical media or digital files.

The problem in the real world is mastering and data costs and the occasional missing artist ie The Beatles or the new Vampire Weekend. Plus, like Netflix, there's no guarantee of permanency - you could lose an entire catalog tomorrow or it could be replaced with remixes or a remaster.

 

SACD or CD. Not a fan of vinyl pops and clicks or "flipping" a record over.

 

Apparently, I'm the lone philistine who voted "MP3," although I suppose technically I'd be AAC, since I primarily listen to iTunes.

I ripped all my CDs to FLAC, then transcoded them to ALAC for the hell of it, then transcoded to AAC in order to have one matching universal library which would include iTunes purchases.

I can't tell the difference between any of them. The well-recorded albums sound great in any codec. The poorly recorded ones sound lousy in any codec.

So if the question is "what would I choose to live with the rest of my life," that's easy.

 

I have one of those!!

 

I voted Vinyl. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

I'd voted for CD but these days, I'm streaming almost all my music.

 

What's it to you?