Change in purchasing habits sink in
 

Until this afternoon I hadn't actually spent much time thinking about how drastically my music purchasing habits have changed in the last six months.

I have been pretty consistent in my posts over the last few years stating that I prefer to own my music, ordering CD's from Amazon and burning them to Sooloss and now also Roon. I would also purchase the occasional hi-rez title and have downloaded a few MQA titles. At one time or another I have used a variety of streaming services to search for new artists or albums. If I liked the title I would purchase the CD and if it was so-so or only had one or two good tracks I might tag that album for future play via Sooloos. These services (Rhapsody, Spotify, Tidal) saved me from purchasing a bunch of so-so albums.

So what has happened recently? I just checked my Amazon account, I haven't purchased a CD since before Christmas!!! Tidal's SQ is so good that I didn't realize I was just tagging new music for future play rather than ordering the CD. This was not a concious decision. In fact if you had asked me I would have incorrectly stated my purchasing habits hadn't changed.

I have known for some time that Tidal's SQ was so good I have no preference whether I was listening to a Tidal track via Sooloos or Roon or the same CD tracks burned to one of my drives. If there are differences they aren't working looking for.

I still like the "idea" of owning rather than just renting my music. Yet in reality I seemed to have moved towards renting without making a conscious decision. I guess I will have to look at these "rented" titles to see if I will go back and purchase "my" copy. :dazed-7:

What about analog? Do you still purchase new albums, or is the convenience of Tidal trumping even analog?

The other day I found an old and forgotten "wish list" from Amazon and realized that I had tagged about 8 CDs for future purchase. After a short search in Tidal, I located all 8 CDs and added them to my Roon library then deleted them from my Amazon list. From my perspective, I now "purchased" these 8 CDs and saved myself money in the process.

One more thing: Tidal has newer/remastered versions of CDs. I like those remastered versions better than the versions in the CDs that I had once purchased and ripped. So I made the Tidal versions as the Primary version in Roon and marked my old ripped CDs and duplicates (and hid them).

I purchase very few albums. The last one was Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker". It sits unopened in the pile. I not sure my TT has been used since the first of the year.

I am just heading down the LP rabbit hole. Be interesting to see where this takes me.

Jim, I was thinking the same thing this morning when I received another email from HDTracks with a 20% off promo. First thought was they seem to be offering more and more 20% off discounts (15% used to be the norm) then I thought that it doesn't matter as I can listen to that music on Tidal.

I think I am down to the off SACD or DSD download.

Thankfully, I can still easily resist the LP rabbit hole. ;)

I still hear a distinct difference between tidal and hi Rez and vinyl and good fm on my system. So, I use tidal to sample music, but if it's good, I'll buy it in whatever format makes sense for that title. Lots less mediocre music purchases though.

Am getting Ethernet cables rather than wifi next week, so maybe tidal will start to sound better for me.

:nono::tears::no::sigh::scratch2:

For me "digital" front end all the way, I can't be bothered in buying a TT and records again.

In the last two/three years I see the TT revival when I visit shop demo's, and very rarely I enjoy the TT/records better than the digital front end they switch to.

I don't have a MQA DAC (yet), so I am not fully taking advantage of what Tidal can give me, but I have also reduced my CD buying habit.

Jim, Have you compared other DAC's to the Meridian 808V6 that you have ?