The Future of HiFi… lossless cloud streaming

Of course it's not paranoia if they ARE actually out to get you.

There's no me in that we. I guess they meant everyone else.

With my move over time from LP's, to cd's, to hard drive-based music, to iCloud/iTunes Match for portable music when I travel . . . for me a move to cloud-based storage of music (away from my hdd uServe and nas) would not be overly traumatic.

My iTunes Match music that I listen to is not "mine" -- it's a collection of links to Apple's library.  That does not seem to concern me.

A database somewhere listing what I've listened to does not overly concern me.  I imagine that Apple keeps one.

And I believe it would be reliable if Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. are behind it.  And they would be -- not the little companies that got into and out of cloud backup services, over their heads, three plus years ago.

I, too, like to support artists with direct purchases.  Currently with iTunes Match, this is entirely possible.  I buy the cd or download from the artist, rip it into iTunes, and then it's available in the cloud for me.  An iTunes Match-type service that was lossless, hi rez, and available to a home hi fi, would be of interest to me.  While there are a lot of problems for artists and music distribution, I think that such are relatively technology-neutral.  It's a business problem, not caused by technology.  imho.

This article is interesting for technical and quality reasons. What it does not address is what happens to the listening habbits, both bad and good. The bad thing is the idea of finding new tracks and albums, because they are all free! Of course nice since only the subscribtion money is lost, but it can end up being more browsing than  listening to music. The good thing is that you can find all the albums that you did not buy in the first place, something I have done over the last days. It is also nice to be able to listen to music before deciding if a concert is worth going to.

I like the idea in the article about integration between online and offline music, and I think it is correct that the app development should be done by the provider not the hifi company. I also agree on the total uselessness of airplay when it comes to quality streaming.

Finally to the paranoid among us, how can you stay on an online forum that is monitored both by Naim NSA and everytbody else!

http://www.computeraudiophile....ent/590-future-hifi/

Isn't this just the audio version of NetFlix or LoveFilm?  If so, then this isn't a novel model.

NetFlix/LoveFilm changed the landscape/ecosystem of movie watching though - just ask anyone who used to work for Zavvi or Blockbuster!

I'd be OK with the hybrid model, and would give me a chance to listen to even wider range of music.  I'm not on Spotify at the moment, but would consider subscribing to a high res streaming library.  Hopefully the new Muso version of N-Stream will allow effortless link of streamers with commercial streaming organisations.

ATB.  George.

For me I think its great. Loving Qobuz at the mo, almost any album I could dream of listening to and in very good quality. 

Not for me. No Internet, no music, no thankyou. 

I think that we're inevitably, already there - there is no fundamental difference in technology between the lossless and lossy streaming / music store providers, except for the (established) constraints as regards mobile data and residential quality of service.  The added value is provided as both the curation of genre- or theme-specific libraries (among other criteria) as well as the metadata and cross-pollination of search results ("sounds like" or "you might also like"), as well as the elimination of the need to generate, manage and make available a streaming library on the part of the end user.

There will be those that look upon remotely-hosted, full-bandwidth libraries with a degree of contempt, though I suspect that this is a generational thing and will eventually pass on.  Much of the nascent nature of cloud computing is the degree to which it has already arrived as a simple extension to one's desktop.

Not contempt but plenty of scepticism, from the POV of not holding a physical copy than can easily be played on a variety of devices, including in the cars, the possibility of the service provider vanishing, the difficulty of consistently achieving  over 24/96 streaming wirelessly and the cross platform reliability and reproducibility of the infrastructure. Those who say we'll all be doing it really haven't thought it through. If we're talking about the modern equivalent of the cassette Walkman or MP3 player, handling the more lossy, low quality crap, then who cares? I mean really? Crap[ is crap. Buy it from wherever you want but don't confuse it with fidelity.

With Qobuz you can download to your device as well as directly stream. So you can have your music on multiple devices to play in your car and take your music with you.

I agree its not going to happen over night but its certainly going to go more that way and only improve!

I have not seen any complaints about Wimp, Spotify or Quboz being down, and I am sure it would have been a tech story if it happened for more than a few seconds.

If netflix can stream highdef tv there should be no technical problem streaming 24 bit audio. When or  if 24 bit audio ever will be widely available (still not likely) the services will surely be able to minimize dropouts.

Wimp has the same ability of downloading albums to more than one device, I have not tried it.

For me the big unknown here is will we get a usable intervace to all the music. Until now nothing comes close to the Naim dtc, but I am sure I will never get such an efficient pc interface unfortunately.

Claus

I rather enjoy Qobuz, but it's not a substitute for my growing collection of ripped CDs. The area cloud services need to do better is on versions or re masters of albums. There are often no details on this.

Collecting music recording/albums often involves appreciating these nuances and currently this aspect is largely omitted in cloud services.

i still find the quality and ability immerse myself in my music is easier and more satisfying with my own rips locally streamed.

This of course might start to change when Naim incorporate Qobuz clients into their streamers..

Right now I see lossless cloud services perhaps slowly replacing web radio services.. which after I pass the initial curiosity I often find musically lacking.

Shock of shocks, my son who has been very much of the mp3 download generation, at 17 has started buying CDs!!!  Not many and is rather discerning... But perhaps it shows things don't really change that much...

Simon

This is very sensible and encouraging. Qobuz seem to have a sane and friendly approach and long may it continue. They've had some of my money through more old fashioned channels.

Wat - I agree, what a load of rubbish - nothing like stating it as you would like to see it and creating a gross generalisation.

Some people are too busy to chose music - but then these people probably don't care what they listen to and I suspect are not great music lovers and would be quite happy listening to the radio in the background if they could. I think this has been so for decades.

I can't believe it. some people are just sooo irritating - but then Mrs S-in-S said I was turning into a Victor Meldrew the other evening..

Simon

Is this summer in the UK?  Old men turn into grumpy old men?

No need to answer - I'm landing at Heathrow in 36 hours to do some field research for a few days.  We are staying with good friends who have recently re-done their all-Meridian system.  The research will be valid, as if I return with a Hugo in my pocket, I'll know it was the water . . . or the warm beer. 

Oh -- almost forgot the

I think cloud based streaming can only be a good thing. It enables you to widen your experience of music enormously, including listening to an increasing number of live streams from the likes of Ronnie's Scott's club, the Berlin Phil and Wynton Marsalis. When a cd is £10 or £15 you're always going to be cautious and stick your favourites; when the marginal cost of listening to something is nothing people will explore and enjoy and enrich their lives. In a sense, listening to the same thing over and over is unnatural - no-one, not even Mozart heard the same orchestra play the same piece of music fifty times. And you'd never go to the same gig fifty times either, no matter how good. So the paradigm of the Hifi enthusiast who has been listening to DSotM for 40 years is over! And think how much fairer the charts will be when music is rated by the number of times it gets listened to, rather than how many  cds  are sold.

Over? Did you say over?

You can have one last listen. Then it's over.  It never sounded as good as the first time you heard it.