During the last several, strange months, I found myself with a fair amount of free time. Like many of us during these pandemic times, I didn’t have anywhere to go; better yet, it was best to stay home. Since I wasn’t traveling anywhere, photography was not really an option. My level of creativity has been depressingly low and film is too expensive to waste. After several conversations with my brother - who is a true audiophile - I decided to take a trip down the audio rabbit hole. It seems like anything that interests me is always a slippery slope. My brother warned me: “Be careful, you will always wonder: how much better can this sound? And then you are in deep.”  What the hell, I thought, I will start small… I’m just going to test the waters. 

But it made me think about the bigger picture of listening to music. The way we listen to music has changed dramatically in the last ten years. The accessibility of MP3 players and streaming services have changed the way we experience music and movies. Today, music is more available and easier to access than ever before. Streaming services have revolutionized access to entire catalogues of music for a nominal cost. Physical media such as CDs and DVDs are on the verge of becoming obsolete. And while I am a big proponent of more music for everyone, this “instant” access has some serious drawbacks, both for the listener and the artist. 

I like CDs. There is something so rewarding about a tangible medium, something you can hold in your hands. Furthermore, an album often represents a specific musical statement or period in an artist’s catalogue. One of life’s small pleasures is unwrapping a new CD for the first time. As the music plays, you get comfy and peruse the CD jacket. Often bands include lyrics, photographs, and other information for the listener. It’s a complete statement, both visually and sonically. CDs are often recognized as one of the better mediums for music reproduction. They have very high quality and will last a lifetime. The do not degrade as they are played like many analogue mediums such as vinyl or cassette tapes. (Let’s face the fact that cassette tapes were pretty abysmal.) 

And while some listeners pine for the warmth and analogue vibes of vinyl, for me it’s not really practical. Regardless of which medium you choose, when you buy a tangible copy of an album (or a book or movie) it’s yours forever. Do we ever really own what we purchase “in the cloud”?  However, I will admit, CDs don’t really mesh with my move towards minimalism. They take up space and can be bad for the environment. Perhaps there is some value in digital streaming? 

I decided to explore my options for digital music. I purchased a set of Bose Companion II speakers. For $100, they seemed to get good reviews. Audiophiles would probably throw them off the nearest bridge, but as I mentioned, I am just testing the waters here folks. Next, I started a membership with TIDAL HiFi Music Streaming. They are one of the front runners of high quality music streaming. They offer lossless files in MQA format which, as I understand it, retains much more information than a compressed or “lossy” music file. The final piece of the equation - on recommendation from my brother - was a USB DAC (Digital Audio Converter) for my MacBook. I purchased the Dragonfly Black v. 1.5 from Audio Quest, also for $100. The built-in DAC in a computer is pretty bad, so the USB DAC should help bring the most out of the MQA files.

So, as the days grew shorter and the weather grew colder, I began to isolate myself and listen to music. I would listen to tracks on Apple Music and then compare the quality with that of the same track in MQA format. With the DAC plugged into my MacBook powering the Bose speakers, the difference in audio quality was quite palpable. 

Without it, there is no bass response and vocals sound muffled. With the DAC, the music has presence and the vocals are loud and clear. The difference between MQA and other lower-quality files was less discernible. If anything, it’s all in the vocals, they seem more present. If I pop in a CD, the quality of the audio, to my untrained ear, is about the same as the MQA. Maybe it’s all a gimmick? I’m not really a headphones guy, but with a set of decent headphones, the MQA files are pretty remarkable. 

I’ve enjoyed experimenting with some new ways to listen to music. I gotta admit, I still prefer a CD playing in my Sony component system. I am digging the TIDAL service, but it is a tad pricey. I don’t think I am going to go much further down the audio rabbit hole. It gets expensive pretty quick. I may want to check out some better speakers soon but I don’t think I will be shopping for any ARCAM products this year. And while I consider myself a little “old school”, I do like trying new technology. We can’t fight the future all the time. 

I wonder how much better it would sound if I bought…

Listen: Best Drugs, Matthew Feasley, 2020. Self-released. Two tracks that are both beautiful and melancholy. I discovered his work from a film and I hope he releases an EP soon. 

Watch: The Dig, Netflix Films, 2021. A good story about the 1939 Sutton Hoo excavations in England. Makes me wish I lived somewhere with some history. 

Visit: The British Museum, Sutton Hoo Exhibit.  Let’s keep the Anglo-Saxon theme going. I would love to get back to England and I think the British Museum would be my first stop. After a chip shop.