I was born into this world in 1995, making me a “Millennial”, a term that generally refers to the generation of people born between the early 1980s and 1990s. I, like so many of my generation, have grown up in an era not only between analogue and digital mediums, but also physical and streamed. You could say, we “bridge the gap”, between formats.

I’ve owned a cassette walkman, CD players, an MP3 player and iPods in various incarnations… Over the course of my life, most forms of entertainment have gone from physical to digitally streamed. It didn’t happen overnight of course. Bit by bit the analogue faded for many and the streaming took over, and before I (or any of us knew it), we were immersed in new age technology in many aspects of our lives, particularly in music.

Today, we’ll be exploring the concepts of physical and digitally streamed music using a lovely piece of equipment that’s designed to give you the best of both, but can we really have it all?

Nostalgia vs Modern Day

I’ve often met customers who are struggling with whether or not to upgrade and digitise their current analogue system. They frequently tell me, “I’ve got rid of my CDs” or “My other half/kids want to be able to quickly stream from their phones”, and proceed to ask for advice – questions such as, “What’s the best decision for my system and/or household?” or “Is there a way to keep my current system and just add streaming?” or “Is 100% digital the way forward?” There are things to consider…

Physical media comes in many formats – We are all too familiar with records, especially with the “Vinyl Revival” showing increased popularity and sales in vinyl records year on year since 2007. Even the humble cassette tape is starting to see a renaissance within younger consumers, no doubt in the wake of vinyl's enormous resurgence. CDs are yet to make their comeback, with digital streaming making up to 85% of music consumption, and vinyl records outselling those shiny discs for the first time in almost three decades. Lets not forget to mention MiniDisc, Reel-to-Reel or even the LearJet Stereo 8 Portable 8-Track Player!

As things have evolved, digital streaming has become the most predominant format, with over three quarters of the world favouring it over anything else. This change in trend has meant that the charts are now counted in most part by the number of times a song, artist or album has been streamed, counting this towards their “sales”, moving them up or down the charts in relation to these numbers. Meaning that most songs that have been number one over the last few years has most probably been streamed more times than physically bought.

Contrastingly, it is argued that physical formats mainly exist nowadays as a marketing tool to attract collectors. For example, when the Spice Girls (I know what you’re thinking, “Can we go one blog without mention of the Spice Girls!”, the answer is No!) released their 25th anniversary edition of their first album Spice, it was available on six individual releases of vinyl, five cassettes and a double CD. Hardcore collectors such as myself would’ve bought all the variants (each one a different colour representing each Spice Girl, and a generic one), meaning the collectors have exactly the same album on multiple formats. Of course I’ve bought them all, but they sit on my display shelf purely to look pretty as part of one extensive collection. I only really ever listen to the album through streaming platforms such as Spotify, as I’m sure many others do!

Now unless you’re using streaming services such as Tidal, Qobuz or Amazon Music HD, a small downfall with streaming is that many platforms compress the sound, meaning that the music somewhat loses the life it once had.

So what do we do? Do we scrap physical media altogether, considering how much of the world is now streamed? Or are both able to happily co-exist together? Let’s investigate…

The Audiolab Omnia

The Audiolab Omnia is an all-in-one pre-amp, amplifier, CD player and streamer system, where with just a click of a button, you can choose to stream or listen to your CDs; it even has a built-in phono input, allowing vinyl lovers to plug in their turntables too. So really and truly, all you need for this system are a pair of speakers and you’re good to go! The award-winning system comes in a black or silver finish, and it’s aluminium framework is typical of Audiolab’s modernised aesthetic for today’s living environments. Considering that the cost is sometimes a bit out of reach when buying all of these systems separately, the Omnia has a very effective price-point for it’s capabilities! So, without further ado, let’s plug it in and see how it sounds.

The Acosutic Energy AE320 floor-standing speakers

The setup is relatively easy. First, to get it running you’ll need to plug it in with the provided power supply (or perhaps one of the many aftermarket cables we stock Here). The Omnia comes with a remote control, making it that much easier to switch between sources at a distance. I plugged in some Acoustic Energy AE320s and I was ready to go. Although the Omnia has an ethernet connection, I opted for wireless connectivity.

Now that’s sorted, on to playback…

I ensured I was on the “Bluetooth” source and then simply connected through my phone’s settings. I began streaming my favourite songs from Spotify first, then afterwards I switched over to Tidal, a streaming platform that uses the MQA file type. In comparison, Tidal provided a clearer and more open sound quality due to the file types it uses. I could hear that the detail was cleaner amongst the broader ambience in the room. Don’t get me wrong, Spotify sounded brilliant, but Tidal’s uncompressed file types are unmatched. So, whichever one you use is completely a personal choice.

Next, I played the same tracks on CD. Once inserted, it’s a simple case of pressing the “source” button on the remote control, and it instantly flicked over to the CD source. I listened carefully to hear the differences, and admittedly, the songs I streamed through Tidal sounded almost identical to the CD, but the latter definitely seemed to have the upper hand. It was that little bit more crisp, open and detailed. So far, I’m majorly impressed!

After a while of listening, switching back and forth between Bluetooth and CD, I became curious about what vinyl would sound like. I plugged in a Rega Planar 3 exact, and again played the same tracks to hear any differences (like I said before, I have every format of this particular album, so I was well-prepared). I found that every detail was brought forward as the stylus moved between the grooves. This time, the differences were extremely obvious! The sound-stage opened up immensely, and I could hear every part of the song much more clearly. The ambience filled the room more, as if the album just gained some more life and soul.

So, to conclude…

To answer an earlier question, can physical and digital happily co-exist together? The answer is most definitely yes. Let’s break it down:

Firstly, if you use a streaming platform such as Tidal (or any platform that doesn’t compress sound for that matter), that is the closest thing you will get to physical format without having something tangible. Streaming doesn’t necessarily have to compromise on sound, so you can find almost identical quality of music digitally!

Having the Audiolab Omnia means you can very easily switch between each source you’d like to use at the touch of a button, so if you prefer to listen to CDs and others in your household prefer streaming, you won’t have to buy separate systems to please everyone, saving you money and space in your home, and everyone’s needs are met.

Speaking of the financial side, as mentioned before, buying a pre-amp, amplifier, CD player and streamer separately to create one big system can be a much bigger dent to the bank balance, whereas the Audiolab Omnia gives you all of that for a relatively sensible price around the £1600 mark.

On a more personal note and bringing this blog full circle, being a millennial and part of the “bridging the gap” generation, I love that the Omnia gives me the opportunity to use all of these formats. I have CDs that I still listen to that aren’t available on Spotify or other streaming platforms, and vice versa, so being able to use an all-in-one system that meets all of my musical needs is amazing!

So, taking into consideration that streaming can provide an almost identical sound quality as physical format, the way our world has become digital but hasn’t totally forgotten about the analogue side of things, the Audiolab Omnia’s ease of use and price point, can we have the best of both worlds? The answer is a resounding YES.

Not quite convinced? Come and have a free demonstration!

Thanks for reading!

Elena, John & Jason – Audio T Enfield

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The Audiolab Omnia and other Audiolab products are available at the following Audio T stores -