For music listening circa 2024, streaming is both the present and the future. Physical formats are still around, and they are still the best choice in some cases, as with deluxe reissues of beloved albums, which may add value with extra live performances, full-resolution surround sound, and other perks. The niche vinyl market continues to thrive, and that business model obviously works for releases of a few thousand copies. (It also works, apparently, for releases of hundreds of thousands of T-Swift platters to be displayed on shelves and hung on walls.)
But facts is facts: Streaming is now the only mass medium for listening to recorded music—the primary carrier for music—and has been for a few years now. According to RIAA statistics, the crossover year was 2016. That’s when, in revenue terms, streaming outpaced physical formats. By 2022, the latest full year tabulated, streaming accounted for 84% of US recorded-music revenue.1
So what’s a long-time audiophile, born into the analog world, with strong roots in physical media, supposed to do? We can cling stubbornly to our shelves of LPs and CDs—as I do. We can rage against lossy streaming such as that provided by market leader Spotify. (I do that, too.) We can pay $30+ for a vinyl copy of the newest hit album, most likely recorded digitally and then cut to a format rife with audible sound-quality compromises. (I don’t do that.)
The MXN10 is a thoughtfully considered, high-performance bridge to the future-present, at a price that’s friendly to most budgets.
Or we can embrace the present and future, integrate high-quality streaming and digital files into our audio life, and benefit from the easy, low-cost musical exploration streaming offers. Streaming and physical media coexist beautifully and often enhance each other, aided by current hi-fi hardware.
For the benefit of those who haven’t done it already, here’s the argument for jumping into streaming, in a nutshell: For the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month—less than the cost of a single LP You can get at least CD quality and often HD from Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon, or Apple Music. Search for any song that pops into your head, or that you read about, or that a friend recommends, and more likely than not, after a few finger-punches on your phone, it’s playing for you.
