About seven years ago, when I first copied my entire CD collection to my computer, I carried out a series of blind listening tests. And, through those, I discovered that a 192kbs AAC sounded, to both my and my friends’ ears, nearly on par with CD quality audio.

This afternoon, however, with city radio interference causing the music streamed from my Mac to my Airport Express to clip in and out, I defaulted back to listening to the same songs from Ye Olde CDs. And, holy crap, I don’t know if we did those first listening tests on shitty stereo equipment, while exceedingly drunk or high, or simply with a more tech-friendly future-hopeful world outlook. Whatever the reason, we were ridiculously kind to those 192kbs AACs, the ones from which I’ve been listening to all of my music for three-quarters a decade. Because, in short, they sound nowhere, nowhere as good as the same music on CD, at least as played through a pair of Linn Tukan speakers or a pair of Etymotic ER-4P earbuds.

I realize this may soon turn me into the equivalent of the crazy old curmudgeon who still refuses to buy anything but vinyl. And, worse, I’ve yet to work out a way to steal music on CD rather than BitTorrent. But, regardless, for the time being, I’m sticking with it. Like most of the best music of today, it seems the best music listening of today is similarly, firmly, rooted in music’s – and music technology’s – past.