Somewhat to my own surprise, it looks like I'm going with Qobuz + Luna Display for music streaming.
Next week, I'm attending a concert at Carnegie Hall, and I decided to use Apple Music (AAC) and Qobuz (16-bit) to preview two of the pieces on the programme. The main event at this concert is a new piano concerto by the English composer Thomas Adès. Being new, it hasn't been recorded by anyone, although the Boston Symphony has uploaded a brief rehearsal video (see below).
However, the undercard, if I can call it that, consists of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. For the former, I listened to Sir George Solti's 1975 recording, and for the latter Vladimir Jurowski's 2017 recording (see photo, post #27). I used good open back headphones (Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro) and a good audio interface (Sound Devices USBPre2).
In my previous post, I said that I think Apple Music AAC is fine for making decisions about whether to purchase a recording. Indeed, I think it's fair to say that Apple Music and Qobuz are close enough on Jurowski's 2017 Tchaikovsky recording to defend that statement. However, the older 1975 Solti recording left my belief in shreds. Apple's AAC stream sounds distant and rather lifeless. The Qobuz stream is noticeably more present and alive. I can't explain this, but I'm satisfied that it isn't my mind playing tricks.
Unless this Solti recording is an exception, the lesson is that AAC recordings, for me at least, are not a reliable proxy when making purchasing decisions.
That pushes me toward Qobuz, complemented by Luna Display, and toward serious consideration of ceasing to purchase music in favour of streaming.
Meanwhile, I'm pretty excited about this concert. Here's the video that the Boston Symphony has uploaded, with the composer, Thomas Adès, conducting, and Kirill Gerstein, for whom Adès wrote the concerto, at the piano:
This is the New York Times review of the first performance of the concerto in Boston on 7 March:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/arts/music/piano-concertos-thomas-ades-john-adams.html
If you're in Germany, the concerto will be performed in Leipzig on 26 April:
https://www.gewandhausorchester.de/spielplan/