If you ask me, audio is just as, if not more, important to your viewing experience as visuals are. Going out and buying a new TV is nice and all, but it doesn’t mean a lot to me if I don’t have a decent audio setup to go with it. TV speakers leave a lot to be desired these days, and when you couple that with the compressed streaming services, it’s a recipe for disaster. What you might not realize, however, is that streaming audio is getting better. It might not feel like it, but we might be approaching a world where there’s little to no difference between audio quality from a disc versus audio quality from a streaming service. I’m not buying that.

I just don’t see how streaming audio could ever match what’s offered on a disc, especially since people with all sorts of internet speeds are watching a streaming service at any given time. You always have to keep the lowest common denominator in mind, or else your service will end up being tailored towards enthusiasts only. Because of that, discs will always reign supreme, but the gap is closing.

A new audio codec called AC-4, a format that streams at 448 kbps, was compared to an uncompressed 7.1.4 setup that had a bitrate of 13,824 kbps in a blind test among audio engineers. When all the speakers were going at the same time, both of these setups were nearly indistinguishable from each other. Both of them also stomped the current Dolby Atmos setup you hear on streaming. What’s even more interesting is the AC-4 format streamed at a lower bitrate than the 768 kbps you currently have on streaming services. What this shows is that bitrate doesn’t mean everything, and that streaming might rival physical discs very soon.

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I’m not leaving discs behind

It’s more important than audio

I know a lot of people don’t value having great audio as much as I do, so having the current streaming quality be as poor as it is isn’t a deal breaker. I think it’s excellent news that a new codec is being released is a massive upgrade over what we have now. However, it’s not going to replace discs for me — not at all, actually. While I buy discs to get superior quality over streaming, it’s not the only reason I do that for. I’m much more concerned about things leaving streaming services and not being available anywhere else. I have a big collection of 4K and regular Blu-ray discs alike, and while they don’t last forever, it’s more than enough time for me. Heck, that 10 to 20 year lifespan has me very skeptical, because I have never had a disc give up on me, even DVDs that are older than 20 years. Nevertheless, a physical collection ensures my movies aren’t going anywhere.

Streaming has gotten very expensive, and although physical media isn’t exactly cheap anymore either, I still find it to be a better value than streaming. To celebrate Return of the Jedi’s 43rd anniversary (time flies!), I popped in the 4K disc and enjoyed it without having to scroll through any streaming service. Since Disney owns Star Wars, it feels fair to assume this movie will stay on that platform indefinitely, but people probably thought the same about Willow.

Discs take up quite a bit of space in my house, and I’ve had to buy numerous bookshelves to support all of them. I’m more than happy doing this as it means my movies will always be with me. Digital certainly has its share of pros, and I’d say that’s one of them. When streaming starts to close the gap in audio quality, that’ll be another area where the gap is closed, but it’s just not going to have an effect on me.

I still watch quite a few things on streaming, so I welcome these improvements with open arms. We deserve good quality, especially since it feels like streaming isn’t going anywhere, even though there have been talks of a bubble for years. Companies like Netflix will find a way to exist, so there’s no sense pretending that’s not going to be the case. If streaming audio can reach a part where the average person doesn’t notice the difference between that and a disc, that’s awesome. I just wish picture quality could catch up next. I’m sure there will be many improvements made over the years to look forward to. I’ll have to keep my fingers crossed and hope these upgrades aren’t locked behind expensive paywalls. I already don’t pay for the most expensive streaming tiers because of diminishing returns, but maybe upgraded audio and visuals could be the carrot on a stick that I need.

Ownership rules over everything

An ever-changing world

I’ll always take ownership over not, so no matter how many upgrades come, I don’t think I’ll ever fully give up my disc collection. I would imagine that any improvements that come to streaming would also find their way to discs as well, so it’s not like streaming could ever surpass what’s available on a disc. What I learned from this blind test is that we can get very close to the same thing, and that’s a net positive. It’s just not going to be enough to convince me to ever give up my physical media collection. It’s a hobby of mine to go to used disc stores and browse shelves for hours, looking for things I haven’t seen. I have many movies in my collection that I still haven’t watched, so I really should get around to doing that one day. One of the biggest problems I have with streaming is having access to too many things at once, but that’s sort of happening with my physical collection, too. It’s resulting in decision paralysis, but I get to at least look at things on my shelf with an actual disc.

Technology changes fast in this day and age, so it shouldn’t be shocking to see gains like this being made. I used to be skeptical of Bluetooth, but now I pretty much do all of my headphone listening over it instead of a wired connection. I’m sure there’s an audio delay of some sort, but it’s small enough for me not to notice at all. I’ve already started to come around on streaming sound as it is, mainly because there’s no other way to watch the shows and movies that debut on services like HBO Max or Netflix. I like that Netflix is starting to give some of its movies theatrical releases, but it’s clear that the company’s priority is streaming. If AC-4 ends up being the real deal, and it seems like it will, then I’m a happy camper, but my physical collection isn’t going anywhere.