Basic Tidal streamer to USB DAC

Thanks for this, OP.  Exactly what I'm looking for.

OP here - a Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra is what I ended up with, and it fits my needs perfectly.

I’m reading that the OP wants a standalone "not-a-computer" (even though that’s what all these products are) device with USB out, so the recommendation for the Project S2 is right on. There was also the discontinued Auralic Aries Mini, and current production Auralic Aries Gx's.

SOtM sMs-200 Neo is USB out only for $450.
I cannot recommend as I couldn't get it to play nice in my system.
But you might have better luck.
It DID sound great with QobuZ and local files.

Having a USB interface usually requires a decent CPU behind it for the drivers.

If you forget that and go with coax or optical you'll have more choices.

Personally use Roon with a mini PC hidden in the closet and Raspberry Pi 4 as the streamer and USB interface to my Mytek Brooklyn.

AirPlay has always been reliable for me as long as the network is reliable. Using 802.11b Wi-Fi to stream music from an old, underpowered computer can be a problem. That being said, I've gotten audible benefit to re-clocking AirPlay S/PDIF data signals with some DACs.

@zm I think the Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra does do what you're looking for, but I haven't tried it myself so I'm just going by the documentation. Pro-Ject's products have always been good quality in my experience.

“airplay is never reliable and never supported by manufacturer warranty.”
This has to be the most ridiculous thing I have read in months.  No basis in truth.

The OP is trying to eliminate the PC in the chain. I don't  use a PC  either. Small black box about 6 inches square hooked to my dac contral with tablet,  done. 

I don't get streamers. I re-clock the usb data coming out of the pc. I use Tidal's player into an NOS dac, done.

Two reasons.

1) They sound better

2) It gets a computer out of the signal chain.

I don't get streamers. I re-clock the usb data coming out of the pc. I use Tidal's player into an NOS dac, done.

If your budget allows, pick up a used Aurender N100H. This will give you substantial upgrade in sound quality over your MacBook or anything under $1K.

Innuos Zen Mini has USB output but it also has a internal DAC just like Node 2i. For the price and features, it’s hard to beat these streamers.

airplay is never reliable and never supported by manufacturer warranty. 

Thank you for your detailed response, nekoaudio! Very helpful. The latter approach (a streamer that natively supports Tidal) is the way I was thinking I would go, I just haven’t found many streamers that seem to fit my rather basic needs without going overboard with other functionality.

Perhaps a Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra is the kind of thing I’m looking for?  I would consider a Bluesound Node 2i, which I've heard a lot about, but I don't believe it has a USB output.

There are two primary ways of streaming Tidal from a phone/tablet to a network streamer, connected to your DAC.

The first way is to run the Tidal app on your mobile device and use an audio streaming protocol like AirPlay to send the data from your mobile to the streamer. You just need an AirPlay-compatible streamer or similar for that.

The second way is to sign-in to Tidal within the network streamer's app. So you will use the streamer's app to pick what music to play from Tidal.

The benefit to the first approach is greater product compatibility and using the Tidal app. The downside is you'll be limited to whatever codec the streaming protocol uses, which will possibly involve resampling and re-encoding. Just search for any product that lists AirPlay and has USB digital output.

The benefit to the second approach is the original audio data will be sent to the network streamer. The downside is you may not like the user interface of the streamer's app. For this you the streamer's product information must explicitly say Tidal is natively supported, and has USB digital output. You will want to research the streamer's app before purchasing, in case it turns out you really do not like using the app.

Roon is just an advanced software package for navigating and playing your music, from local files or streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz. It has some additional features but they're probably of little interest to you right now.