Is using streaming services worthy of an audiophile?

I enjoy Tidal . I took an old laptop and bought a Cardas Clear cable to connect to my DAC . I pay $20 per month via Pay Pal . I think it sounds great . So for $20 per month , I have nothing to lose . I have discovered many new artists . For example AudioGon ad for high res download for the band " Noah Wall ". I liked it on Tidal , so I bought the download , or the vinyl . Some people CLEARLY OVERTHINK ! Yes that's a diss . I like trying recommendations based on the experience of people on this site . What I dont enjoy are poo butts that put positive people down . I spent 25 years working level 4 inmates and have had tussels with people that now reside on S.Q. Death row . So please don't be a tough guy on the internet , you're not . Happy Listening , Best of health , Mike B. 

Absolutely. I think another excellent measure of an audiophile is stretching ones boundaries to discover new music and Tidal, Google, etc all contribute to that. Some artist we knew even surprise us with a song on a different "album". So anything that makes you stretch, grow and listen is a good thing.
Cheers.

Hi,

I understand your concern @defiantboomerang but Tidal is okay. You can invest savely in streaming. I use It next tot my cd collection and FM tuner/antenna and couldn’t be happier.

I use a Rasberry Pi 3b with digi + pro board combined with Mood audio. This is a very cheap setup. Look it up on YouTube Hans beekhuyzen. Use Dbpoweramp’s to rip your cd’s to aiff. Done. You can mod it, or let somebody else mod it for you and you will go in the stratosphere, believe. Also not costly
If you need help, you can pm me.

Last night i had a terrific musical evening. Playing albums from my childhood streamed via Tidal. Reliving audiophile gems which i don’t own in the cd collection. Quality speaking, It’s absolutely amazing. High end without a doubt.

If you also throw Roon in the mix, you will not stop listening tot music. And quality goes up even higher. I Will Roon up later this year with my rasberry. My Roon trial version was *drool* Need to have it ;)

I have yet to find a Redbook track on Tidal that's not as good or better sounding than the CD version I play locally on a high-end Ayre CD player.  Then there's MQA on Tidal which generally sounds better than their Redbook versions.  Not to mention that Tidal is mobile so I use it while in the car or travelling.  We recently used Tidal in rental cars driving through Italy & Spain with very little streaming interruption even in small villages. Pretty hard to beat at almost any price.

Loomisjohnson-who says you need a computer screen in your face? My computer is 100 ft away from my dedicated audio room. Right now, i’m Shuffling between 34 albums of Paul Hardcastle which is a mix of ripped cds on my computer and from tidal, using Roon. I can put my iPad down for over a day without missing a beat.
i have been thru the stage of having a computer hooked up to my dac, never again. My system sounds so much better without using any USB cable, and just accessing my server thru my iPad.