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Sound quality issues streaming from Tidal vs CD

I am hoping someone familiar with streaming from Tidal might be able to help.

I have recently installed the Pro-Ject Streambox S2 Ultra, which is a small Raspberry Pi based network bridge. I connect this to my router via ethernet cable and to my Vitus DAC (which is part of the CD player) via USB. My CD player obviously outputs through the same DAC.

The sound quality from CD is so much better than the sound quality from Tidal (I am a Tidal Hifi subscriber).

So my questions are:

1. Is this just a feature of streaming via the internet, it simply is not as good as a good quality CD transport?
2. Or is it an issue with the Pro-Ject - would something like the Autralic Aries G2 (also a network bridge with no DAC) which costs 6 times the price of the Pro-Ject, improve the Tidal stream?
3. Or is it the fact that the USB cable I am using is an entry-level £10 cable?
4. Or is it Tidal? - would Qobuz sound better?

Any advice or knowledge would be welcome.
128x128duckworp
larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,008 posts
 
I had issues when trying to stream Tidal wirelessly.  The signal kept breaking up.  I fixed the problem by hard wiring my modem to my Apple TV using CAD5 cable and ran CAD6 to my receiver.  I can’t tell the difference in sound quality compared to CD.  I would imagine using a PS Audio streamer would sound nicer.  However, how much better after dropping $6,000x
loconut71
7 posts
 
The Tidal issues I have experienced was not using the digital input on my preamp. Later when I upgraded to the hifi subscription Tidal told me the master quality had to be done from pc. Now I use my pc for Tidal and Qobuz. Huge difference and that is using a USB cable.
duckworp's avatar
duckworp OP
257 posts
 
Thanks for all your very informative replies. I will certainly try some of the ideas you put forward. Fortunately I don’t get drop out problems with Tidal, the issues are just in sound quality: compared to the CD the music has grit, the top end is not clean, the bass less defined, the music is flatter with no depth. Hopefully with some of your suggestions I can improve this. If not I may have to invest in a better quality network bridge streamer. The DAC I have in the Vitus is very very good, so I will continue to use that, but perhaps I will need to investigate what alternatives there are in the streamers that have no DAC.
kehonkahill
13 posts
 
I stream Tidal and CD’s using the same Oppo 105 player and there is no question that CD’s
sound much better. I would love to be able to stream with the same results as playing CD’s and would have no problem paying for that service if that was the case but still debating whether to continue paying. I like the ability to explore new music and listen to music I probably would not buy otherwise. When it's time for serious listening, it’s playing the disc, whether SA or standard disc, which by the way I think the quality from your standard CD on the Oppo is overlooked
worldwidewholesales
134 posts
 
Hi,

As an audio distributor I learn a ton of knowledge by listening to my clients. The best piece of digital advice that was given to us by one of our clients is to look at digital like a piece of pie. If you have an average USB cable, you are missing 1/8 of the pie and there are a ton of average USB cables. If you are using average blue Cat 5 router cable, you are picking up noise thru that cable and missing another 1/8 of the pie. If you are NOT hardwired to your router, you are missing another 1/8 of the pie. If you are using an average server you are missing 1/4 of the pie. When you start to add the whole amount of digital signal missing, it becomes oblivious why the streaming service is not as good as your CD player but if you solve the weak links than Tidal can sound very good. We have directly A/B tested 76 different digital front ends as of May 2019 and we have found that the server was the most important part of setting up a digital system properly, followed by the dac but most people focus on the dac first. The proper cables are also super important and hardwired, in our opinion, solves a lot of problems.

Cheers,

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