The difference between Qoboz stream vs purchased songs

@gkelly - I'm a big fan of your dancing!

We all have to make our own decision about sq and how important it is to us.  The bigger question with streaming is how important permanence is to you.  Several responses argued against spending money on downloads, because there's always so much available through streaming - treating music as a consumable.  Several argued in favor of buying music to which you would not want to lose access. 

How would you describe your relationship with the music you stream?  If it truly moves you, buy it!  Don't give them a chance to take it away from you.  The artists will be grateful, and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you've contributed more than a fraction of a penny to their art.

going to try to get this back on track…

@gkelly there’s only one way to answer your question - purchase a song or an album and compare. There are few variables that can potentially influence the outcome. Hear it for yourself. 
My opinion, which is largely based on testing and comparing stored vs streaming, is the money would be better spent on a second streaming service (i.e. Tidal) that gives you access to some music that’s not available on Qobuz.

I compared purchased music on hdtracks vs the same album on qobuz using Roon. The hdtracks files are in fact slightly better. Not dramatically but they are better. 

Yea the only way to know is for you to compare.

The correct answer is: theoretically, with everything else the same, there is no difference when source content is the same. But there are always external factors that can come into play in unique ways case by case.