Is using streaming services worthy of an audiophile?

I was turned on to Tidal about a month ago and I love it. There is so much music to choose from.  Is it for audiophiles...I definitely think so.

First, I was previosuly using Sirius/XM in my car all the time. Now with streaming (or locally saved music on my iphone) from Tidal, the quality is so much better!  That was an immediate upgrade to my daily commute. Sure it’s not my home rig, but better sounding music is still better and all audiophiles can apppreciste that. 

I’ve been streaming Tidal through Roon into my home audio system, using appleTV -> Belcanto DAC and its not as good as my MCormmack UDP-1 CD player after A/B testing the same song tracks equalized for volume. 

I’m expecting all that to change when I have my new streaming digital solution in place tomorrow.  Roon/Tidal -> ultraRendu (powered by UpTone LPS10) -> Schiit Yggy 

The rest of the System is Marantz (pre), VTL s-400 (amp) and Wilson Maxx II.  

Then in I will really be able to see if this is true audiophile quality.  

Nonetheless, having all this music at my fingertips is amazing!

The OP said:

"Audiophiles and music lovers have almost nothing in common. Ordinary music lovers usually find despicable Apple earbuds perfectly acceptable, for example. I am 100% certain that audiogon members enjoy music on a much deeper level than music lovers."

I would say that you're in the right forest, but barking up the wrong tree.   I believe that Audiogon members enjoy EQUIPMENT on a much deeper level. 

Or from a different angle, I could make the case that someone listening to music through $10 ear buds might absolutely be enjoying the music on a deeper emotional level while someone trying to analyze whether their new amp lets them hear more air around the instruments is enjoying the music on a deeper technical level.  

As for the original question, I listen to Spotify daily.  I have a great time just enjoying the music.  I often play air drums.  Sometimes air guitar.  Maybe a little air bass, but only infrequently.  If this means I need to remove the "I'm an audiophile!" patch from my Member's Only jacket, no problem, just let me know where to send it and I'll drop it in the mail today.

bcgator - That is a great comment. I could not agree more, well said.

Yes, streaming is legit, and no, it doesn't disqualify you from being an audiophile or a music lover; I do like the distinction, however, in an amusing way. 

We do 90% of our listening to Deezer HiFi/ Elite; Flac and it sounds good. Occasionally we do vinyl and sometimes streaming from a ripped CD or a Hi Res file. It all sounds as good or bad as the recording, mixing and mastering. I am totally convinced that the recording quality is far more important that the file type, though, MP3's are hard to make good on a revealing system.

But most importantly is access to music. Streaming and digital souces give me access to music that I would not otherwise be able to get, especially as I like a lot of music that is not available in any other form or from any other source. So, go to it. Try Deezer's high quality service (better music selection than Tidal for me and equal SQ) or Tidal or Qubuz if in Europe/ UK. It is a worthty addition to your stable of music sources. 

I tried Tidal. It sounds like a 30 year old Denon CD player. I enjoyed that CD player. It was my first, but it is not good enough for my system or ears.