Is using streaming services worthy of an audiophile?

I still don't understand questions like 'is streaming services (namely Tidal) worthy for audiophiles'. Here's what I don't get. Streaming services like Tidal HiFi offer the same Redbook CD sample rate (44.1kHz, 16-bit) as the CDs you spin. If you believe your CD player sounds better or worse than Tidal HiFi, it's not because of the source of music.  It's usually due to the quality of your internal or external DAC chip set implementation and quality of the clock (oscillator) used to reduce jitter,

Tidal Redbook tracks and CD tracks sound the same to me when I compare using my Ayre CD player to Tidal Redbook tracks played via a Lumin S1.  The SQ difference tips in the direction of Tidal when playing MQA tracks. I already know the MQA haters will respond to this, but please only respond if you've ever listened to MQA tracks on Tidal via a decent Streamer/DAC and not a Bluesound Node 2 DAC.

If your definition of audiophile is vinyl, then I will concede that digital hasn't closed this gap, but the gap is narrowing and the convenience of digital must be considered. Pretty hard to listen to vinyl when you're driving or not in front of your 2-channel rig.

+1, @cycles2

I continue to be surprsed if people say that a particular digital system is almost as good as vinyl. Of course they continue to sound different, but only because vinyl is inferior. Apart from the ticks and the plops, vinyl suffers higher distortion, a non-flat frequency response, lower dynamic range, and lower channel separation.

Oh willemj... You are such a fundamentalist when it comes to what you believe to be true.

And you're reply will be: 'It's not a belief, my opinions are based on science. They're facts. Anything contrary is incorrect"

@willemj, I mainly listen to digital, but I must admit there's something pretty special about listening to a clean well recorded vinyl album. I have yet to find any digital versions of Genesis' Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or The Who's Quadrophenia albums that sound as good as the vinyl versions.  And that includes a hi-rez (96kHz, 24-bit) version of Quadrophenia.