I am going to address the Tidal v CD issue. I play my CDs and stream TIDAL on a Cocktail Audio X35. The X35 is a "Swiss army knife" device and one wouldn’t assume that it is as high a quality device as it truly is. Since I stream Tidal and play CDs on the same device the circuitry and ESS Sabre³² Reference DAC are the same and there are no interconnects in-between to effect sound quality and timber; I would pronounce my comparison to be about as true an A-B comparison as one can achieve. The rest of my system is also high quality. The X35 is connected to my Indy Labs Aragon 8008 with Synergistic Research Resolution Reference ICs and the amp feeds a pair of Maggie 3.7i and a Definitive S4000 powered sub. My system nearly doubles the cost threshold of 10K another contributor mentioned. The bottom line is to my ears the sound of Tidal streaming HiFi v playing the same album on CD is nearly indistinguishable. Tidal streaming in MQA is IMHO also difficult to distinguish except on stellar albums.
Is there a difference in sound quality when streaming TIDAL Vs CD player
I hard wired my modem located in my family room using Cad6 cable to my Apple TV and direct wired my Apple TV to my ARCAM AVR550. I have an OPPO 203 connected by both an RCA cable and by HDMI to my ARCAM.
The dealer I purchased my ARCAM from told me to play my CD’s through my RCA connection and to watch DVD’s through HDMI. If I listen to CD’s through the RCA, aren’t I using the DAC on the OPPO player rather than the DAC on my ARCAM and wouldn’t the DAC on my ARCAM be a better DAC. My friend told me I should use a digital cable rather than an RCA to improve sound quality to utilize the DAC on my ARCAM? If this is the case, wouldn’t the HDMI be the same as by using a specific digital cable? I listened to my CD’s through the RCA Vs the RCA cable and I thought it sounded better through my HDMI cable.
i will be looking forward to your responses.
Thank you,
The dealer I purchased my ARCAM from told me to play my CD’s through my RCA connection and to watch DVD’s through HDMI. If I listen to CD’s through the RCA, aren’t I using the DAC on the OPPO player rather than the DAC on my ARCAM and wouldn’t the DAC on my ARCAM be a better DAC. My friend told me I should use a digital cable rather than an RCA to improve sound quality to utilize the DAC on my ARCAM? If this is the case, wouldn’t the HDMI be the same as by using a specific digital cable? I listened to my CD’s through the RCA Vs the RCA cable and I thought it sounded better through my HDMI cable.
i will be looking forward to your responses.
Thank you,
- ...
- 67 posts total
- 67 posts total