Which Has Best Sound Quality -- CD vs. Tidal vs. FLAC Uploaded From Burned CD


I will start the discussion noting my experience using Roon and Tidal, which enabled a direct A/B comparison between my FLAC library which I transferred from my CDs and Tidal.  It was easy to A/B compare because in many instances I uploaded the same album in FLAC that Tidal had in their general mainframe for our listening pleasure.

As an example, I listened to both versions of the Ratatat album LP3.  I found my FLAC version superior to the Tidal version based on being crisper, more refined and less bloated in the bass.  The Roon software clearly identified that I was playing the same album from the two different sources.

I have not compared the CD, as this would require adding a CD player.  What has been your experiences in this area?





 
hayw
I don’t know unless its the Node 2i I stream the WAV files through from my NAS. It’s set up wireless but I am going to hard wire it this weekend which might make a difference. Of course Tidal is wireless as well.   The CD player and Node both connect to a Benchmark DAC 3B with coax. But the ripped files have never sounded as good to me, I ripped them with bdpoweramp.
With my Antipodes DS streamer/server, tracks FLAC ripped into it direct from CDs and played back with Roon via my Denafrips Pontus DAC sound marginally better than Tidal streamed through Roon and the Pontus.
I suppose it was being on wireless that made the difference. I got my wire installed today and I can’t tell a difference between CD and the ripped WAV which is how I thought it should be. Some might argue being wireless shouldn’t matter but to me in my system it does. It sounded pretty good on wireless but I always had to turn the volume about 20% more to get the same level as CD which I don’t have to do being hard wired.
I always feel that streaming lacks something.
Once it is in the box, ripped or downloaded, I can`t hear a difference.
BTW. This site has a couple of comparison downloads comparing one track in different formats all the way up to 352 DXD. If anything it is good to see what your DAC can handle. https://www.soundliaison.com/