Streamer vs. CD Transport

According to the Cable Company, the loaner Black Cat they sent me was already thoroughly broken in.
I also used it continually for two days before pulling the plug.
There was really a huge difference in enjoyment between my cable and the Black Cat.

Oh yeah, I forgot that it came from The Cable Company. You're right, that's how the Black Cat is going to sound. Disappointing.

One thing that I’ve learned from this, is the immense difference cables make on the quality of the sound.  It’s a night and day difference between the two cables.
I was beginning to think something was wrong with my system until I went back to the original wire (which btw is a very nigh quality cable.)

 A DAC that does asynchronous USB well, like my Music Fidelity V 90, sounds much better than Toslink with a decent cable.

One thing that I’ve learned from this, is the immense difference cables make on the quality of the sound.  It’s a night and day difference between the two cables.
I was beginning to think something was wrong with my system until I went back to the original wire (which btw is a very nigh quality cable.)

That's a pretty valuable lesson though! 

Back to your streaming vs CD - most people I know generally still pick CDs over streaming, but honestly it's hard to test. Is your CD transport on the same quality level as your streamer? Are the using the same cables into the same DACs. Is the streaming file exactly the same mastering as the CD. It's a lot of variables. I keep a CD player in my system for this exact reason. Don't sweat it too much. If you have the CD, just play that. If not, just stream it. 

Now if you're starting from scratch and don't have CDs... well then it might be harder to justify.