Recording Streaming Audio?

My Sugarcube SC-2 by Sweetvinyl will digitize into files any audio I send to it, in real time, up to 24/192, FLAC and other formats.  I does mean that there is a D>A>D cycle involved, but it still sounds pretty good.

So, technically speaking, you do not have the right to fully own and playback music at any time if you have recorded it from a streaming source.  When you buy a CD or audio file from a distributor, you are actually buying the "license" to own and play that music "for yourself" anytime.  That being said, it's pretty much impossible to stop people from just recording analog music "off the air".   It is so prevalent that companies don't even bother trying to enforce that legal/law.

This is why MQA was implemented to stream hi resolution audio from streaming sources such as Quboz and Tidal.  MQA is just an encrypted format which just contains standard high res audio files (24/96, 24/192, etc.).  It prevents you from recording/copying the original digital data.  That being said, you can always record the analog output from a DAC that supports MQA (though it is still technically illegal). 

The same thing was implemented with HDMI and HDCP (an encryption algorithm that prevents people from copying/storing any data over HDMI).

If you have a streaming source that is just sending S/PDIF in unencrypted format, there is a possibility of recording that with a Pro Audio digital recorder.

I can record any coax or optical input through my RME ADI 2 DAC via USB connection to my computer...just started playing with that feature, so can't really answer a lot about it, other than it can and sounds quite good