Streaming for beginner


I have a PS Audio front end-- DMP disc player and DirectSteam DAC. Very happy with the resolution and performance, especially from my redbook cd collection. For those familiar with the DSD, it is upgradable via a network bridge card to become a dedicated streamer. When I bought this DAC, I was looking ahead to an eventual migration to streaming.
I also have a Spotify account, that currently only serves me as a companion to my iPhone during walks and exercise.

My question: assume my goal is to stream for convenience, simplicity, and achieve audio quality that equals or surpasses that of redbook cd’s. I am not looking to purchase music or download it for storage. What am I missing? I also have a dedicated iPad that can serve as the interface to the DAC/Streamer. Spotify also claims that streaming in high resolution is available on my account. Do I need anything else? Am I oversimplifying this?

I am a beginner when it comes to streaming, so please answer in simple terms since I will not be familiar with a lot of the services and components mentioned elsewhere in these forums. In fact, confusing enough for me that it is forcing me to ask here.


mbiondo
You have very high end gear to play from CD.  It will be difficult but not necessarily impossible to get close.
The devil is in the details.  Very clean power for everything.  Lots of good LPS, lots of choices.  My current favorite for the price is the Farad3.
In my system I started with an EtherRegen and it was good with LPS1.2 for power.  I added a SOtM sNH 10G with clock and Farad3 for power. Then the icing on the cake was adding an EE Switch8 powered by an Uptone JS2.  Sounds crazy but it keeps getting better.  Then I turned the EtherRegen around and added Fiber to the EtherRegen and SOtM and that was like adding Frosting to the icing.
Also big improvement with the 2 dcbl CAT7 cables and a dcbl CAT6 cable from SOtM.
I found removing all the SMPS was helpful.  I changed SMPS for my REL Longbow's from stock to IFI and it destroyed the sound of my system.  The IFI may have cleaner power output but they added a lot of noise to the rest of the system.  I had to move them off the dedicated lines for the rest of my audio gear.
Roon was another plus for its integration with Tidal and Qobuz and using the DSP, but having the Core on a quiet computer is important and a good streamer counts.  I have an Innuos Statement which is very quiet with its crazy power supply.  I can hear a difference between locally stored files and hi-rez on Tidal and Qobuz and it is bigger than the difference between Tidal and Qobuz.  Tidal is a bit more lively and Qobuz is smoother and a bit more relaxing. 
But at the end of the day it all sounds good and it gets nit picky only when comparing the sources.
Listening to Roon Radio  playing Rod Stewart Mandolin Wind 16/44 on Qobuz now and it sounds wonderful.
I have the same PS Audio gear that you have. I have just taken the dive into streaming with the CI Audio DMC-1. It’s amazing and sounds as good as my PSA stuff. I can’t imagine your being disappointed with it in any way. It’s fun and easy to use. When I had questions as I was initially setting it up, Dusty Vawter (CIAudio and DMV-1 creator) was readily available and extremely helpful. I have at least 2000 CDs and a lot of SACDs and I didn’t think I would ever get into streaming. I continue to be amazed at how good it sounds and am glad I went with Dusty’s new creation.
@gcsakakini,

Thank you for sharing your experience with DMC-1. The audio circuit is indeed very interesting with dual differential outputs. It’s certainly not common for a product in this category. If I may ask, how is your DMC-1 connected with rest of your system? Are you using both outputs? How do you like the app interface? 
Sending some love out to AirPlay, which has facilitated my entry into the streaming world. 
Bought a used Marantz AV7701 and saw it is Airplay ready. So I did the Roon 2week trial and haven’t looked back. 
Have been sending CDs into iTunes (on Windows) for years using Apple Lossless Encoding to haul music around in my iPhone. Now iTunes is my Roon repository. Because of fidelity problems with how I had to connect the preamp to WiFi, I bought a used Airport Express device (1264) for $20 on eBay and plugged it into the CD phono input on my preamp. Roon found it without a hitch. Sounds great. 
With my intro to streaming, I now have Amazon Music Unlimited, too. Discovering new music all over. The only downside is that there’s no connection between Roon and Amazon. Hopefully that will change. 
Got the audio bug over 40 years ago. Tho I don’t have the gear budget some of you guys/gals have, I have a passion for great sound (and a wife that puts up with it). Appreciate the discussion forum very much. I have learned a lot. Thanx all!
Can someone tell me why carriage returns from my iPhone are getting swallowed in my posts?