Stream vs digital download

One problem with streaming is that you are at the mercy of your ISP. If they decide to throttle down the bandwidth at given times, your high Rez streams may lose some vibrancy..

     I think bgoeller's post was very good and, overall, it matches my experiences, especially his ranking of quality levels and stressing the importance of provenance in downloads.  
      I haven't downloaded any DSD files yet, only 24/96 files, but I perceive significant sound quality improvements with downloads that have the provenance of being recorded/mixed direct to digital, mainly in increased levels of details, much greater and more realistic dynamic ranges and stereo soundstage imaging three-dimensionality and realism.  This makes sense since these are literally exact copies of the master recordings.
      I use a Lumin D2 dac/streamer, a separate Synology hard drive and an iPad as an interface, mainly for convenience but also because the sound quality is very good.  I currently have all my cds ripped to the hard drive, along with numerous hi-res 24/96 files, and hardly use my cd player any more.  I use Tidal to stream through my main system and Spotify to stream through a laptop/dac/iheadphone amp system. 
     For overall sq, I'd definitely rate 24/96 downloads as the best, ripped cds next and streaming as the poorest quality.  My opinion of just streaming sq, however, is that Tidal is better than Spotify.

Tim

I don't think bandwidth should be an issue as audio files are miniscule compared to other streams on-line, Netflix for ex.  

Using Primephonic I have run some file fragments through MusicScope and compared to ripped CD files.  As far as I can tell they are identical.

When I compare streaming on Qobuz to local files at the same rates I really can’t tell much difference usually. My Dual and Quad rate DSD files sound better than anything streamed to me but that’s because no one is streaming at those kinds of rates. Apples to apples I find streaming compelling. 
George 

What will make a huge difference for Qobuz and Tidal streaming is the quality of your switch.Melco S100 or even better Paul Pang Quad OCXO switch is recommended for high quality streaming.