Why do I "need" Audirvana, Roon or the like versus just Tidal App?
Hi, I stream Tidal MQA and their hifi via my Macbook Pro. I use the Tidal app on the MBpro which unpacks MQA, contains my playlists etc. In the future, I may also stream ripped cds on very rare occasion from a connected hard drive, as well as any hi res audio files I may purchase. However, 99.9% is an is likely to continue to be Tidal streaming. Maybe, just maybe adding Quboz or Amazon in the future...
I feed this from my MAC via USB out to my integrated amp and DAC (Peachtree Nova 300). I have no plans to have a separate server etc in the short term, …but may do so in the future.
I cannot understand what, if anything, Audirvana (or Roon and the like) would bring to.the table in my scenario. Perhaps better MQA unpacking? Slicker interface? Better sound quality?
I would greatly appreciate you all's thoughts on this! Thank you very much.
I can not speak to the Apple products but I stream Qobuz, via Audirvana from a dedicated lenovo laptop. I tested and trialed Tidal, The tidal and Qobuz apps & Roon. The SQ was noticeably better with the Audirvana & Qobuz pairing. The software assumes control of the digital sound path, bypasses the laptops resident mixers, becomes the only thing using the Wasapi driver and ensures end to end bit perfect processing before sending to my DAC. It is a little different with Mac OS. While I am not a huge fan of the interface limitations, I care about the quality more and for that reason, for me, Audirvana is necessary. The fact that all future updates are paid for with the initial price (Was $75) makes it a great value. |
Here is a deep-dive into payouts by streaming services. https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-streaming-rates-payouts#amazon-napster-and-tidal-the-top-3 |
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How Musicians Make Money — Or Don’t at All" (2018) ROLLING STONE https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/how-musicians-make-money-or-dont-at-all-in-2018-706745/ |
