Did you notice....

My old CD player, in NAD, generally sounds worse than my streaming sources.

@czarivey I don't doubt that what your using might sound better than Tidal via the Cambridge, but there are plenty of better sounding streamers and DACs nowadays that won't cost $1200. Qobuz sounds better than Tidal IMHE (free trials available. 

The biggest variable that's often tough to get the facts on is the mastering. Just as some CDs and vinyl will sound better than other versions of the same, streamed versions vary too(thanks to big label bureaucracy, etc.). 

Ripped CDs played w/o spinning the disk over a network stored locally performs the best for me comparing known sources. Plenty to consider. Cheers,

Spencer

So CDs are limited to a certain sound quality whereas streaming is not so limited. Pretty easy to hear which is better dollar for dollar, bit per bit.

My streamer sounds much better than my Audiolab 6000 CDT

And while that's not a great transport, it's many steps better than a cheap CD player

Easy SQ choice for me, add on the convenience of streaming and the music catalogs on Tidal and Qobuz, I'm only too happy to pay the monthly subscription

Are you comparing the exact same cd ripped properly to cd resolution with the original CD? With same DAC? That’s the apples/apples test. If you are comparing music on a streaming service to actual CDs there are many reasons it may sound different. For one thing, Streaming services tend to lean towards newer remastered releases that may not be the same as older CDs. Lots of other processing can come into play that results in a different sound. There is nothing inherently wrong with streaming technology if that is what is being inferred. Rather, streaming sound quality can vary widely for many reasons. Whereas CDs are CDs. Either done right/well should sound top notch.