Computer Audio..Stream or download?

Tidal rocks. I feel for those who have not discovered it yet. I got my new absolute sound this month, sat in front of the rig with a glass of wine. Every recommendation of a song I read was on Tidal and I got to play it, uncompressed, while I was reading the article. TOO COOL.
There are three ways to use Tidal. You can use the web player and usb to your dac (I found this was the poorest way as it was dependent on throughput, pecularities of the OS, traffic, etc). The 2nd way I found is to download the todal player, which allows you to stream without using your broweser (chrome), which is more stable against dropouts. I have found the BEST way is through a 3rd party player with a 3rd party app, such as ickstream. I am suing a Logitech transporter (reclocked, upsampled) and its killer. The auralic is pretty sweet as well and I can't wait to here the uber high end intros (brumester, etc). Tidal, my friends, rules.

I agree, Tidal streaming is pretty awesome.

I also like listening to Tidal Streaming music because it is easy to use and I love the variety. Of course, the best part is their excellent uncompressed sound quality. In addition, I can change my mind on an album and quickly find a different album to listen to. The flexibility and sound quality of Tidal is a big listening plus for me.

Tidal also offers various play lists you can select or you select your own album. Another advantage with Tidal is that you can select an album and then page down to see additional albums by that artist. Tidal Streaming is ONLY available on the Chrome browser so I installed it on my MAC Book Pro computer. I highly recommend Tidal Streaming.

My MAC Book Pro computer is connected (Wireworld Cable Technology's Platinum Starlight 7 USB cable) to my Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC. As suggested above, I also recommend you demo the Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC. It is excellent and highly recommended.

Auralic Aries Extreme w/Duel Femto Clocks and Proprietary Linear Power Supply USB into my Bricasti M1 DAC is heaven.

It's excellent and only costs $1,599.00 and it steams Tidal over their iPad Lightning App and sounds Fantastic.

Auralic were one of the early adopters of Tidal and they do a great job with it. The app has gotten "much" better and is stable it keeps improving. I find it excellent and have only had it for a few weeks but this is still early in the game for this product and it will keep getting better and better as they keep supporting and updating it.

For speed and ease of use I set up my Tidal playlists and favorites and such on my lap top and they are all instantly on my iPad. It is killer!

It sounds MUCH MUCH MUCH better than a computer or mac. I own them both. It actually destroys them really and for the price that is rather extraordinary really.

I have listened to the same albums on Tidal that I own as Hi-Rez downloads from HD tracks and they are quite close. Too close to even bother with my downloads really but I still do of course ;).

This streamer is an excellent unit and it only cost a bit more than my USB cable. Very reasonable for the excellent quality and versatility.

Another very cool thing is solid SQ quality bump you can get from thinking outside the box a bit by employing a solid state external hard drive, a split / duel headed USB cable and a portable USB 5V Battery cell phone charger.

The Auralic Aries has 2 - USB outs.

1.) for your music that I hook into my Bricasti and the other

2.) for an external Solid State Hard drive.

For hooking the external hard drive I went with a split / double headed USB cable.

Hook the single end into the Aries and hook the end with two ends: 1.) The DATA leg into the External Solid State HD and the other 2.) The POWER leg into the USB port on the portable battery Cell Phone charger.

The external hard drive is now powered fully by nice and clean battery power. It offers a nice and relaxed yet fuller and bolder sound. Nice improvement actually to what was already a very good sounding unit. Heck it even sounds great running via WI-FI even though I use an Ethernet cable to hard wire.

Tidal is excellent and is nothing like Pandora or any of the other mainstream mp3 services. Tidal is like NETFLIX but with music for audiophiles. A must have and for this short money dump your pc or mac and try one. Trust me you will be happy you did.

The better the DAC or the system the better but that goes the other way also. If you have a reasonably priced DAC it will sound like a great one. This really surprised me how much improvement there is over a computer or mac.

Man I had no idea how important the transport really is but I sure now...

Auralic Aries Extreme w/Duel Femto Clocks and Proprietary Linear Power Supply USB into my Bricasti M1 DAC is heaven.

It's excellent and only costs $1,599.00 and it steams Tidal over their iPad Lightning App and sounds Fantastic.

Auralic were one of the early adopters of Tidal and they do a great job with it. The app has gotten "much" better and is stable it keeps improving. I find it excellent and have only had it for a few weeks but this is still early in the game for this product and it will keep getting better and better as they keep supporting and updating it.

For speed and ease of use I set up my Tidal playlists and favorites and such on my lap top and they are all instantly on my iPad.

It sounds MUCH MUCH MUCH better than a computer or mac. I own them both. It actually is not even close and for the price that is rather extraordinary really.

I have listened to the same albums on Tidal that I own as Hi-Rez downloads from HD tracks and they are quite close. Too close to even bother with my downloads really but I still do of course ;).

This streamer is an excellent unit and it only cost a bit more than my USB cable. Very reasonable for the excellent quality and versatility.

Another very cool thing is solid SQ quality bump you can get from thinking outside the box a bit by employing a solid state external hard drive, a split / duel headed USB cable and a portable USB 5V Battery cell phone charger.

The Auralic Aries has 2 - USB outs.

1.) for your music that I hook into my Bricasti and the other

2.) for an external Solid State Hard drive.

For hooking the external hard drive I went with a split / double headed USB cable.

Hook the single end into the Aries and hook the end with two ends: 1.) The DATA leg into the External Solid State HD and the other 2.) The POWER leg into the USB port on the portable battery Cell Phone charger.

The external hard drive is now powered fully by nice and clean battery power. It offers a nice and relaxed yet fuller and bolder sound. Nice improvement actually to what was already a very good sounding unit. Heck it even sounds great running via WI-FI even though I use an Ethernet cable to hard wire.

Tidal is excellent and is nothing like Pandora or any of the other mainstream mp3 services. Tidal is like NETFLIX but with music for audiophiles. A must have and for this short money dump your pc or mac and try one. Trust me you will be happy you did.

The better the DAC or the system the better but that goes the other way also. If you have a reasonably priced DAC it will sound like a great one. This really surprised me how much improvement there is over a computer or mac.

Man I had no idea how important the transport really is but I sure now...