Sound quality issues streaming from Tidal vs CD

[Duckworp]

I am hoping someone familiar with streaming from Tidal might be able to help.

I have recently installed the Pro-Ject Streambox S2 Ultra, which is a small box Raspberry Pi based network bridge. I connect this to my router via ethernet and to my Vitus DAC (which is part of the CD player) via USB. My CD player obviously outputs through the same DAC.

The sound quality from CD is so much better than the sound quality from Tidal.

So my questions are:

1. Is this just a feature of streaming via the internet, it simply is not as good as a good quality CD transport?
2. Or is it an issue with the Pro-Ject - would something like the Autralic Aries G2 (also a network bridge with no DAC) which costs 6 times the price of the Pro-Ject, improve the Tidal stream?
3. Or is it the fact that the USB cable I am using is an entry-level £10 cable?
4. Or is it Tidal? - would Qobuz sound better?

Any advice or knowledge would be welcome.

[struth]

check that tidal is outputting at highest level. think you set it in the web player.

[WESTLOWER]

are you subscribed to Tidal HiFi? if not the quality will not be at it's optimal
.
As grant suggested, check your playback audio settings. The usb cable will matter also, but maybe not to the detremental level you are experiencing.. You can get extremely good results using a pi based streamer, a half decent short usb cable (maybe better than a £10 usb cable!).
The Tidal V Qobuz is a longstanding debate and is not night and day.

If you have the £10 a month Tidal Sub, you will struggle v the Spinner, if you upgrade to the Hifi, and the settings are correct it should be at least as good as the spinner!

[Boyse6748]

That’s a lot of questions.

I use both CD (Pathos Digit One) and streaming via Roon / Tidal ( via MicroRendu / Mytek Brooklyn DAC). To be honest, for me, there is very little to choose between the two.

Obviously Tidal Masters are a much higher bit rate than CD and therefore should be better quality, (if you can actually hear the difference is debatable) so I don’t really understand why you’re hearing a massive difference.

Qobuz is no different to Tidal as far a quality recordings but as always, that will always be open to debate. (it’s a personal choice)

Some say cables make a difference but I not a believer, especially on USB digital connections . As long as it has a decent connection, I don’t think you will physically hear any difference at ten times the cost.

I’m sorry, but I’m unfamiliar with your kit but if you a hearing that sort of difference between the two formats, something must be amiss.

Are you sure you have your music streaming settings correct? Unfortunately, it’s the only thing I can think of and may be worth a look.

Perhaps others on the forum may have some better idea of what is wrong.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mikeyb]

I've used Tidal and the same albums as Flac from my Nas drive via my SoTM Neo NAA which is a similar device to your S2 ultra and there wasn't much in it depending on the quality of the Tidal stream ( certain titles were noticeably poorer ) but on the whole Tidal sounded pretty decent so I would suspect as Grant says your Tidal isn't set to HiFi.

Your S2 ultra is highly regarded by Hans Beekhuyzen on his YouTube channel saying that it was about 85% of the quality of the SoTm Ultra Neo and the S2 ultra is half the price of the SoTm?

Maybe the CD player USB input is nothing special? Be surprised at that mind you.

[Duckworp]

are you subscribed to Tidal HiFi? if not the quality will not be at it's optimal
.
As grant suggested, check your playback audio settings. The usb cable will matter also, but maybe not to the detremental level you are experiencing.. You can get extremely good results using a pi based streamer, a half decent short usb cable (maybe better than a £10 usb cable!).
The Tidal V Qobuz is a longstanding debate and is not night and day.

If you have the £10 a month Tidal Sub, you will struggle v the Spinner, if you upgrade to the Hifi, and the settings are correct it should be at least as good as the spinner!

Thanks for your advice. I'll try a new USB cable. Settings are set for HIFI playback (I subscribe to Tidal Hifi £20 a month tier).