Can Streamed Music Sound Better than any other source?


I am about to make the leap. Jumping into a Server or is it a Streamer? To use existing DAC-Oppo 203- or upgrade? I love the concept of access to all the music on line. So I don't actually own any of it-thats fine. Buying downloads adds up quickly. $20/month sounds like a bargain.  Roon's system looks appealing. I can add Tidal and be done, right? I get a lot of great counsel from my old school expert at the HiFi store I support locally but he can't even spell stream.
I was born in the 50's and want to use this listening option now. As this technology is still evolving, I am not inclined to overspend on gear that may be as valuable as a VCR in a year or two.
In the end I want to know if I can have this new source sounding better than CDs and LPs. I am not going back to reel-to-reel so if that is best source, please ignore it as it regards my purposes.
Thank you. I look forward to learning from the responses!!
128x128firstnot
I love my streaming so much that I haven't touched my Gryphon CD player in almost a year and yes the sound quality is just as good as CD in my opinion. I user my PC which I built for the pupose and I have lots of jitter busting progams on it to make it super smooth going into a modified Oppo Sonica DAC. I use Quobuz as most of the other sreamers have a very limited Classical selection so they to me have about the best selection availlable. If you are not technically minded then I would suggest a server as it is purpose built for the job. I think Roon would be a good decision for you as it has great sound quallity and if classical music is not your bag then something like Tidal would be ideal for you.
I can understand your situation. I returned to hifi after a 30 year hiatus.
Streaming seemed like something I would never do, however, once I did it, I haven't opened a CD or LP in years.
My recommendation-
Get an Ayre Codex or Schiit Gungnir or Yggy as a DAC. If you need to stream to other rooms or need storage, you should get a Bluesound Node or Vault. You will spend less than $2K (buying used), and get a very capable system. And, that Ayre and Schiit offer upgrades to their products makes it better.
Bob
The rotating spiral-grooved plastic disc remains the best storage/playback device for music. Truth!
Chopping music up into a million pieces and expecting to recombine it back into its original form is folly!
This has been covered a hundred or more times here. I suggest you do a deep dive and read similar threads.
Long story short, streaming, especially with Tidal & Roon can sound pretty good, but not as good as streaming high rez or well recorded CD files that are stored in a NAS(network attached store), basically a big hard drive that you attach to your router. The files online just are not large enough and high enough quality to equal what you can use otherwise. Using the same network player aka streaming device and software, play your own files instead.
Ideally the NAS(Synology & Qnap are the two leading brands of NAS) will be in a different room than the audio rig including the network player and DAC which will feed into a line input on your preamp. If you can use a long ethernet cable to connect the NAS to your network player, all the better; otherwise use wifi or an A/C line adapter to extend the connection to your audio room. You can use a Mac or PC as the network player with a good software music playing package made just for the job(e.g. Audirvana+ on Mac or many others), and get far better performance than streaming files from an online service. But in my experience with lots of this stuff, a low powered device made just for streaming, ideally using a linear power supply, does the job best. Their are many good ones at varying prices, a few to consider include the Sonore MicroRendu, Aurelic Aries & Aries Mini, NAD, Bryston )Cheers,
Spencer