Sound Quality of red book CDs vs.streaming

I also used minimserver and upnp for my prior music servers and Roon is head over heals better than either. I still use an Auralic Mini for a music server in my living room setup. When I use Auralic’s DS Lightning software, I have to use minimserver for my ripped/purchased music off my server. Once I could use Roon on the Auralic Mini, I stopped using minimserver with no looking back.

For a while I was doing Room/Tidal, but I found no motivation to spend time burning CDs. I had some that I had burned previously, and Roon picked them up just fine, but I found myself just going straight to Tidal 90 percent of the time. So now I’m CDs, records, and Tidal.

As far as quality goes, I’m just fine with 16/44.1. I can hear no perceptible difference between the same files played from different media (same file sent to the same DAC). Your signal path, and the components you use, will of course effect sound quality.

I’m sure that some of you have the knowledge, experience, and the sufficient hearing ability to discern audible differences caused by jitter, oversampling, hi-res, etc. I certainly can. But I am perfectly satisfied with a well recorded and mastered 16/44.1 file.

The Sony HAP-Z1ES doesn't do Tidal, so I have a separate unit just for Tidal. CD's were way better than streaming, for me. I tried analog and digital connection methods and couldn't get it close. Now, Hi Res is a different story...

In the chain below, Tidal 16/44 sounds better than Redbook, MQA sounds much better (afraid I might become an MQA junkie), and I can't hear a difference between FLAC and Tidal streaming.  I have to go back and try WAV.  My disc spinning has nearly stopped as a result.

Also intend to try better ethernet cable, based on what I've read here on the 'Gon, currently have cheapo, want to try Supra.  For what it's worth, I think PS Audio believes transmission via ethernet to be superior to toslink, upc, can't remember why tho.  

Oppo 105D via AQ toslink or Tidal/Roon from modem via ethernet -> PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC with Bridge II.

I find cd is better than hard drive AND streaming through my MSB Transport and DAC.