My experience after lost of 20k$

I dunno.  When the Apple Airport Express came out (less than $100), I hooked one up to my stereo.  Now I spend about half my listening time streaming from Tidal from my phone (or, more usually, an iPad).  Sounds good to me.  Sounds good with my ancient tube amps and Altec Lansing horns.  Sounds good through my Tivoli Model 1.  Sounds good through my Schiit stack using Grados and Sennheaisers.  Sounds good through my Odyssey Candela>Odyssey Khartego>Harbeths.  Sounds good even without taking the digital out to an external DAC (it does sound better running it through a better DAC).  Family plan from TIDAL keeps my whole family in music for $29/month (less than $6/month for each of us), and we all have more music than we can listen to in 100 lifetimes.

Does it sound better than my analog rig?  I dunno.  Both sound good.  Records are fun.  Turntables and cartridges are interesting to play with.  But so is my 100 year old Victrola.  I like it all!

I just bought a Chromecast Audio for $25.  Sounds great!  Anybody who says that it sounds bad just needs to clean the wax from their ears.

The bigger issue for me is the quality of the program material. I tried quite a few Hi-Res downloads (direct from computer to DAC - no AEX), and the results were varied. Many sounded better than the CD versions I had. Most of those had been remastered. I was curious, so I resampled several of those Hi-Res downloads to 16/44.1. I could not tell the difference between the original Hi-Res files and the re-sampled files. My conclusion was that the difference was in the mastering. Of course, those of you with highly revealing systems and/or "golden ears" may well be able to detect a difference, but through my modest equipment and 61 years old ears it was clearly evident that there was no need for me to hop into the Hi-Res rabbit hole. Maybe I’m just lucky!

I’ll still buy an occasional Hi-Res download, but it is for the remastering and convenience only. I’ll listen to them at 16/44.1 and am completely content!

I started my HiFi hobby in the late sixties building Heathkits and plywood speaker cabinets.  I have about 500 CDs and about and about 300 LPs (I have a habit of selling off records and CDs in order to make room for new ones).  I still buy new and used records, and that collection is growing a bit (I am somewhat enamored with all things analog).  I also will buy an occasional CD or download.  But mostly, I just stream from TIDAL.  90% of my CDs and records are available on TIDAL (mostly Jazz and Classical).  TIDAL has expanded my collection to around 50 million tracks.  I sometimes go months without cranking up my CD player.

I don't download and stream to chase infinitesimally small improvements in sound quality.  I do it because it is convenient and dirt cheap.

perazzi28:  I like the M-AUDIO Audiophile 2496 card.  With the right power supply and a good sturdy case you could have a lot of fun with this "old school" build.  Newer products from companies like Focusrite and PreSonus are more convenient, will sound just as good if not better, and be far less expensive (but not as cool).

I can usually find what I am looking for using Tidal's search commands.  The search categories are optimized for popular music, so you must be a bit creative searching for classical.

There are some streaming services that specialize in classical music, and their categories and search algorithms are better suited for classical music search and explore purposes.  But in most cases, Tidal has what I am looking for (with its vast catalog, you would need to subscribe to a number of specialized services to even come close to Tidal's inventory).

I figure if its not on Tidal, I'll buy it.  I enjoy buying used records and CDs. Downloads are available if I am impatient or excited to hear something.  But with fifty million songs available to stream, I can usually find something satisfying to listen to on Tidal.