new to streaming- help!

Do whatever you need to get the computer outta the system.  It’ll be worth the effort.  Best of luck in getting that sorted, and if you provide more detailed info of what the problem is as mentioned above you may well find your solution right here.

I agree with above post to dump Tidal and get Qobuz. Also, if possible just avoid Wi-Fi completely and go hardwired, and in addition to working better it’ll sound better as well. If it’s inconvenient to run a cable from the router to your Node you can get a Wi-Fi extender from TP Link, etc. (buy local or from Amazon so you can return it you still have issues) and run an Ethernet cable from that to your Node. That’s what I’d do if you can’t or prefer not to run direct from the router. Hope this helps somewhat.

@styleman I’d also highly recommend you get a dedicated streamer and buy either a Wi-Fi extender or a Mesh system so you can easily run an Ethernet cable from that to the streamer. Both work very well and provide much better performance than going over Wi-Fi with no cable. Some prefer Mesh as they think it sounds better and may work better if your system is a good distance from your router with the downside being it’s a little more expensive, but not all that much by audio standards. Again, hope this helps, and best of luck.

I know most of the people posting here indicate that streaming from a PC is bad for audio quality. Mostly due to space constraints

@motown-l No, it has almost nothing to do with space constraints and everything to do with sound quality.  Computers are multi-use devices that, unlike streamers, are not optimized at all for playing music and are very noisy.  Noise is the mortal enemy when it comes to streaming, which is a major reason why computers suck as a streaming source.  Treating jitter helps, but you’re still left with the noise.  Get a streamer, even a cheaper one like Wii, Node, etc., and you’ll realize this immediately as the difference is not subtle if you have an otherwise decent system.

@motown-l My deepest apologies — I misread your post.  The WiiM Pro gets decent reviews for sound and is pretty small (5.5” square x 1.6”h).  FWIW.

I have an ASUS gaming laptop hooked up to my DAC with a USB cable (I’m using Qobuz). I have compared several CDs to their streamed counterparts through the same DAC and found that there is no detectable difference in their sound. It turns out that most people have not tried this themselves

@8th-note I did, and I’m sure many others here have as well — we audiophiles just can’t help ourselves. I started streaming from my computer (also with Qobuz) and was pretty happy with the sound, but one day I got curious and did a direct A/B comparison with CDs using my transport into the same DAC and was pretty depressed when I found CDs to consistently sound significantly better across the board — not even close. The noise floor dropped, imaging popped, soundstage expanded, and dynamics improved. It was like moving from MP3 to CD resolution if I were to make an apt analogy. This was a bad day as an audiophile. When I brought this up here several people said I needed to get a dedicated streamer, so still a little skeptical I heeded that advice and bought a used iFi Zen Stream, which is decent but by no means is a high-end streamer, and BAM! Right away it was clear the streaming now significantly bettered CDs. The difference was not subtle, and needless to say I was very happy and greatly relieved (and very appreciative of the sage advice and encouragement I got here!). Likewise I’d encourage anyone using a computer source who thinks it sounds good to at least try a dedicated streamer — you might be surprised, as I was, about how much performance you may be leaving on the (computer) table.

I really don't think switching to Qobuz will solve anything.

She doesn’t have to deal with Tidal anymore, so it at least solves that.

If I am not connecting the Node X into external DAC, will I notice a difference between cd quality level and the premium (hi res) membership?

Good question, and it has a lot to do with the quality of the rest of your system and if it’s resolving enough to reveal the differences.  That said, the DAC in the Node is not exactly helping a lot, and that alone would point me to CD quality that doesn’t exactly suck.  If you’ve got a very good system and are able to position your speakers appropriately in the room hi res might be worth it, but I have my doubts.  My guess is you could maybe start with a Premium subscription and downgrade it if you don’t hear meaningful differences but don’t know if Tidal allows this so worth checking into.  In any event, here’s hoping you finally get the IT monkey off your back so you can get up and running! 🤞🤞🤞.