OPPO 105 as a streaming source/transport only

It's probably obvious that I don't know what the hell I'm doing, so how about a little advise, thanks.  

I ran CAT5e all over my house a few years back so everything is hardwired. My Oppo 205 plays flawlessly this way. There’s probably a couple of hundred feet of wire between my house and my office next door all connected to my home network. There’s no noticeable degradation of sound.

Generally, a wired connection is preferred to wifi. But if you’re not having problems with dropouts, etc. I’m not sure wiring would give you a major boost.

Play a CD through your DAC and then the same album from Tidal through your DAC.  The streamed version should sound as good as the CD.  If it doesn't, a wired connection should help.  If it does, start saving up for a DAC upgrade, or whatever else you might want to upgrade.  

I am curious if running your Oppo to a separate DAC resulted in significant improvement in sound compared to the onboard DAC in the Oppo. I’m in a similar situation. Thanks,

Mike

I believe it is better but only slightly, but as they say everything matters in the end. Enough little things add up to great sound. I was just looking for another little thing.I'm thinking I just need a much better source, like maybe a PS audio Direct Stream DAC & memory player or something on that level or higher. Just a lot of money to step up.

Thanks Mizike that’s about what I expected. We always have to ask ourselves how much we are willing to pay to achieve gains. I have a Modwright Oppo 105 so the sound quality is very good for now lol

I also have an Oppo 105. I stream my rips from a NAS to a very simple laptop running JRiver and then directly to my separate LKS DAC. The Oppo is not involved. For a while I used wifi between my router and the laptop. To hardwire I would have to do some drilling. So I bought a very long inexpensive cat5 cable to see how the hardwire compared. It was a subtle but clear winner. I drilled and used a much shorter cat6 and never looked back. Though easy to make a splitter I let the wifi run the Oppo and out to the LKS where the audio I get from youtube, Netflix or digitalconcerthall is not so special in the first place.

Whether you would achieve the same result with your set-up is another question. But 50 feet of cheap cable can cost only about $5 delivered. Why not try it and see?

@michaela
No comparison between the Oppo and my separate DAC.  I suspect the same for the OP and his W4S.

@michaela I use my Oppo 105 basically as a transport. I was always fond the of the DAC. However when I bought my Orchid DAC I was so impressed with it I now have my Oppo running through it as well. Noticeable improvement!

Thanks everyone. I wanted to be done upgrading for awhile but I guess that’s not going to be possible now as my head is thinking of a new DAC lol