Stream vs digital download

Yes. But only one album: Cava Menzies & Nick Phillips 'Moment to Moment' (which I greatly enjoy btw).

I have streamed this via the Tidal App but also own the 24/96 download from Blue Coast Records, the only format available for download.

In my system the download is clearly better. But so what. I wouldn't suggest anyone make a decision based on anything but experimenting in their own system.

The biggest digital domain improvement by FAR for me was upgrading my CD player to a Modwright Sony 999es. Since then the only digital files I download are DSD with provenance, meaning mixed direct to DSD from the console or from the tape master. This is really limited to Native DSD and Blue Coast Records, but both DSD256 & 512 formats sound stunning.

The next step down is SACD in the Modwright Sony, and the delta is very small. Redbook in that CDP is a larger step, but is still WAY better than ripped and streaming, with streaming being at the very bottom of the list.

My overall point being that I prefer buying, holding and playing CDs, so I worked to make that as enjoyable as I could in my budget. If streaming is your lifestyle choice then focus on setting your system up to optimize that. I don't think there is an absolute and system-independent answer to whether ripped CDs a stream sounds better.

So I just tried to albums, what's $36 to try something you enjoy. I downloaded a Sierra Hul, 25 Trips and Sarah Jarosz Undercurrent. Compared a couple songs to the Qobuz stream and I must say there is just a little something extra on the downloaded version playing from the hard drive in my Innuos. Now we are talking subtle differences, but for an album I really enjoy I will consider buying the Flac download now. The higher female vocals had a slightly smoother presence and the overall sound seemed more organic. I hate to use that word but it just fits.
@bgoeller I used to have a Sony DVP9000ES and a lot of CD's. However, 2 years ago, shortly after our home was built, but before the alarm was installed we had a break-in. My basement was being finished and they smashed the window in the basement. Among the stuff they took was a box of my CD's which happened to basically be my top 2 rows which was all my SACD's, many of which were out of print now. So that pushed me to get into streaming. I agree I liked having the CD in my hand, but I was not ready to re-purchase all the ones I lost.

bgoellerYou got the system dependant part right. The only streamer I have that is noticeably inferior is the BluSound. The rest are tweaked enough that comparing is nonproductive. A good experiment would be to record a stream and compare the sound of the file to a download of it.
I really don't care enough to bother.

One problem with streaming is that you are at the mercy of your ISP. If they decide to throttle down the bandwidth at given times, your high Rez streams may lose some vibrancy..

     I think bgoeller's post was very good and, overall, it matches my experiences, especially his ranking of quality levels and stressing the importance of provenance in downloads.  
      I haven't downloaded any DSD files yet, only 24/96 files, but I perceive significant sound quality improvements with downloads that have the provenance of being recorded/mixed direct to digital, mainly in increased levels of details, much greater and more realistic dynamic ranges and stereo soundstage imaging three-dimensionality and realism.  This makes sense since these are literally exact copies of the master recordings.
      I use a Lumin D2 dac/streamer, a separate Synology hard drive and an iPad as an interface, mainly for convenience but also because the sound quality is very good.  I currently have all my cds ripped to the hard drive, along with numerous hi-res 24/96 files, and hardly use my cd player any more.  I use Tidal to stream through my main system and Spotify to stream through a laptop/dac/iheadphone amp system. 
     For overall sq, I'd definitely rate 24/96 downloads as the best, ripped cds next and streaming as the poorest quality.  My opinion of just streaming sq, however, is that Tidal is better than Spotify.

Tim

I don't think bandwidth should be an issue as audio files are miniscule compared to other streams on-line, Netflix for ex.  

Using Primephonic I have run some file fragments through MusicScope and compared to ripped CD files.  As far as I can tell they are identical.

When I compare streaming on Qobuz to local files at the same rates I really can’t tell much difference usually. My Dual and Quad rate DSD files sound better than anything streamed to me but that’s because no one is streaming at those kinds of rates. Apples to apples I find streaming compelling. 
George 

What will make a huge difference for Qobuz and Tidal streaming is the quality of your switch.Melco S100 or even better Paul Pang Quad OCXO switch is recommended for high quality streaming.

I would prefer streaming :)