What are you streaming tonight?

Frank Sinatra - The Concert Sinatra

Qobuz

Canned Goods
Greg Brown
just popped up on Tidal.  

I’m a noob and have a question on streaming methods:

I have a Marantz SR6014 receiver that I use as a preamp feeding into a Parasound A21 for my main speakers (Martin Logan Motion 60XT). Have used Audyssey MultiEq editor app for room correction. I have a Chromecast and an Apple TV connected as the only two input sources to the AVR. So, I can stream from my phone / tablet via:

1. Chromecast
2. Apple TV (not the 4K version but the prior one)
3. HEOS

I have Qobuz and Tidal HiFi subscriptions.

My observations:
1. Streaming via Chromecast sounds better than via Apple TV, for some reason. Streaming via HEOS app is excellent too (better than via Apple TV)
2. Streaming Qobuz via Qobuz app sounds better than streaming Tidal via Tidal app. More important:streaming Tidal using HEOS app sounds better (for some reason) than streaming using the Tidal app on the phone

I do have a Dragonfly Red but do not use that with my system at the moment (like to have my phone in my hand than by my receiver).

So, the Question:

Am I streaming the right way? Am I using the AVR preamp DAC in each of those cases (HEOS app vs Tidal app) vs using the phone DAC (undesired)?

Thanks.

Hi Reg19 and welcome.

No expert here but.

My experience is that Qobuz sounds better than Tidal.

Have never had an Apple tv but not surprised it is bottom of the list in sq, I do have 3 Chromecast Audio pucks and imho they are the best bang for the buck for streaming on the market, pity Google discontinued them.
Again not familiar with the HEOS app but I am going to hazard a guess here as I see the same thing when streaming Qobuz via my phone.

You likely need to check the streaming while mobile permissions for the apps on your phone. Default is usually set to some lower quality to save data charges etc. I set all of mine to highest possible which was 192/24 for Qobuz.

That right there could explain a lot if you are streaming at vastly different rates from the differing devices and services.

Good luck

Eric Clapton - Riding with the King (Deluxe Edition), Qobuz Hi-Res