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Which Has Best Sound Quality -- CD vs. Tidal vs. FLAC Uploaded From Burned CD

I will start the discussion noting my experience using Roon and Tidal, which enabled a direct A/B comparison between my FLAC library which I transferred from my CDs and Tidal.  It was easy to A/B compare because in many instances I uploaded the same album in FLAC that Tidal had in their general mainframe for our listening pleasure.

As an example, I listened to both versions of the Ratatat album LP3.  I found my FLAC version superior to the Tidal version based on being crisper, more refined and less bloated in the bass.  The Roon software clearly identified that I was playing the same album from the two different sources.

I have not compared the CD, as this would require adding a CD player.  What has been your experiences in this area?





 
hayw
slainte
7 posts
 
There should be a distinction between streaming from a subscribed service v.s. streaming lossless from one's own locally ripped media.
At least I know my CDs are verified via AccurateRip. What guarantees do the streaming services offer?
Aside from that, one of my grievances with streaming services is that they offer a limited selection of masterings for a given recording. . .if they offer more than one at all.
That said, I personally subscribe to Deezer HiFi. Guess I should do some comparisons myself...
wweiss
28 posts
 
After playing drums for 40+ years they all sound the same.
hayw OP
13 posts
 
I started this thread back in April 2019.  I would like to say as of June 2, 2021 I have achieved more clarity, but that is not the case.  My recent reassessment follows:  The sound quality varied based on music content and based on comparing CD versus Tidal/Qobuz streamed through the DAC. I had mixed results as to whether the CD or my uploaded FLAC of the same individual tracks sounded better compared to the Tidal or Qobuz version. Entirely subjective. I cannot present a firm conclusion because I have multiple versions of the same exact track, e.g., original cd version versus remastered versions, and Tidal or Qobuz don't necessarily specify whether their version is original or remastered.  So I have opinions, but their validity is unclear.       
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