So no difference detected in what I would consider a very resolving system. Do you think ROON plays a role in the same sq for local vs internet streaming?
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In my experience, in my system there is a difference in favour of files served from my Melco. The difference is not massive though. I played some files for friends and asked which they preferred and they chose the Melco stored files each time. Same mastering was used i.e. bought the file from Qobuz and played it via Melco and Qobuz. The bigger difference is in ripped CD’s vs same mastering on Qobuz. Rips to me are better every time. Comparable more to a HiRes stream if thats available.
Then every individual ends up running their own nas/server at home. Given that the streaming service servers (obviously cloud-based) are running anyway, I’d think just the opposite is the case.
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When I tried Tidal when it first came out I thought that the quality was awful.
I tried Qobuz starting about 2 months ago and feel the quality is equal to me streaming from my home Roon Nucleus.
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Yes. it still sounds horrendous, not sure why it is still there?
To give Tidal the benefit of the doubt, I tried Tidal multiple times, but every time I tried it through Roon, I gave up after a few tracks.
I suspect it it more to do with the master used in each case.
SSD for me, very low power usage.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the magic number is around 27 plays! I have very few CDs I’ve listened to that number of times, so I only buy physical CDs when it’s the only option or if I really want the CD booklet and it’s not available with the download.
Roger
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No difference hear. Still use a mix of both as I buy if I really like it.
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Honestly I do not know. I would think not, that it is more a question of personal preferences vs Naim app.
Is there any difference in soundquality between Qobuz Sublime-level and the level just below.?
No no difference in SQ both up to 24/192.
With sublime you get a discount on downloads.
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I used to “stream” local files on a USB HD on my Uniti Star (with an Audioquest Cinnamon usb cable, i mention it because it does a big difference vs standard usb cable) and decided to stream via Qobuz (studio) App (chromecast from android Smartphone) to bypass the Naim App’s playlists issues and others : i did a lot of A/B and never heard a difference. With Spotify connect or chromecast via files stored on a smartphone or a computer i did hear a difference, not a very big one but enough to switch to Qobuz anyway. The Star is connected via WIFI, i wonder if a cable connection would improve SQ though 
My rjpped CDs on my Synology NAS always seem to sound better than online streamed music thru Tidal. In fact, sometimes the streams from iradio sound as good as Tidal. I’m not zure why this is. I have an NDS btw.
In my system Tidal and especially Qobuz 24 bit sound better than even hidef internet radio using ND555. Local streaming with QNAP/Asset may have an edge on some tracks but not convincingly.
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I have a doctored PC (Linear power supplies) feeding my NDS.
I have found that it is better to stream through the PC as a proxy (which incidentally then upsamples via Foobar 2000) into the BNC input of the NDS rather than Upnp (ie the local PC is the renderer not the NDS).
I control both local and Qobuz using BubbleUPNP.
When I tried streaming via UPNP to the NDS as a renderer it sounded harsh relative to the PC to me.
I have no technical explanation to offer only my observations.Local files are still superior, just, but the gap is much reduced. Any ideas to improve further are always welcome 
Local would seem to have less potential for degradation. Whether anything causes degradation of an online source is another matter: @Simon-in-Suffolk may be in a good position to advise.
As long as software programs download fine, which would fail to work if a single bit out of gigabytes was flipped, the degradation fear is much exaggerated 
As a wild guess, it might be the same reason as why people perceived a difference between local UPnP serving flac vs wav with the old streamers. The decompression of the flac files (which is what comes down from Qobuz) takes a small amount of processing. The old streamers don’t have much computing power, so this may be noticeable by increasing computing load. By using the PC as a proxy, you may be taking this load off the NDS, much like using a local UPnP server for transcoding flac files to wav and sending the wav to the NDS, which many people prefer.
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The equivalent is true of local file serving, however issues such as RF noise picked up and superimposed on the digital signal (or filtered out) would appear to cause degradation of sou d quality in some DACs. Presumably signals across the internet have the potential to pick up RF even before entering the domestic network.
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