Is there a difference in sound quality when streaming TIDAL Vs CD player


I hard wired my modem located in my family room using Cad6 cable to my Apple TV and direct wired my Apple TV to my ARCAM AVR550.  I have an OPPO 203 connected by both an RCA cable and by HDMI to my ARCAM.  

The dealer I purchased my ARCAM from told me to play my CD’s through my RCA connection and to watch DVD’s through HDMI.  If I listen to CD’s through the RCA, aren’t I using the DAC on the OPPO player rather than the DAC on my ARCAM and wouldn’t the DAC on my ARCAM be a better DAC.  My friend told me I should use a digital cable rather than an RCA to improve sound quality to utilize the DAC on my ARCAM?  If this is the case, wouldn’t the HDMI be the same as by using a specific digital cable?  I listened to my CD’s through the RCA Vs the RCA cable and I thought it sounded better through my HDMI cable.

i will be looking forward to your responses.

Thank you,
128x128larry5729
What I can say is that I have an OPPO U203 also, and I've compared the sound from its DAC (via RCA outputs to a preamp) with the sound I got when connecting its coax digital output to both PS Audio DirectStream Jr. and DirectStream DACs, and the PS Audio DACs were superior to the OPPO.  Of course, as could be expected, the DirectStream was superior to the Jr.
I have the program Pguin, and use Synology DS218+ ,wireless to the Logitech , connected with the DAC of my Luxman D-06. The sound of the sacd-player of Luxman with cd, is more open and more dynamic.
For me the best is the sound of cd’s.. (The sound of streaming is detailful to, but i give it an 8 while i give a 10 for Cd.)
Hello, in short words "yes it is".
I am playing with Auralic -> Chord Blu 2xBNC (~720kHz) -> Chord Dave -> MC2600 (NOS tubes, old and great Telefunken and Siemens) -> MC302 all with Tellurium Q Silver Diamond) application between. The last change in my system was Tellurium Q Silver Diamond USB cable upgrade and it did tremendous job in increasing Auralic straming quality.
Enough to say it is really difficult to distinguish CD (Blu) and streamed WAV file in this config. Still possible and better on CD side but in therms of preference not comfort.
However, then streaming from Tidal the difference is significant. Especially Tidal HiFi and much lower for Tidal MQA. The MQA files have the ambition to catch CD quality but it is still just an ambition. In my opinion Tidal HiFi is superb for playing from cars, mobiles, and up to 2000$ fixed gear, Tidal MQA is for most of the stationary playing equipment, but it is not a serious source if your gear total is above 10.000$. Absolutely unacceptable for Hi-End solutions.
Personally I use my Tidal in my car, phone and as an excellent source of music browsing and searching. Yes, great as library.
Well, in fact, serious problem with the music in general is the loudness war issue. If you will compare DR7 to DR14-18 tracks you will find it much more disturbing than streamed material quality problem.
Please refer this info to Qobuz as well.
Spottily if for mobiles, causal listening and barbecue usage only.

Added: I noticed some colleagues try to use some degree 1-10 scale. Well here is mine at this moment:
Spotify: 2-3
Tidal HiFi: 3-5
Tidal MQA: 5-7
Locally streamed file FLAC: 6-9
Locally streamed file WAV: 6-10
CD: 7-10
Hi res files, SACD: 6-10;
Turntable: 8-10

I have not a/b CD vs tidal.  I use tidal hifi, my rig is above 10k, digital cable from bluesound node 2i to anthem mrx 720. My system is ht/music.  The sound is excellent to me and the convenience makes me forget about my cds. I packed my cds away and haven't looked back. Like many mentioned you need to hear for yourself and you can bring tidal to your car.
Which sounds better likely depends on the quality of your network and USB DAC implementation. You may need a system well above $10K to hear all that hi-res streaming can be. As Roon applications Tidal/MQA and Qobuz 24/96-192 both equal or surpass CDs in my Esoteric K-01X, which has one of the best CD transports extant.