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

Showing 1 response by ianrodger

With my Antipodes DS streamer/server, tracks FLAC ripped into it direct from CDs and played back with Roon via my Denafrips Pontus DAC sound marginally better than Tidal streamed through Roon and the Pontus.