I’m currently listening to all my music via Tidal (not Masters) and I’m wondering how much audible improvements I can get going to higher quality recordings? Would I notice much of an audible gain from something like HD tracks steaming USB from a PC vs CAT 5 HEOS Tidal?
Also I hate HEOS, too clunky for lack of a better term. Options on ROON? More often than not I just use the Tidal app and stream via AirPlay.
I suspect you will find that the differences in sound quality between these different solutions has less to do with the bit rate of the source (
above a certain point which varies from 320kbps and lossless 44.1/16 depending on the listener, room and gear) and a lot more to do with which masters they have access to, what their adaptive streaming tech is like, and what the weakest link in
your system/room is.
For example, AirPlay is lossless up to at least 48/16 iirc.... but sources can vary, meaning that container may not be fully utilized....EXCEPT with some apps you are simply connecting the server to the player and not actually running it through the phone.... and such a direct connection is no longer really Airplay but just streaming to your AirPlay renderer from the serivce itself, and will be subject to fewer network issues in most cases.....so it will would sound better, but not for the reasons you cite.
Does that mean Airplay sounds great? Not necessarily at all. It means that ecosystem is working well in your home.
Roon is a great front end piece of software, if you don't mind the high price, but the quality of the music will depend on the source files, and your hardware and network and software topology.
So you are asking about two different things: Sound quality and usability.
I might respectfully suggest you start by figuring out which option in each category works best for you, and then see if they can be used together. (It may be an iterative process if they can't, and you have to choose "second best for me" in one category.)
And be open to the fact that a good master at 44.1/16 is going to blow away a crappy master at 192/24, which is why a good master at 320kps mp3 can sound better than a lossless HD track, too.
So when it comes to quality, their is no substitute for subscribing to a service (most off a free trial), listening to the genres/artists you typically listen to, and deciding for yourself....especially now versus ever before since some offer MQA, some ATMOS, some have custom masters like Apple for some content, etc, etc. meaning I can definitively state that HD Amazon is better....except for these six albums which got a better mastering on iTunes, and these others where the MQA version is better, both of which are at a lower bit depth or rate.....