Absolutely, some people like Ed Sheeran as well, what can you do?
The comment ‘if you don’t like it you know what to do’ is becoming too prevalent on here. We all know it’s a matter of taste, personal preference, personal biases ( as one famous person once said ).
Take it or leave it is a given, expressing one’s opinion is allowed.
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Qobuz is not available here to Quebec unfortunely
That’s what I thought but I wasn’t sure
Since you say that Audirvana doing the first unfold.
Do you think if I buy an streamer like Bluesound Node, that this one will do the first unfolding since it have an MQA decoder even with my Tidal Hifi subscription?
And what do you think of the difference in sound quality between Tidal with Bluesound streamer with Tidal connect versus Tidal with Audirvana ?
I’m not sure which could be the best…
Denon AVR and what level of speakers, headphones?
Maybe I missed it, how are you inputting Audirvāna to your Denon, hdmi?
Bluesound Node will do the full unfold because it has a MQA decoder software included.
Tidal Connect should provide the same quality as Bluesound Tidal integration. Bluesound doesn’t work with Audirvana.
I’m thinking now with the limited amount of information I have available that a decent basic DAC feeding single ended into the AVR would be the best bang for the buck.
I have an Denon AVR-S960H with tower speaker Polk S50 connected by Hdmi via my computer.
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My English is not very good, so sorry for my wording.
My question is more like : should the sound quality of Audirvana connected by Hdmi on my Denon be better than if I use Tidal connect with Bluesound Node streamer WITHOUT Audirvana?
There are other variables beyond the MQA decoding, like DAC implementation quality.
For the argument sake, let’s assume that DACs in the Denon and Bluesound are identical, you would get a better MQA “experience” from Bluesound. That’s simply because Bluesound is full MQA decoder and Audirvana can only do first “unfold” on devices that don’t have any MQA decoding capability (decoder or renderer).
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Very interesting.
And very important (for me): “Custom Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 OS”
I don’t understand why people use Windows 11. Just because is the latest? So what? Despite some games and Adobe products everything run (better?) on Windows 10.
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That’s a pretty well matched system you have put together so far, nice speaker choice 
If you’re able to get a hdmi cable to your receiver you should be able to use a USB DAC easily enough. Maybe something like a iFi brand unit, a few guys here on the forum have only good things to say about them it seems. Personally I wouldn’t add a bluesound node to your receiver and I do like BluOs, but you already have HEOS right? I’d add a outboard DAC or a simple streamer if you need to use a network connection instead of usb connection directly.
Here’s @Reynaldo setup, he has some good knowledge about this one.
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Your player software always adds it’s own wonky signature. Theoretically, it’s probably impossible for software to be completely transparent. Audirvana transparently makes everything going on in a track so much more obviously and balanced than any player there has been yet.
Streaming service software except for Qobuz have so far all sounded like garbage. Tidal is the least bad of the rest, but Qobuz’s actually isn’t too bad. Audirvana is a blessing to streaming quality. However, due to MQA being used on Tidal, the above 44.1khz tracks are made noisy. The use of Audirvana as player keeps it’s sound quality above anyone else’s besides the unadultered higher res of Qobuz, I stick with Tidal, despite the 44.1 problem, because it gives me 8 different custom playlists, while Qobuz gives me 1 weekly that has nothing to do with anything I’d pick, and hardly any browsing, so you’d have to look up the name of what you already know.
To answer your question directly, Tidal sounds like it’s software is making it sound wrong, and it can only do WASAPI as well as the ridiculously bloated sounding Windows Default Sound that you need for everything besides a player with a locking output method. Kernel streaming uses only the bare minimum first little load of Windows, but ASIO skips the kernel, so that there’s no software before the player to your audio output. Unless PC audio output is ASIO, it sounds like geeks before your player software’s shootout with the rest. I don’t know what’s the next best after Audirvana. I had no idea tracks sounded this good. My gear after including the usb output port is all better than I’ve had, too, but I haven’t heard better than this, before. I will agree that a dedicated streamer could always beat a PC for dedicated audio, but my pc can play video, video games, and everything else that has audio output, also.
First, thank you for your very detailled answer.
For now, I have changed all my old Polk kit with a Marantz cinema 50 ,Focal Vestia 2 and a streamer Eversolo DMP-A6. I have also Tidal Hifi.
Is there any benefit to have Audirvana?
If you already have a streamer, it should right away be a more realistic source for your dac than a pc. It is dedicated to an audio output only, and has no other requirements, as well as right away a more suitable type of power supply. You should have much less noise or other interference. PC audio out will unfortunately be beaten by anything else, in exchange for supporting everything that is more than just audio-only files and streaming, with superior size, speed, and capability. The problem is that many devices are dropping their SP/DIF support, and are only providing the hdmi cable spec output. That means to a receiver, who’s included dac is not going to cost or perform as well or better than the rest of the amp. The best amp that can receive an hdmi signal is only like $3k for the 9.2 atmos amp and dac, You can easily go higher than that for each of those components separately if you can get a SP/DIF or USB output on your device. No love for audiophiles, with the standards, as usual. Plus, your non-pc device is automatically less functional than a pc. The PC will automatically have the very wrong power supply, however, and then it only adds stuff you won’t need and can make more noise than if you had something dedicated for each task. But that’s because it can do everything. I’m just going with sticking to the pc, and wishing my video player supported ASIO output, also. Movies are the second best time to have good audio, but much less importantly than music. Video games, I’m too busy with to get picky, and the developers don’t really put that much into how good they sound. But why should they sound like a full-frequency wall of sound, like music often likes it to be?
Jacques, firstly congratulations on the upgrades in your equipment. Bravo on the Eversolo, I’ve recently gotten one myself and it’s brilliant, I would just run it directly into your system, I’ve been testing mine with Audirvāna Studio and the results have not been good, not worth the trouble or expense in my opinion. The Eversolo firmware and application are getting better (not that they aren’t good now) constantly.
Thank’s for your comments and your advice