I am listening to Tidal now, streamed at hifi resolution, through a modified Logitech Squeezebox (with a $1000 upgraded power supply) and feeding a somewhat now vintage Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista Dac, which sports tubes in the output stage, a highly regulated power supply, and upsamples to 192k. Compared to a Sony HAPZ1ES, the same songs on Tidal are only a tad less revealing, but super enjoyable. I have a few issues with Tidal, but sound quality is not one of them.
Tonight I had some fun comparing (i) my HD650 to the recently acquired HD6xx, and (ii) Moon Audio Blue Dragon v1 cables vs. Cardas Clear cables (the latter about 3x the cost of the Moons). The test wasn't totally apples to apples - the HD6xx has maybe 20 hours on it, and still sounds closed in compared to the well worn leather glove that is the HD650. Also, and maybe a bigger difference, the Cardas was running via its XLR connection to the balanced outputs of a Woo Audio WA22, whereas the Moon Audio cable is hooked up to the 1/4 plugs.
I used two songs - Vance Joy's Riptide (I'm a glutton for punishment - one listen is good, six borders on insanity), which is a nice recording because of the great layer of acoustic instrument and percussion instruments (including a nice box drum).Next was Bob Dylan's beautiful "Make You Feel My Love" but covered by Adele on her "19" debut album. It's just Adele, backed up by Adele, and accompanied by a gorgeously recorded piano and later, strings. If you don't like Adele, this song might change your mind.
Not sure what to credit each of the differences I heard, but I sure clearly heard them. The best combination, unsurprisingly, was the Cardas Clear and the HD650. Just beautiful. At 29 seconds into Riptide, you hear specific percussion and can pick out superb detail, each individual "snap". The box drum has weight, impact, and body. Acoustic strings have wonderful detail and tone. The backup vocals are rich and harmonically rich.
On Adele's cover, the piano has fullness, tone, and resonance that let you imagine it clearly in its own space. When Adele double tracks her backup vocals, you can articulate each voice just wonderfully. Best of all, the emotion in the song just shines through.
Switching to the Moon Audio (unbalanced), these details and emotion are blurred. It's like you just wiped a clear pristine window with a thin sheen of clear oil - you can pick out the details still but they've just their lost their clarity, and the emotion and pace are slower, and overall things are more blurred. Mind you, the sound is still great, but you can't just forget what you originally heard.
Both of these cables are solid choices, and clearly the balanced outputs contribute to the clarity and detail, but I instantly lost any regret I had about the cost of the Cardas over the Moon Audio (I bought both used, thankfully). The HD650 running balanced on the Woo WA22 is also a special match.
I heard the same differences on the HD6xx but to a lesser degree - these evidently need many more hours of break-in as they are still compressed and less dynamic by comparison.
After six listens for each track, I had to clear my head. Thankfully Tidal easily served up three versions of Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy". I liked the CSNY live cover the best.