I have a very simple set-up for mobile audio. An AQ Dragonfly Black w/Direct Sound Serenity II passive isolation head phones through a Windows 10 Laptop.
For the past 4 months I'v been listening exclusively to Tidal lossless Hi-Def because the Company offered a promotional rate (I take advantage of that when offered in order to scope out new music). Alas, the Tidal promotional subscription ended and I went back to listening to music stored on a thumb drive.
I then realized that the wav files burned from my NAD M50 and copied to the thumb drive sounded so much better than Tidal hi-def. As in "no comparison" better!
Why would that be?