Streaming vs USB

Hello, I’m a new here and have enjoyed ‘browsing’ over the last few months, very useful and informative.

I have an Atom and it has taken me a while to reach a conclusion and I am hoping for some help and guidance on how to make my Audio life great again.

Up until a month or so ago, I was enjoying my Atom and looked forward to listening whenever I could. Then, suddenly, the sound became less enjoyable, with a harsh edge to the sound regardless of volume. At this time I had not changed any of the components or software, it simply changed sound.

What I have discovered though, is that if I listen to FLAC files via the USB, everything sounds fantastic and it is the streaming element that has become very unpleasant to listen to.

I am using Qobuz sublime+ and have tried many variations of UPNP vs Chromecast and Qobuz app vs Bubble UPNP vs Audivarna via Mac and WiFi vs wired and all streaming sounds worse than the USB.

So I really would appreciate any thoughts on why this might be and what I can try to bring the streaming sound back.

Thanks