Maybe try a different output on the laptop, my audioquest dragonfly dac has clicking if I use the front (usb-3) socket but works fine on the rear thunderbolt socket.
Also the tidal accounts were upgraded recently so there may be a hi-bit or mqa signal being shoved to the dac that is red book CD spec only
“ Laptop plugged into stand alone USB DAC”
Maybe try a different output on the laptop, my audioquest dragonfly dac has clicking if I use the front (usb-3) socket but works fine on the rear thunderbolt socket.
Also the tidal accounts were upgraded recently so there may be a hi-bit or mqa signal being shoved to the dac that is red book CD spec only