OK, it's beginning to make sense now...I visited this world a little bit a few years back and walked away at that time.
So, does the control software allow for a better interface and more in depth searching of the Tidal catalog, for example? Can I search on recording label or MQA and get large album lists to choose from?
Each third-party control app is different, not necessarily better. They are all dependent on the Tidal's own organization and indexing. You'll see the same menu categories, just laid out differently, some more text content, some with less.
The searches you mention are often unsatisfying in the Tidal app, and they are no less so in any third-party app I've tried. Roon does add more of their own version of what I like to call "21st-century liner notes" than the others, but they too are dependent on Tidal for search indexing.
Hardware-wise, the most cost effective modern solution would appear to be a Bluesound Node 2, which is MQA-certified. Using it would ostensibly remove the USB interface from the equation, which should offer audible benefits?
The Node 2 may indeed be the best turnkey solution for you, with all the options you'll need including MQA plus Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity. I see that they now support all the non-Apple streaming services you mentioned, so that may be all you need.
I went with something else because Bluesound hadn't yet partnered with all the services I wanted, and because I have streamers in several locations around the house so wanted most of them to be cheaper. Also the closed operating system was a turnoff for me as I like to get geeky and tweaky sometimes, but for most people that is a selling point: it's plug-and-play.
You'd be controlling it with the BlueOS app, which as I said you may find no better or worse than Tidal. I don't know if it incorporates all of the Qobuz content and recommendations, but most of these apps do a fairly good job, and I've never used Spotify. If you later upgrade to a Roon system to control the Node 2, you'd have Roon content too.
I remember now that I got "ready" for hires streaming a couple of years back, when there was a strong rumor that Apple will add a hires streaming option. Since Apple is all device-centered I got an Ipad Air as this was supposed to be the hardware platform that would be used. When that didn't happen, but Tidal begun to stream MQA, I naturally just added a Tidal capable low cost hardware platform - windows tablet to sit alongside the Ipad Air.
So now it works, but I am quite frustrated with the Tidal interface and incomplete/wrong MQA tagging/listing. For example, some of the MQA titles listed in the large Excel list do not show up now in Tidal as MQA albums...
Better MQA titles allow an in-depth listen to the recording or concert mix, while retaining the human aspects of music making. It is currently the best sounding music source, on equal par with best SACDs and LPs.
Tidal's organization is atrocious for our purposes, but we must remember that their primary target market is young fans of Jay-Z and his friends. Audiophiles are a very small portion of their customer base. Qobuz treats audiophiles with a bit more respect, but we pay for that privilege to make up for our smaller numbers.