Official TIDAL HIFI Streaming Issues Thread

[Acesn8s]

A little help, please, with MQA and Windows 10?

 

I stream TIDAL via AudioQuest ethernet cable at >50mbps from a ComCast router to a dedicated Dell laptop running Windows 10, and then via Wireworld USB cable to a TEAC UD 503 DAC. TIDAL desktop does the initial MQA unfold.

 

From time to time, with no discernable pattern, a Master file will suddenly stutter, sounding like a 45rpm LP being spun at 33rpm. Advancing to the next track on the album typivally corrects the problem until it reoccurs.

 

TIDAL support suggests it's a connectivity issue, but the defect only happens on MQA, not on TIDAL HiFi, Sirius, or Spotify. TEAC support says their DAC deals with whatever arrives.

 

If anyone has encountered this issue or can even speculate on a workaround I'd be much obliged. I am unwilling to contemplate upgrading to a full MQA decoding DAC or to a streamer until I get a handle on this. Thanks!

 

[Acesn8s]

Yes, I will test and report back. Thanks.

[Acesn8s]

OK, then. I checked the pass through box in streaming settings and attempted to stream the Master file of the Modern Jazz Quartet's Third Stream Music. DAC indicated 48k rather than unfolded 96k. A minute into the first track the music ceased and I received an error message as follows:

 

curl_easy_perform failed. Timeout was reached. Operation too slow. Less than 1 byte/sec transferred the last 5 seconds. 

 

I immediately ran an XFinity speed check via Google Chrome which reported that my download speed was 64 Mbps.

 

I don't have a clue as to what is happening. What do you think?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Acesn8s]

Thank you. I changed the DNS to Google in the PC and will report back negatively, immediately,  if the situation reoccurs and positively, in a week, if all is good. Much obliged, then.

[Acesn8s]

Changing the DNS to Google 8.8.8.8. did not cure the stuttering issue that occurs during the initial MQA unfold every few albums. Changing the Dell laptop's power setting to Maximum Performance didn't help, either. Nor did setting the computer to airplane mode while connected via Cat 7 Ethernet cable.

 

Unless this board has more suggestions, I suppose that I will ignore MQA until I swap out computers or an affordable streamer or music player with decoding ability becomes available.

 

Thanks!

[Acesn8s]

2 hours ago, JS21 said:

 

So I take it that I'm the only one with this issue?☹️

I continue to encounter  MQA stuttering, but not this issue.

[Acesn8s]

1 hour ago, mav52 said:

Me to  I feel its something in Tidals domain and I've sent a few support tickets, but nothing..   , what dac you using. 

TEAC UD-503.

See my several posts on page 33, above, for full details.

I have seen a suggestion on another site that the problem indeed is in TIDAL's domain and somehow is related to the manner in which it pushes "Master" files.

Bottom line, for me, is I can't listen to MQA files on my main system for now.

 

 

 

 

[Acesn8s]

10 minutes ago, Gerrit Friderichsohn said:

I am looking forward to streaming Tidal/MQA to a new LG V30. But, I am just a little skeptical that they will not take months to do this flawlessly.

Yes, I am a "glass-half-empty" guy. 

Well, at present that glass appears to be completely empty because TIDAL has failed to release an MQA app for any mobile phone, despite introducing their still-buggy desktop app eight months ago.

[Acesn8s]

Current MQA Streaming Issues:

 

Since TIDAL added well over a thousand new Master albums to its library last week, every MQA file that I've played has skipped tracks and most have endlessly hung up. No problems on CD quality HiFI.

 

TIDAL Support advised as follows:

 

Our programming team confirmed with me that this is a known issue that is affecting a number of users, which has placed it at the top of their list to fix.  

While I don’t have a timeline as to when a fix will go through, please know that our team is working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

We realize that this is an inconvenience for you, so we thank you for your patience.

 

No updated app has since been released. Anybody?

 

 

[Acesn8s]

                                                           Is the problem just TIDAL, or is it streaming MQA over TIDAL?

 

We all work from a statistically insignificant sample size, typically, our personal system, maybe with a different DAC swapped in, so it's impossible for one listener to know the cause of what's currently wrong with streaming TIDAL. And those of us who have followed TIDAL Support's instructions, like switching my hard-wired >60 Mbps ethernet connection to Google 8.8.8.8., know that they are at best clueless.

 

Yes, concurrence does not equal causation. But I experiened no issues streaming TIDAL HiFI using their PC app through a dedicated Dell Inspirion into a TEAC UD-503 DAC from the week TIDAL entered the US market until they added the first few hundred  MQA flles last January and I immediately experienced periodic stuttering and slowing down of Master tracks...but not yet of CD quality files. Apparently, that experience was not universal. However, when TIDAL started adding MQA material from the Universal library during August this board and similar forums began to light up with complaints about dropouts, skippped tracks and hangups on Masters files and on CD quality music.

 

Early laudatory reviews of MQA typically worked off physical media, not streaming. So I pose this question: is there a technical problem with pushing MQA files within a 16/44k stream and unwrapping them to 24/96k in a personal computer that overwhelms the processor and leads to the now ubiquitous issues reported in this thread? 

 

And if so, how will Deezer or any other service streaming MQA deal with this?

 

 

 

[Acesn8s]

Five months after first post, swapped an iMac for the PC and increased ethernet speed: better results but still serious issues with MQA

 

I posted here on June 20, and several times thereafter, seeking advice regarding MQA streaming issues, initially involving tunes suddenly sounding like 45's being played at 33 rpm, then regarding tracks stuttering or being skipped or refusing to play at all on a dedicated Windows 10 Dell PC doing the initial Masters unfold and passing the signal to a TEAC UD-503 DAC. The slowdown problem went away after one of TIDAL's updates but the skips continued, so I recently swapped in an iMac with 16 GB RAM, changed to a CAT 7 ethernet cable, and increased my Xfinity speed to >200 Mbps. I live in Northern New England, and face a Boston area server.

 

The iMac doesn't skip (and sounds better, to my ears, than the PC) but I now routinely encounter pauses during MQA playback, from a few seconds to perhaps half a minute's duration. And I occasionaly get pauses during CD quality HiFi streaming. This happens even when no other apps are open.

 

So, five months and another $100 in montlhy fees later, I still can't get TIDAL to work as seemlessly as Pandora or Spotify or SiriusXM or the late, lamented MOG. Can anyone provide a little help, then? Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

[Acesn8s]

                                                                                 Member "Support" at its Worst

 

I sent the following message (please excuse typos)  to TIDAL and received the attached response this week. Why, exactly, would any consumer...audiophile or not...put up with this kind of boilerplate, non-responsive response? Which is word-for-word the same  response I received from TIDAL months ago regarding the track-skipping issue. Deezer and/or Qoboz supposedly is gonna stream hi res during 2018 and TIDAL will become superfluous.

 

Hello,  Thank you for reaching out to let us know what you’re experiencing. Our programming team confirmed with me that this is a known issue that is affecting a number of users, which has placed it at the top of their list to fix.  While I don’t have a timeline as to when a fix will go through, please know that our team is working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We realize that this is an inconvenience for you, so we thank you for your patience.   Best Regards, Kevin - Technical Support Specialist TIDAL Member Support

 

Jan 2, 7:35 PM EST  I stream at >200 Mbps over Wireworld Cat 8 ethernet cable into an iMac with 16Gb RAM, and out via WireWorld USB cable to a TEAC UD-503 DAC. It is impossible to play a single ECM Master quality album without multiple pauses, and it is rare that an ordinary HiFi album plays seamlessly. MQA sounds better than CD quality, but the constant interruptions are unaxxeptable. I am on a free trial right now from Deezer, whose CD quality service sounds as good as TIDAL's, but there never are any streaming issues. I have a decision to make this month, and right now it looks like my two years with you will end.  Do you evere plan to solve this issue? I've sought your help before, with no success. I even swapped out computers, from a Dell to the iMac, to no avail.

[Acesn8s]

DNS 1.1.1.1 resolved two years' streaming issues

(Fingers crossed!)

 

I was unable to stream TIDAL HIFI without dropouts and freezes from its inception, through its incorporation of MQA about 15 months ago, until I finally closed the account and replaced it with Deezer HiFi at the same monthly cost early this year. Attempts to fix TIDAL, referred to above on this thread, included swapping routers and dac's, switching from a Dell PC to an iMac, from wifi to hard-wired ethernet at >200 Mbps, to WireWorld Cat 8 cable, to DNS 8.8.8.8: nothing worked and TIDAL customer service was clueless.

 

Over Easter, iFi Audio provided a free firmware upgrade enabling its legacy dac's to act as MQA renderers. For fun,  I reactivated TIDAL. It lit up the MQA light on an iFi Nano iDSD, but not surprisingly, I couldn't get TIDAL to stream any better than before. Then I read Chris' post about Cloudflare's DNS 1.1.1.1, installed it, and have had flawless TIDAL Masters streaming for three days. 

 

Short statistical sample, I know, but wow!  'Dunno why this changes everything, but so far, it does. Thanks!