Official TIDAL HIFI Streaming Issues Thread

[left channel]

Within the last six months I started getting hangups on HiFi as well as "Master" tracks, and it's happening more often this month. The problem usually occurs just before a new track begins, but sometimes in the middle of a track. It's very annoying.

The play/pause button is replaced by the spinning icon, and the only way to get things started again is to click on another track, then go back to the track I want.

Tidal app, Windows 10, wired Ethernet, 180 Mbps Comcast connection. Rather than spend time on DNS or etc., I'd rather just try a different streaming service.

[left channel]

Well. If you're going to question my manhood. OK, I set up OpenDNS, flushed, tested, all A-OK. All websites and Internet radio working fine. Opened the Tidal app, tried to play a track, and... nothing.

 

Just the wheel spinning again. I selected a different album, clicked the first track, and again nothing but the spinning wheel, and by that I don't mean Blood, Sweat & Tears. (Well, mine maybe. Lower case.)

 

I restarted Windoze, opened Tidal, and tried the same tracks again. Although there was a longer-than-normal spinning of the wheel again, the music did begin to play. Still testing.

[left channel]

Aaaand after less than an hour, it's stuck in the middle of an album again. HiFi, not MQA. On OpenDNS. Sigh. 

[left channel]

Yes, we can survive without it. Tonight I signed up for Qobuz from the USA, via VPN through a UK server. After payment, as expected VPN has not been necessary to run the desktop or mobile apps, or to play it through UAPP.

The desktop app has been streaming without a hitch for hours. The Android app is nice too, and Qobuz is particularly well-integrated into UAPP. It's also nice to have another Hi-Res download store available, though I mostly stream.

I like the suggested music and other content better too. That said, to my ears so far it seems only the 24/96 and 25/192 tracks there can compete with the sound of Tidal HiFi or Masters, and many are lower-res. But this is a great service, their Hi-Res library is growing, and hey: it works.

[left channel]

12 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I wasn't aware I had questioned your manhood or anything else.

 

Dude. I was joking.

[left channel]

After a few hours of Qobuz listening, I finally experienced skips on three tracks in a row. Two on the first one, one each on the next two. Just quick short gaps similar to a record skipping. Then back to perfect for the next hour, with no fixes or clicking around required. I paused it overnight, and started it again in the middle of a track. It's been perfect again for another hour this morning, coasting through a great-sounding 24/96 jazz playlist. So still nothing like our struggles with Tidal.

[left channel]

Thanks for encouraging me to try changing the DNS. Although I haven't yet done a statistically valid randomized number of testing sessions with the competing service, I've already done far more than a consumer should be expected to do, and it certainly does seem this is Tidal's problem not ours.

[left channel]

1 hour ago, calloway said:

With the latest Lumin upgrade there is almost no stuttering ....I have listened the last 3 nights and the hiya morning and none at all.there still is a lag ....but improved....in the time between tracks,however but the stuttering has all but disappeared.

 

Almost no stuttering, but there still is some? Please describe how it sounds.

 

Still streaming Qobuz and haven't had further skips/stuttering on the Windows app since the small cluster mentioned above. Tidal was stopping in the middle of every album or two here yesterday.

[left channel]

What I'm gathering from these posts is that people using the Tidal app experience far more problems than people playing Tidal though third-party software or hardware products.

[left channel]

Could be geography. Could also be that Mac users have fewer problems with the Tidal app than Windoze users. 

It also could be true that the vast majority of Tidal users have no problem at all, as they'd not be motivated to seek out a thread like this. (Such is the nature of internet forums in general...) Also, I suspect the vast majority of Tidal users are on mobile apps, and have never heard the word "audiophile".  :-)

I've yet to experience a freeze or even a long pause in the Qobuz app for Windows.

[left channel]

Conclusion: #TidalHatesMe  :-)

 

 

Seriously. It just hung again, at an off-peak time: 3:30 PM. In Silicon Valley. All other services are fine.

[left channel]

If the home of Netflix, Google, Facebook, Apple, Roku, etc. is a "wrong" region...

I wonder why all those other services work fine here.

 

Back to Qobuz.

[left channel]

Tried that. Didn't fix it. Nor should we have to.

[left channel]

2 minutes ago, Bazzer said:

Do they do software updates very frequently or is my trial (3 weeks left) likely to expire beforehand?

My Tidal Windows app has updated at least three times, probably more, with no change to this problem.

The Tidal Chrome app does not support Masters, but may be an alternative for other tracks.

I've subscribed to Qobuz, and may drop Tidal soon.

[left channel]

@northernbreed mine just updated,

from: 2.1.11.333 (W: 2.4.5--3) (NP: 2.4.2)
to:   2.1.12.375 (W: 2.4.5--3) (NP: 2.4.4)

 

I tested it on a track in which more than one user was getting the same MQA dropouts/resyncs at the same places repeatedly, and did not experience the same glitches this time. There was one hiccup halfway through the track, but that could have been a network thing, or a caching thing caused by my clicking around inside the track so many times, and I couldn't reproduce it.

So, in summary: there is hope.

[left channel]

@alcibiadesGR MQA hardware decoding requires a bit perfect signal, "untouched" by your system. That is what "Exclusive Mode" does. You should also choose Exclusive Mode for any external DAC, MQA or non-MQA, to let the DAC do all the work.

 

"Passthrough MQA" tells the Tidal app to turn off its built-in 1x software decoding, and instead send the undecoded MQA output to your DAC. If you select that option but send the output to a non-MQA DAC, you will hear a lot of noise on the signal.

 

There are two types of MQA DACs: a "renderer" like the AudioQuest DragonFly which requires the 1x software decoding and then takes it to 4x unfolding, and full MQA DACs which require passthrough MQA and work unassisted to produce 4x unfolding.

 

In summary, you can't use software EQ or any filtering on an MQA signal. If you want equalization, you'll need to add a hardware equalizer or tone control on the audio output. For example, the Schiit Loki Mini.

[left channel]

20 minutes ago, alcibiadesGR said:

 

That's very helpful, thanks. This experience has really clarified to me how big of a scam MQA is - how can they say I'm hearing the 'studio master' if they have no idea what speakers I'm using? Or how much those speakers might need to be EQ'd to be as flat as possible in my listening environment? MQA takes that aspect of my system away from me to use it and that really sucks.

 

I'm not defending MQA, but part of what makes it work (or not) is a set of proprietary filters. Therefore Meridian requires every app and DAC manufacturer to disable all of their own filters whenever MQA is engaged. If you don't like that, join the club with manufacturers like Schiit, Linn, and Ayre who won't play along for that reason and several others, some of technical and some business. Anyway, I own the Schiit solution I mentioned above: a Loki Mini.

[left channel]

@Abtr good idea, we were just talking about that:

 

[left channel]

Confirmed with that track, using UAPP on Android. This is an MP3 stream. (Click to enlarge.)

 

 

Testing tracks in the same search results gives bit depths and bit rates within the HiFi FLAC stream range.

 

 

 

[left channel]

On 1/18/2018 at 10:29 PM, oneartist said:

Is anyone seeing anything higher than 97 kbps with Tidal streaming?

 

In my second image above you will see 774 kbps. That is within the range of variable bit rates for nominally 1411 kbps HiFi FLAC streaming.

 

That is what I normally see. I have never before noticed the type of low bit rate tracks being discussed here. Perhaps I'm just not groovalicious enough anymore. Sigh. :-) 

[left channel]

@Johnseye have you tried to stream Tidal through the UAPP app? An app like that is necessary to get the most out of a V30 anyway.

[left channel]

@Johnseye it's worth trying UAPP just to determine if the problem is the Tidal app, or if it's another problem (which I'm just guessing could be the phone/account data settings, your carrier's service or policies, the Tidal network, or other frustrating issues).

And yes, some say the SQ of UAPP is an improvement over Neutron, or they have other reasons for preferring UAPP. It's a very powerful, versatile app, though the "U" for "USB" ought to change now that it works with both external and internal DACs.

[left channel]

Good for you @rodrigaj. There's really no excuse; the owners of Tidal just don't care about it.

I subscribe to Tidal US and Qobuz UK, but after Qobuz launches in the USA this fall that may be all I'll need.

 

[left channel]

@rodrigaj yes, we are simply not their target demographic.

 

Meanwhile, in Qobuz you can also bring this up with one click:

 

[left channel]

3 minutes ago, rodrigaj said:

@left channel That Qobuz track information is awesome. 

 

Regarding Tidal demographics, I am not sure who that is supposed to be. It isn't 20 year old hipsters. They simply don't care about bitrates.

 

The owners of Tidal are recording artists. They care mostly about artist compensation, but apparently do think quality bit rates — a preexisting feature of the service when they bought it — are important too.

Most Tidal users, not so much. About half are probably from the lead owners' own fan base. (Not hipsters. Hip-hop.) This is the source of our conflicting perceptions of the service, and why other companies have more of a financial interest in targeting CA members.