Official TIDAL HIFI Streaming Issues Thread

[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.

[wklie]

9 hours 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.

 

I think V30 is interesting.  What's unclear to me is how V30 actually gets the 24-bit MQA version of Tidal Masters album to stream.  If I'm not mistaken, the official Tidal smartphone apps get the 16-bit non-MQA version even if a Masters album is chosen.  So either Tidal changes its app to unlock a MQA mode only for V30 in the Android app (which is not too likely), or LG writes their own app to get the Tidal MQA stream (which is not mentioned in press release I've read - if their specs include native Tidal support I guess they should mention it).

 

In the worst case, if a device only supports purchased MQA downloads but not Tidal MQA, then the usefulness is severely limited.

[wklie]

8 hours ago, wklie said:

In the worst case, if a device only supports purchased MQA downloads but not Tidal MQA, then the usefulness is severely limited.

 

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/09/ifa-2017-hi-res-audio-for-the-mass-market-with-lg-sony-ifi/

Quote

 

The LG V30 is expected to start shipping in October 2017 for around €700.

At time of writing, MQA decoding and rendering only applies to locally-stored MQA files.

 

 

[Gerrit Friderichsohn]

Yes, thank you for that link Peter. I missed it. I don't read those show reports.

"According to Bob Stuart, the MQA decoder sits at the lowest possible level in the V30 – on a Qualcomm chip – which reportedly called for some radical reworking of the OS by LG’s software engineers in extract bit-perfect audio from Android. Stuart refers to this as “cleaning the pipe”." Diditalaudioreview.

So no MQA using the purported quad DAC. Or is that actually the  Qualcomm chip to which Mr. Stuart refers?  In any event if it doesn't stream MQA like the desktop ap then it is, as I feared it would be, more of a pipedream. 

[wklie]

It means the MQA decoder runs on the Qualcomm CPU with rendering parameters tuned for the Quad DAC ES9218P.

[wklie]

On 8/29/2017 at 3:38 PM, wklie said:

On behalf of LUMIN Music, I've generated a spreadsheet of Tidal Masters MQA list:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T0xnOzPQZai32L7R7e_uzxfBqhXrPuXh3USOjvuztYg/edit?usp=sharing

 

Spreadsheet is updated to contain 3446 albums.

[Dan O]

On 9/2/2017 at 7:14 PM, jrflanne said:

I had constant dropouts using the Tidal app on a Mac Pro. So much so I cancelled my subscription. When Tidal became available with Audirvana, I tried it again. No more dropouts and now the app works fine as well. But I am an Audirvana guy and it works great in that. 

Thanks for mentioning Audirvana, I signed up for the trial and so far no issues with Tidal and the sound is fantastic.  The only issue I need to figure out is why my application memory keeps running out about an hour or so into listening.  Hopefully I'll get it figured out and I plan on making the purchase. 

[franz159]

I have been streaming Tidal on my Raspberry through BubbleUPnPServer (on top of Moode) for almost a couple of years now, with no problems whatsoever.

Controller is either Lumin App on iPad or Linn Kazoo on iPhone/iPad/Mac.

[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?

 

 

[[email protected]]

1 hour ago, Acesn8s said:

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?

 

 

Are you using the Windows PC app?  I also experience a "stuttering" problem when listening to some MASTERs tracks.

 

I tried the MacOS app for a few hours and no MASTERs problems.  Others report that Audivana for MacOS works well with MASTERs.

 

I suspect the PC app has problems with buffering or "unfolding" MQA.

 

 

[Grevan]

I use the PC app and have had MQA streaming problems since mid August.  For many albums, tracks are skipped and after two songs, I have to click next track for the song to play. I am glad that support have admitted the problem exists and are working on it. I am going to contact them so they know there are others having problems.

[Grevan]

When I started the Tydal PC app this morning there was a message at the top that an update had been downloaded and to click to restart. Initial listening results are positive. Tracks no longer skip and do not pause after two have played.

[[email protected]]

1 hour ago, Grevan said:

When I started the Tydal PC app this morning there was a message at the top that an update had been downloaded and to click to restart. Initial listening results are positive. Tracks no longer skip and do not pause after two have played.

My Setup:

 

iMac27 (Windows 7 Bootcamp) > iPurifier > iUSB > Kef LS50W

 

Tidal 2.1.11.333 for Windows.

 

Tried Grateful Dead American Beauty

Second track Friend of the Devil.  I had to pause to answer the phone.  On un-pause the distortion/stuttering started again It is worse than before.

 

Last track Truckin'  Started distortion/stuttering again.  Restart "cleared" the problem.

 

[randyhat]

I've had periodic Tidal dropouts today also...but not just on MQA files.  CD quality albums were also stopping and starting.  This has been an off and on issue for some time.

[realhifi]

No issues with Tidal through Roon. Haven't had any from the beginning and none lately either. 

[wklie]

On 8/29/2017 at 3:38 PM, wklie said:

On behalf of LUMIN Music, I've generated a spreadsheet of Tidal Masters MQA list with 3315 albums:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T0xnOzPQZai32L7R7e_uzxfBqhXrPuXh3USOjvuztYg/edit?usp=sharing

 

Spreadsheet is updated to 3560 albums.

[randyhat]

Anyone else notice that Tidal streaming problems are occurring more frequently?  Or is it just me?  Seems the drop outs are getting more frequent.  As much as I enjoy streaming from Tidal this could eventually be a deal breaker for me.  I'm streaming through the Bluesound app to the Node 2.  My Internet speed is typically around 50+mbps.  I contacted support staff at Bluesound, Tidal and my ISP.  All of them say everything looks ok on their end.  So what is the problem then?

[calloway]

randyhat..the problem is not yours alone. most, if not all of us, are having similar issues.I did not have any problems night before last with an entire nights listening to my MQA albums and others. That was after a Tidal update that i hope..was added to begin fixing the dropout / stuttering problems. It certainly could be a game changer for me too if this is not fixable..it is truly aggravating..!!

[photonman]

Glad it is not just me, I have noticed this Tidal problem too in the last week or so with my Altair.  I get the "buffereing" message or tracks just stop and skip.  Previously things were almost perfect. 

 

However, streaming Spotify to my Bose TV soundbar  via S-Connect is flawless though

 

Hi-res streaming is great in theory but if it cannot be delivered reliably what good is it, but having said that, I have no doubt technology will conquer these challenges and it just might be that this product is a little bit ahead of itself, but it can and will be fixed I would bet.

[erniejade]

It's been almost a month and I'm still getting dropouts.  Tidal needs to fix this soon especially with the threat of HD tracks starting up a streaming service with MQA.  Tidal won't be the only game in town.  

[AudioDoctor]

SO, this started in 2014 and we are STILL having problems?

 

I have a 100MB connection, it actually hits 120 regularly, I still get dropouts, stutters, pauses, and lockups when using A+ and TIDAL streaming.

 

 

This happens all the time.

 

[rickca]

1 minute ago, AudioDoctor said:

SO, this started in 2014 and we are STILL having problems?

Yeah, I gave up on TIDAL and switched to Qobuz more than 2 years ago.  So much better.  

[jrflanne]

I use A+ and Tidal never skips. So odd.

[AudioDoctor]

3 minutes ago, jrflanne said:

I use A+ and Tidal never skips. So odd.

 

Never?  It never just stops for a minute or more, or sometimes locking up so you have to force quit A+?

 

What are you running it on?

 

This happens on my 2011 Mac Mini with an SSD and 8gb of ram, as well as my brand new iMac with 32gb of ram and an SSD, super fast 4.5 or so I7 processor.

[The Computer Audiophile]

In my experience, once you have plenty of bandwidth, the issues are more related to the playback software/hardware. 

 

I don't claim to speak for anyone but myself.