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Official TIDAL HIFI Streaming Issues Thread


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3 hours ago, Abtr said:

Since the latest update of the (Windows 7) Tidal app I experience a digital anomaly/glitch that is clearly audible through speakers or headphones, at about a second after the start of *each* individual track! It's getting very, very annoying. Does anybody recognize this? (I live in the Netherlands..)

 

It appears as if the gapless playback functionality is somehow broken in the latest Windows app on my PC. Each time it (automatically) starts a next track there's an audible digital glitch after one second. There's no glitch if I start a track by double clicking it. I reinstalled the app but that didn't solve the problem..

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The others all work fine for me too, only Tidal has ever exhibited issues. Until my subscription runs out I always start the session with Tidal and see how long it lasts.  Sometimes less than a half hour and others for hours.  No real pattern other than it seems to work better on most weekends than week nights.  Once it starts I switch over to Qobuz. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 01/10/2017 at 10:33 AM, Abtr said:

I installed Tidal on a PC with a fresh Windows 10 setup and I get the same glitches at the start of each track as on my Windows 7 PC. So this is definitely an issue of the latest Tidal app for Windows. Makes it unusable as far as I'm concerned.

I'm new to Tidal on one of their one month free trials. I'm having the same problem on my Windows 10 PC's as well ... needless to say I won't be keeping Tidal if this problem continues. I assume from what you say above this is a new problem caused by Tidals latest software update and things were ok before?

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Never had a problem with Tidal, with Windows 10.  250 mbps download and ethernet connected.  All PC's, Tv's, HT receivers and blu-ray players are Ethernet connected.  Wireless for phones and tablets only. 

Computer setup - Roon/Qobuz - PS Audio P5 Regenerator - HIFI Rose 250A Streamer - Emotiva XPA-2 Harbeth P3ESR XD - Rel  R-528 Sub

Comfy Chair - Schitt Jotunheim - Meze Audio Empyrean w/Mitch Barnett's Accurate Sound FilterSet

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8 hours ago, Bazzer said:

I'm new to Tidal on one of their one month free trials. I'm having the same problem on my Windows 10 PC's as well ... needless to say I won't be keeping Tidal if this problem continues. I assume from what you say above this is a new problem caused by Tidals latest software update and things were ok before?

Yep. It's a problem of the latest Windows software update. Hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. I have no problems with the Mac version (yet).. 

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24 minutes ago, Abtr said:

Yep. It's a problem of the latest Windows software update. Hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. I have no problems with the Mac version (yet).. 

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

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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.

Everyone wants to date my avatar.

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I think I'm late to this party, but I thought I'd post my TIDAL issues anyway.  

 

TIDAL Masters - Win 10 native running on HP Spectre laptop, output to a Gungnir MB DAC.  Settings are correct AFAIK - MQA first-level software unfold, exclusive mode, TIDAL volume max'ed.  The two artifacts I see most often are 1) when playing an album, it goes to the next track, often the next track is horribly garbled from the start.  Only way to fix it is to rewind to the beginning of the track, and then it seems to sort itself out for that track.  It may happen for the next track, but not always.  And 2) I hear a gap or digital artifact right at the beginning of the next track in the first second, the rest of the track plays fine.  I've also experienced an issue of "slight" track degradation - the track starts, and I can hear a slight warbling effect with, say, Coltrane's sax, that is definitely bad.  WiFi signal is plenty strong here - almost always in the 100-400 mbps range.  Also - I sometimes notice shorter gaps between tracks than I would expect.

 

TIDAL HiFi with the Win 10 native app - I often hear #2 above, but never #1.

 

TIDAL HiFi in Chrome browser, HP laptop, no Masters of course, but the HiFi playback is pretty much flawless.  Same goes for TIDAL HiFi via an iPad running the TIDAL iOS app, via Chromecast Audio.  No issues at all.

 

I also have a Meridian Explorer 2 - when using it (with Master tracks only) it seems to generally work fine all the time, save for an occasional hiccup when starting a new track.  Full MQA unfolding with blue light and all.

 

Comparing the ME2 full MQA with the Gungnir partially-unfolded MQA (or just HiFi) - sometimes one's a slight bit more enjoyable to listen to, sometimes there is no discernible difference.

 

It sounds like all of this above is somewhat common experience with folks here?

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Every 3 months or so I give the Tidal App with MQA another try to see if the garbled track issue has stopped,  just tired it again yesterday and same problem.  I was enjoying listen to 4 tracks in a row and then BAM! There it was again garbled horrible souls coming from my speakers.  So sick of Tidal and their inability to fix this problem. But this may not only be a Tidal issue.   Bob and MQA need to find another provider or help fix this Tidal problem  or it’s goin to be the end of their story.  

 

I use  Roon and am  lucky to have a large library.  I also us the Tidal integration in Roon and never have any Roon Tidal issue.  All my problem come with Tidal App on window 10.

 

Deezer was so much better than Tidal, the interface was better and the streaming always worked and it was CD quality sound.  I hope Bob / MQA is working a deal and that will integrate with Roon.  What a wonderful world that would be to stop seeing tidal ads and videos.

 

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After fighting it a bit, I came to the realization that I didn't want to pursue the whole MQA thing anymore.  Their "masterings" have been (for me) hit or miss in terms of quality or improvement.  I didn't feel like putting up with the BS of garbled tracks anymore.  Too much screwing around with comparisons and not enough joyful listening.  And oh yeah - I accepted that my Gungnir Multibit can take CD-quality streams and turn them into amazing-sounding music (my own form of "Masters" generated on the fly for everything out there).  So I just reverted my setting to the HiFi level, and I skip their Masters offerings entirely.  And I returned the ME2, and I haven't missed it at all since.  Now everything sounds great.  I love my DAC.

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7 hours ago, pdickerson said:

Every 3 months or so I give the Tidal App with MQA another try to see if the garbled track issue has stopped,  just tired it again yesterday and same problem.  I was enjoying listen to 4 tracks in a row and then BAM! There it was again garbled horrible souls coming from my speakers.  So sick of Tidal and their inability to fix this problem. But this may not only be a Tidal issue.   Bob and MQA need to find another provider or help fix this Tidal problem  or it’s goin to be the end of their story.  

 

I use  Roon and am  lucky to have a large library.  I also us the Tidal integration in Roon and never have any Roon Tidal issue.  All my problem come with Tidal App on window 10.

 

Deezer was so much better than Tidal, the interface was better and the streaming always worked and it was CD quality sound.  I hope Bob / MQA is working a deal and that will integrate with Roon.  What a wonderful world that would be to stop seeing tidal ads and videos.

 

 

I use Tidal on Windows 7 Pro with a Brooklyn DAC+. I do get the occasional skip on playback but nothing I can not live with. I tried the free trial for Roon to see if using Roon fixed the issue no change. While I was experimenting with settings in Roon I managed to corrupt the USB driver for the Brooklyn and had to reinstall. Considering how much money I am saving streaming with Tidal rather than buying files I can live with the skips unless they get worse. I still enjoy MQA on Tidal and don't regret the money invested in the DAC+ at all.

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I don't have much to add, except a "me too" to frustrations using the Tidal desktop app on Windows 7. HiFi (not Masters), and nearly every new track has a little bit of crackling/static at the beginning. Drives me nuts, and it's been there for several new versions of the app. There's not enough configurability in the app to get it to stop.

 

I tried MQA, and came the the same realization as Mr. Northernbreed. Garbled playback every third track, limited or no increase in quality in most cases, and just too much fussing with "does this sound better than that?". I'm skipping MQA for now.

 

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I am a Mac user so I have not suffered through the problems with the Tidal desktop that the Windows users have been experiencing.  On the other hand, I must use the Tidal desktop app to have access to the "Masters" (MQA) decoding but the Tidal desktop will not output to my upsampler/DAC through the dedicated hardwired ethernet network over which I listen to Roon.  Accordingly, when I listen to the Tidal desktop I must route the signal over a USB cable from my Mac to my upsampler/DAC.  Not surprisingly, in my system, all else being equal sound quality over the network is better than over a USB cable.

 

I have compared the sound quality between the same track played on (a) Roon sending a 44.1/16 signal over the network to my upsampler/DAC, and (b) the Tidal desktop sending a 96/24 signal over a USB cable (with a Jitterbug) to my upsampler/DAC, and the Roon route quite clearly sounds better (principally, clarity and body).  I'm looking forward to Roon providing an update that allows MQA decoding to take place in Roon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I run the Tidal PC app on Win 10 connented to an Oppo BDP-103 located in another room. The connection is a 20 m HDMI cable from a NVIDIA card to the front HDMI input and everything works fine, also Master quality recordings, but the 20 m cable is not very practical. The Oppo is also connected to the PC via Ethernet using home plugs. I can play audio and video from the PC harddisk on the Oppo via ethernet without problems, but I cannot stream from the Tidal app this way. As I understand from discussions on this forum some of you manage to do that. HOW?

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On 11/2/2017 at 2:37 PM, Ski Bum said:

 

I have compared the sound quality between the same track played on (a) Roon sending a 44.1/16 signal over the network to my upsampler/DAC, and (b) the Tidal desktop sending a 96/24 signal over a USB cable (with a Jitterbug) to my upsampler/DAC, and the Roon route quite clearly sounds better (principally, clarity and body).  I'm looking forward to Roon providing an update that allows MQA decoding to take place in Roon.

You are far from alone in wanting that Roon pass through of MQA. Hopefully before Christmas. 

David

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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!

 

 

 

 

 

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Is it possible that finally, TIDAL has an update for their Windows 10 client?  :P

 

I'll be curious to find out if anyone sees improvements in track startup, reduction of garbling, and other kinds of issues heard.  I ran through a few Masters albums just now with it (no MQA other than the first software unfold on the PC), and I noticed that the beginnings of some previously-problematic tracks seem fine now.  Still, an annoying and repeatable gap in the first 3-4 seconds of the first track of Coltrane's Ole! album (the title tune), but after that, no issues heard.

 

Honestly though, I'm asking myself why I care.  o.O   Their non-Masters, CD-quality HiFi streams pumped through my Schiit Gungnir sound wonderful already, and I can just use the Chrome browser to access the TIDAL website, skipping the client app altogether.

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