Tidal confirms HIFI service via Chromecast not working

[Scotty100]

A few weeks back I posted my issues with using Tidal's HIFI service via iPad app casting to a chromecast audio connected to my avr - 99% of the songs I played were not streaming in lossless quality.

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f22-networking-networked-audio-and-streaming/tidal-now-has-chromecast-support-29113/index3.html#post615612

 

This was obviously frustrating - signing up for a service that isn't actually provided via chromecast despite what tidal might say otherwise. After a further back and forth with them via email they finally admitted as such in their last reply to me:

 

"At this time, there is a known issue where not all of the tracks will play in HiFi via Cast. It is sporadic. The programming team is working on a resolution for this issue. Unfortunately, no completion date was provided.

 

If you have any further questions concerning this, please let me know."

 

When they say "not all of the tracks" I think they are massively downplaying the reality here, which is that almost all of their music inventory does not play in HIFI...I went thru an extensive test - you name it from jayZ, lady Gaga, well known pop etc to obscure indie and popular jazz- nothing streams in HIFI.

 

I find their response of "don't know when it will be fixed" to be quite ridiculous while they still charge chromecast HIFI subscribers $20/month for a service they don't receive!! What other company would get away with such fraud?! Needless to say I cancelled immediately and I would urge all others in my situation to do the same! Tidal seriously needs to up its game if they want to be taken seriously in streaming.

[Toolio]

"Chromecast hifi subscribers"? Is there such a thing? There are many ways to play Tidal hi-fi, and I suspect Chromecast is not one of the most commonly used. I understand your frustration, but do you have any evidence that it's doing the same thing with other playback methods?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[Cebolla]

Err, may be not "such a thing" for unfortunate iOS users of the type that only rely on the current official Tidal app with recently added support for Google Cast, perhaps.

 

There are many other now very mature tried & tested ways to successfully get Chromecast Audio devices to stream Tidal HiFi FLAC files exactly as supplied by the Tidal online servers using third party software, the easiest of which is by using the excellent BubbleUPnP Android app. For further info, see:

Chromecast Audio (Analog and Digital Outputs) $35

 

Edit: latest successful user of the Chromecast Audio device with the BubbleUPnP Android app to connect to Tidal (3 days ago):

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f22-networking-networked-audio-and-streaming/tidal-now-has-chromecast-support-29113/index3.html#post615612

[Scotty100]

"Chromecast hifi subscribers"? Is there such a thing? There are many ways to play Tidal hi-fi, and I suspect Chromecast is not one of the most commonly used. I understand your frustration, but do you have any evidence that it's doing the same thing with other playback methods?

 

No evidence or experience with any other playback method. Just annoyed at Tidal continuing to take my money for a HIFI service that they themselves admit does not work with Chromecast and IoS...despite what they previously claimed.

Err, may be not "such a thing" for unfortunate iOS users of the type that only rely on the current official Tidal app with recently added support for Google Cast, perhaps.

You would think when they announced support for Chromecast one of the first platforms, aside from Android, they would work with would be IoS!! Lots of people now buying the $35 Chromecast Audio, many of which have iphones and ipads!! Not impressed with their customer service so far.

[Toolonginexile]

i wonder if this is why i was slack jawed at how bad the quality of sound is was getting when trying a cc audio to my DAC to main system....how do you confirm what quality you are streaming when using the CC Audio?

[Cebolla]

You would think when they announced support for Chromecast one of the first platforms, aside from Android, they would work with would be IoS!! Lots of people now buying the $35 Chromecast Audio, many of which have iphones and ipads!! Not impressed with their customer service so far.

Hence the reason why others have found other successful methods (mentioned in the links), iOS included (though 'helper' software may be required to also be running on a computer or NAS.

[Cebolla]

i wonder if this is why i was slack jawed at how bad the quality of sound is was getting when trying a cc audio to my DAC to main system....how do you confirm what quality you are streaming when using the CC Audio?

Can't say, as you've not said what you're doing exactly. Quality is confirmed by using software from trusted developers, with vast experience in network audio file streaming technology, eg, the BubbleUPnP Android app and BubbleUPnP Server helper application for computers & NASs, by Bubbleguuum.

 

Currently getting the Chromecast Audio streaming 24/96kHz, taking advantage of the Windows TIDAL app (not Chrome) MQA Masters decoding feature, with help from BubbleUPnP Server, Foobar2000 with the foo_out_upnp & foo_record plugins, plus VB Audio Hi-Fi cable software. Easy when you know how!

[Scotty100]

i wonder if this is why i was slack jawed at how bad the quality of sound is was getting when trying a cc audio to my DAC to main system....how do you confirm what quality you are streaming when using the CC Audio?

The "HIFI" at the bottom of the screen on the app when playing a track is white when streaming lossless and grey when not. Everything I played was "grey"...see here for a better description:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f22-networking-networked-audio-and-streaming/tidal-now-has-chromecast-support-29113/index3.html#post615612

Hence the reason why others have found other successful methods (mentioned in the links), iOS included (though 'helper' software may be required to also be running on a computer or NAS.

 

I think you're kinda missing the point of my original post. Tidal has confirmed you cannot stream lossless with Chromecast via the Tidal IOS apps, yet they have yet to go public with that and continue to take HIFI subscription payments from users of their IOS apps. This is downright fraudulent in my opinion. No doubt there are numerous 3rd party workarounds to solve this issue but that's not the point I'm making here.

[Rexp]

CCA has stopped working with a couple of other apps, hopefully temporary issue..