[Ookamikun]

Hi community,

I just noticed this while testing some DACs. When I connect the DAC (any DAC) with USB to my android phone, Tidal asks for permission and I get sound. When the track changes and the next track has a different quality, e.g. track 1 is max and track 2 is high quality, I suddenly lose sound but the track keeps playing.
Depending on the DAC I need to reconnect it, restart the DAC or switch from USB to something else and back.

Is that behavior known? Any way to mitigate this?
This makes a USB DAC with Tidal quite unusable.

 

[msing539]

Depending on the DAC I need to reconnect it, restart the DAC or switch from USB to something else and back.

Is that behavior known? Any way to mitigate this?
This makes a USB DAC with Tidal quite unusable.

Which dacs exhibit this and which don't?

 

[Ookamikun]

I can say 100% that it happened with shanling H5 and xDSD Gryphon but I think it also happened with Mojo 2 and Ifi hip dac3.

 

[msing539]

I am running into an issue switching between High and Max, but on PC:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tidal-lossless-streaming.733233/post-18080049

 

[Ookamikun]

Your issue sounds quite weird, too! I don't think they are related, though.
Or maybe they are and it's time to ditch Tidal...

 

[msing539]

Confirmed for me, too. LG V60, Android 13, iFi Go Bar

If I give Tidal exclusive access to the Go Bar, MQA and FLAC do not 'always' play unless I disconnect and reconnect USB. However, if I skip forward some songs, I'll occasionally come across an MQA or FLAC file that will play on Max. This also causes some High encodes to not play.

If I do not give Tidal exclusive access, everything plays. Doesn't sound great though.

 

[Ookamikun]

Thanks a lot for confirming! Wow okay, I was hoping that maybe it was because of my weird Android version (CalyxOS).
I didn't know that it would work without giving Tidal exclusive access.

Maybe it works without problems using UAPP?

 

[Ookamikun]

Had the chance to test it with UAPP Trial and it was no problem to listen to different audio quality songs.
However, I couldn't use the Pro version because of CalyxOS which is de-googled...

I got the Gryphon in the end which is great. The Mojo2 and Shanling H7 were also very good.

When I tested it, I thought the bug went away because I tested it with Low quality song --> MQA song, which worked and played both songs correctly.
However, after coming home I noticed that low quality song --> MQA song --> low quality song didn't work
Man, that is so freaking frustrating...

I will use the Gryphon on my desktop for now which worked perfectly from the start and hope that UAPP works on my next phone where I will install GrapheneOS...

Should have gone with a DAP, damn...

 

[jkwanness]

I too have this problem.. Samsung S24U both my ifi hipdac and fiio btr15 have this problem with no sound on changing tracks with different quality

 

[Ookamikun]

I resolved it by using USB Audio Player Pro. With that app, any kind of quality is properly played.
The downsides are that it's not possible to have songs available for offline listening (via the Tidal connection) and that it's a paid app.
You also need to have access to Google Play Services if you are on Android, so it doesn't work with CalyxOS but GrapheneOS works. No idea about iPhone, though.

 

[skates15]

I can also verify that on my Google Pixel 6a USB out to USB in on my iFI Hip Dac 3 and FiiO KA17, MQA songs on the Tidal app for android tend to cutout, skip. However, on USB Audio Player Pro with Tidal integration and MQA enabled on UAAPP, the MQA songs play just fine, no skipping.

This is on Android 14.

Also, on Android Auto using bluetooth from my Pixel 6a and the Android Auto Tidal app, MQA works fine, no skipping.

It seems the issue is with Tidal Android app with MQA, however Android Auto Tidal app works fine via Bluetooth.

I also found that when streaming via Bluetooth to my wireless speakers at home using the Tidal Android app, skipping occurs when playing back MQA.

So, it would seem the issue is the Android app, not the protocol, ie bluetooth/USB or even the Android Auto Tidal app.

Regarding the issue whereby going from one codec to another, ie FLAC to MQA, yes, I have the same issue as other's report and will have to close the app, unplug the USB cable from the phone to the DAC Dongles, reconnect, relaunch the app and it will work again. It's a real pain.

Strange.