Astell & Kern SR25: The next A&norma player

[Broquen]

It seems that there can be other affected devices, and I heared that there's a problem related to a captcha code, that is required from time to time from Tidal's login mechanics. BTW I have no problem with the downloaded Tidal app (I'm in Spain).

 

[JasonNYC]

Hi Jason,

Have you got my PM that I sent you earlier?.

I saw a PM from you, I did not have a chance to look at it yet. Will get to it in a few.

I tried responding to your PM the other day and it said you locked the discussion so I could not reply.

 

[tru6794]

I saw a PM from you, I did not have a chance to look at it yet. Will get to it in a few.

I tried responding to your PM the other day and it said you locked the discussion so I could not reply.

Thank you Jason,

I didn’t know what happened while I was typing. Suddenly it was freezing and I could do anything about that PM. So today I tried it again.

 

[Tristy]

Still working on it. Last update I saw during the night was that Tidal made a policy change and did not update our dev team. They were speaking to Tidal on how to resolve the issue. I am not sure what needs to be done or how long it will take for a fix. I should hopefully have more info when the HQ team is back to work on Monday.

Thank you for the update Jason, this is quite an essential part of the player for me and I'm sure many others so we will wait in anticipation.

 

[tbrobison]

Just a mention, but it's really nice to see an A&K rep monitoring this site and providing valuable confidence and care of product and company! I was also personally contacted by a rep from California after leaving my info on their website. I admire that!

Well, I have had my replacement SR25 for a few days now. Low and behold it's exactly like the SR25 I returned, only this one has not exhibited any random crashes. And, I did have the same number of albums missing artwork, so I drilled down into the problem(mine, not A&K's). Even though I've been an audio enthusiast for decades now, I am fairly new to ID tags, meta data, and the sort. It was killing me why my album art was missing, when it was all there with the Bluesound Node 2i via their app/s. So, I looked up info on meta data and how to embed the artwork into each individual track/song. Found some great software, purchased it, and went about the tedious chore of updating all the albums not displaying artwork on the SR25. Took a couple of days (170 albums) but I'm now in visual bliss with my entire collection of albums displaying their artwork! It is eye-candy in the extreme, for me anyway.



So, I'm pretty chuffed with this new toy. I don't plan on streaming with the SR25, I use Apple Music and Radio Paradise to hear new music that, if I like, I purchase (lossless, from sites like Bandcamp, 7Digital, or cd's from Amazon). I am using the balanced out, and I do hear louder output through that than the 3.5mm out. All in all, a great product!

 

[Signal2Noise]

…. So, I looked up info on meta data and how to embed the artwork into each individual track/song. Found some great software, purchased it, and went about the tedious chore of updating all the albums not displaying artwork on the SR25. …

Out of curiosity what software did you buy?
I use a combo of dbPoweramp (ripping CDs) and Mp3tag for post-fixing which is great freeware but I donate occasionally.

 

[tbrobison]

Out of curiosity what software did you buy?
I use a combo of dbPoweramp (ripping CDs) and Mp3tag for post-fixing which is great freeware but I donate occasionally.

I purchased, Meta by Nightbirdsevolve

 

[Signal2Noise]

I purchased, Meta by Nightbirdsevolve

Ah, for Mac OS. Hadn’t heard of it before. Thanks.

 

[Neweymatt]

We are aware of the issue and have been in touch with Tidal. I will share more info when I have an update.

So does this new Tidal authentication bug only affect the embedded app? Or are there new problems with the .apk version as well? I tend to leave the .apk version Offline as much as possible because of the other authentication bugs it has..

Any ETA on a fix?

 

[Tristy]

So does this new Tidal authentication bug only affect the embedded app? Or are there new problems with the .apk version as well? I tend to leave the .apk version Offline as much as possible because of the other authentication bugs it has..

Any ETA on a fix?

Only the embedded app so far for me.

 

[pippen99]

I have no problems either with the apk app other than I am used to the embedded app and am more comfortable with it UI. No word on a fix.

 

[Neweymatt]

Only the embedded app so far for me.

I have no problems either with the apk app

Cool thanks.

Not sure why Tidal keep making own-goals like this with their Authentication problems, but instead of blissfully enjoying their service, I've signed up for a 3-month trial of Deezer instead.

 

[morndewey]

Well, I have had my replacement SR25 for a few days now. Low and behold it's exactly like the SR25 I returned, only this one has not exhibited any random crashes. And, I did have the same number of albums missing artwork, so I drilled down into the problem(mine, not A&K's). Even though I've been an audio enthusiast for decades now, I am fairly new to ID tags, meta data, and the sort. It was killing me why my album art was missing, when it was all there with the Bluesound Node 2i via their app/s. So, I looked up info on meta data and how to embed the artwork into each individual track/song. Found some great software, purchased it, and went about the tedious chore of updating all the albums not displaying artwork on the SR25. Took a couple of days (170 albums) but I'm now in visual bliss with my entire collection of albums displaying their artwork! It is eye-candy in the extreme, for me anyway.



So, I'm pretty chuffed with this new toy. I don't plan on streaming with the SR25, I use Apple Music and Radio Paradise to hear new music that, if I like, I purchase (lossless, from sites like Bandcamp, 7Digital, or cd's from Amazon). I am using the balanced out, and I do hear louder output through that than the 3.5mm out. All in all, a great product!

 

[morndewey]

Oops wrong button.
Anyways, I seem to have similar use patterns as you do. I buy downloads from two spots you mentioned, and Quboz, too. But leaning away from Q because they neither fix/replace nor refund defective downloads.
What ripping program do you use for CDs?
I use dbPoweramp. Very reliable with database verification for accurate rips, plus tagging is easy and always works for album art display no matter which dap I’ve used—except a Cowon I had years ago.

 

[tbrobison]

Oops wrong button.
Anyways, I seem to have similar use patterns as you do. I buy downloads from two spots you mentioned, and Quboz, too. But leaning away from Q because they neither fix/replace nor refund defective downloads.
What ripping program do you use for CDs?
I use dbPoweramp. Very reliable with database verification for accurate rips, plus tagging is easy and always works for album art display no matter which dap I’ve used—except a Cowon I had years ago.

I just use Apple Music set to aiff and error correction. Seems to work okay after all these years. I just checked out dbPoweramp and liked what I saw. I'm guessing that if I had been using that, I would probably have not had album art issues with my collection. But what's weird is that I used Apple Music/iTunes to rip over 500 cd's, and most of the album displayed correctly on the SR25, 170+ albums did not. But now, I usually download lossless, if available, while only buying cd's if the downloads aren't available.

I had a nice experience with Bandcamp(BC) recently where I found some digital hiccups/blips on an album I had payed for. I contacted BC and they directed me to contact the artist through their BC website. That turned out to be a dead link, so I contacted the artist directly through their own website. To my surprise, I received a personal response from a member of the group apologizing for the tracks involved, and said he would upload a fresher version of the album to BC. He did, and I re-downloaded the album and the troubled tracks were no more. That's a great response! And, BC did offer a refund of my purchase price if there wasn't a solution to the troubled tracks which again, is a nice gesture.