Constant playback issues with Tidal

[fufula]

I'm trying to figure out what's going on with Tidal. I've been having constant playback issues. Playback will randomly stop on some songs. I'd see error popups accompanying that, but I reached out to Tidal support and helped them troubleshoot the issue. They've updated some things and the error popups are now gone, but the problem persists. The songs will eventually play if I play something else and then go back to the one that was problematic. This happens on numerous devices (two different iPhones, Windows and Linux-based desktop computers, Mac M1), different DACs, headphones, earphones, on different connections (WiFi, wired, data), different ISPs. This has been going on for at least a few months now, but has become even more severe in the recent weeks.

Just the other day I went out for a walk and put on an album. Some songs wouldn't play. I had to play a different one then come back to the one that was supposed to play. If the songs didn't freeze at the start, they would freeze 2-5 times during their duration. It's just unacceptable. I tested my data connection at the time using the speedtest app: 100Mb down / 30Mb up should be more than enough to stream 320kbps music.

The only thing that's stopping me from taking my business elsewhere are the playlists of course and the fact that the competition ain't that much better... Anybody else?

 

[msing539]

I'm trying to figure out what's going on with Tidal. I've been having constant playback issues. Playback will randomly stop on some songs. I'd see error popups accompanying that, but I reached out to Tidal support and helped them troubleshoot the issue. They've updated some things and the error popups are now gone, but the problem persists. The songs will eventually play if I play something else and then go back to the one that was problematic. This happens on numerous devices (two different iPhones, Windows and Linux-based desktop computers, Mac M1), different DACs, headphones, earphones, on different connections (WiFi, wired, data), different ISPs. This has been going on for at least a few months now, but has become even more severe in the recent weeks.

Just the other day I went out for a walk and put on an album. Some songs wouldn't play. I had to play a different one then come back to the one that was supposed to play. If the songs didn't freeze at the start, they would freeze 2-5 times during their duration. It's just unacceptable. I tested my data connection at the time using the speedtest app: 100Mb down / 30Mb up should be more than enough to stream 320kbps music.

The only thing that's stopping me from taking my business elsewhere are the playlists of course and the fact that the competition ain't that much better... Anybody else?

Do you experience playback issues with downloaded tracks/playlists? And confirming you are streaming Low, 320kbps?

 

[fufula]

No issues with downloaded tracks (though, downloading in Tidal is another issue). I and other family members are steaming low on phones and on the Macbook. We're on a family plan but using separate accounts of course. I'm streaming high on my desktops, where I use my DAC with wired headphones, though that shouldn't be an issue given that I use 300Mbit and 1Gbit fiber connections.

 

[msing539]

though, downloading in Tidal is another issue

Well that's a strange one... on your Macs, what does Little Snitch show? If there is no problem with downloaded tracks, then it seems like something is happening with the internet connection. I'm not saying you don't have sufficient bandwidth, but maybe there's a router setting or something that's causing an issue.

But that shouldn't affect your phone when you're out and about so not sure what else to try checking at the moment.

 

[fufula]

I haven't tried Little Snitch or anything of the sort. But it's doesn't seem like an issue on my end that I can troubleshoot and solve on my own given the fact that the same issue persists across many different devices and connection types.

My guess would be that there's some throttling going on at ISP level or at Tidal for the part of the world that I'm in. It's not my router, since this has been tested with different routers, different ISPs as well as data connection on mobile devices. I use Tidal in my car and there'll be several songs acting up during a 30 minute drive, despite the fact that the connection is technically capable of streaming several lossless track simultaneously.

 

[dunring]

Tunemymusic lets you transfer playlists at: https://www.tunemymusic.com/transfer
Really handy so you're not stuck invested in just one place.

If it's on multiple devices and connections, they're having a problem.