Yes, this the exact same issue I've been having! The sound starts out as a skipping type noise like the old portable CD players, the turns into a loud vinyl crackle almost with the skipping effect.
I went into settings and killed literally everything except tidal, the settings app itself, and the one process that Google play services didn't give an option to stop. It didn't completely eliminate the issue, but it definitely kept it from happening for a longer period of time.
I had two sessions today where I played music for over an hour without any glitching when the songs change. See if my method works for you.
Firstly, I'm on firmware 1.1.7. I'm using the tidal version from the fiio market (version 1.12.2.680.2)- I'm not signed into google play store and I don't have any other programs on my device other than what came with the unit. This means I won't get tidal updates, but i don't really care.
Secondly, I'm storing my tidal hifi tracks to slot 1 micro SD - it's a SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC UHS-I Card - tidal is set to use external storage in the settings.
What settings I changed:
1. Google Settings> Location> set to off
2. Tidal Settings> Crossfade> set to 1 second (gives impression of gapless but not perfect)
3. Android Settings> Developer Options> (access this hidden menu by tapping 7 times on "build number" under "about device" section)
a. Allow mock locations> set to on (this spoofs a fake location without using CPU to try and get a location - a nasty byproduct of google play services framework)
b. Don't keep activities> set to on (I don't know why I did this, but hey, it's working so far)
After this, I turned off wifi and set tidal to offline mode as I normally do when I leave the house...then I prepped my ear holes for 15 minutes of music. To my shock I got through an entire album 1 hr 10 mins without any issues! I'm not sure if it's the location, the crossfade, or the activity killing, but it's not skipping. Best of all, the developer options aren't reset when I reboot the device. Curious if anyone can replicate.
I'll keep all posted here to see if this is short lived or if it is indeed a workaround. I'll refrain from posting in other threads until someone else can confirm it's working for them too. But if this works, it'll make a lot of people happy I suspect.