Tidal Lossless Streaming

[almarti]

As a former Tidal user and present Qobuz user, I find Audirvana to be a better player than the native Qobuz desktop app as I can surf the Internet and use various programs simultaneously whilst streaming/playing local hi-res files through Audirvana; whereas, the desktop Qobuz app cuts out/experiences glitches if I try to multitask. Interesting, and good to know that Tidal's desktop app doesn't do this on the off-chance I ever return to Tidal.

Happy New Year everyone

I don't understand what technically Audirvana makes different (better) as a player over Tidal App when Audirvana is used with Tidal streaming as a source. I only listen Tidal streaming on desktop computer but Tidal offline on iPhone when driven or walking with AirPods Pro - the highest sound quality is designed when staying at home.

 

[Brain Damage]

I don't understand what technically Audirvana makes different (better) as a player over Tidal App when Audirvana is used with Tidal streaming as a source. I only listen Tidal streaming on desktop computer but Tidal offline on iPhone when driven or walking with AirPods Pro - the highest sound quality is designed when staying at home.

I don't either from your posts, but then I don't use Tidal to invest further - maybe someone else (who uses both Tidal and Audirvana) can offer their expertise? I was merely pointing out that, as a Qobuz user, I do see the advantage of Audirvana over Qobuz (for my home desktop) for the reasons I pointed out earlier.

 

[Brain Damage]

Whilst there may not be any advantage of one over the other in terms of sound quality, the advantage is being able to stream Tidal and play local files all in the one media player (Audirvana).

 

[rkw]

I find Audirvana to be a better player than the native Qobuz desktop app as I can surf the Internet and use various programs simultaneously whilst streaming/playing local hi-res files through Audirvana; whereas, the desktop Qobuz app cuts out/experiences glitches if I try to multitask.

Is your desktop Mac or Windows? I have not experienced this with the Qobuz app on Mac.

 

[Audiophiliac]

As a former Tidal user and present Qobuz user, I find Audirvana to be a better player than the native Qobuz desktop app as I can surf the Internet and use various programs simultaneously whilst streaming/playing local hi-res files through Audirvana; whereas, the desktop Qobuz app cuts out/experiences glitches if I try to multitask. Interesting, and good to know that Tidal's desktop app doesn't do this on the off-chance I ever return to Tidal.

Happy New Year everyone

Audirvana locks your audio output to itself exclusively. I don't remember if Qobuz has that option also, it may solve your problem, but that remains a software issue at their end, and should be reported to Qobuz. If you don't notice the drop in SQ going from Audirvana to Qobuz, you may not have a problem with the bigger one down to Tidal's also.
I can't believe my eyes that I'm reading people say that they can't hear anything sounding worse than Audirvana on an audio forum, but hey, that's ok. Hmm, it kind of sucks that I don't get to say more money for me, in this case. Well, $10/month to upgrade streaming audio to first rate is worth it.
YMDMV

 

[Audiophiliac]

Oh, all software audio players alter the output differently automatically. The truth is, nobody knows how to send the file's data directly to your output port. Audirvana's 3 different modes, WASAPI, ASIO, and KS, are the three degrees of how much of the OS you are sending the audio out of BEFORE. By default, Windows especially outputs audio AFTER it all gets loaded. WASAPI bypasses the windows mixer, which mushes everything together and allows everything to play all at once, which is normal to think should be able to happen, but no other OS had to write that to do that. Kernel Streaming bypasses everything that got loaded after the most essential maybe 4kb of the OS, and if your OS programmer cared about audio SQ, he would probably tell you that was the best option. Except that a good audio geek wrote the code for the ASIO interface, and he understood that making it bypass ALL of the OS, and outputting directly to your port, would be best. Apparently, not everything supports ASIO, however there is the free ASIO4ALL driver software, written by your best type of programming friends, that makes a lot of hardware work through ASIO.

 

[almarti]

Audirvana locks your audio output to itself exclusively. I don't remember if Qobuz has that option also, it may solve your problem, but that remains a software issue at their end, and should be reported to Qobuz. If you don't notice the drop in SQ going from Audirvana to Qobuz, you may not have a problem with the bigger one down to Tidal's also.
I can't believe my eyes that I'm reading people say that they can't hear anything sounding worse than Audirvana on an audio forum, but hey, that's ok. Hmm, it kind of sucks that I don't get to say more money for me, in this case. Well, $10/month to upgrade streaming audio to first rate is worth it.
YMDMV

Last version of Tidal App on MacOS includes the exclusive mode and clearly stated that’s for hires streaming, so this equals to same Audirvana feature.

 

[Brain Damage]

Is your desktop Mac or Windows? I have not experienced this with the Qobuz app on Mac.

I use Windows

 

[peterinvan]

WHY IS TIDAL ASKING FOR ACCESS TO MY CAMERA???

I am using the desktop app (2.36.2.54) on a Win 11 PC.

Norton advised me that Tidal was asking for access to my camera, which I promptly denied in my Windows settings.

Now the Tidal app stops every now and then for no apparent reason. I have to hit "next" to get it playing again.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[peterinvan]

I got a very quick response from Tidal SUpport:

Luis Trigueros (TIDAL) Feb 3, 2024, 2:18 PM EST Hi Peter, Thank you for contacting TIDAL Support. We appreciate that you are letting us know about this situation. Regarding the inquiry about the camera, TIDAL requests "media" access to be able to control the output device so you can set "Exclusive Mode" but it does not connect to the camera on the app. Regarding the what you mention about the TIDAL stopping, can you please try the next steps? Log out and log in. Clear Cache: Click on "Help" in the menu while TIDAL is open. Click on "Troubleshooting." Click on "Clear Cache." Reset app data: Click on "Help" in the menu while TIDAL is open. Click on "Troubleshooting." Click on "Reset app data." Uninstall and reinstall.**

 

[wht]

LCD -2 (2010)

 

[msing539]

With the switch to include Max, I've run into an issue I've seen some people experience before.

Windows 10 x64 (Latest Tidal) > USB > DI20HE DDC > Sonnet Morpheus > Lokius > Amps
USB Driver is Amanero 1.0.67

Scenario 1: Tidal High (44.1) - Exclusive Mode ON or OFF, No Distortion

Scenario 2: Tidal Max (192) - Exclusive Mode ON, Distortion on FLAC/MQA
Inconsistent distortion on MQA/FLAC. Sometimes there will be no distortion on FLAC, then I hit an MQA file, distortion. Then I can change tracks and it goes away. Or distortion can start on a FLAC file, go away when I hit an MQA file. It can also play fine between both MQA, FLAC, standard for a few songs.

Scenario 3: Tidal Max (192) - Exclusive Mode OFF, No Distortion on FLAC/MQA

Anyone else come across this and find a fix?

 

[Hypops]

With the switch to include Max, I've run into an issue I've seen some people experience before.

Windows 10 x64 (Latest Tidal) > USB > DI20HE DDC > Sonnet Morpheus > Lokius > Amps
USB Driver is Amanero 1.0.67

Scenario 1: Tidal High (44.1) - Exclusive Mode ON or OFF, No Distortion

Scenario 2: Tidal Max (192) - Exclusive Mode ON, Distortion on FLAC/MQA
Inconsistent distortion on MQA/FLAC. Sometimes there will be no distortion on FLAC, then I hit an MQA file, distortion. Then I can change tracks and it goes away. Or distortion can start on a FLAC file, go away when I hit an MQA file. It can also play fine between both MQA, FLAC, standard for a few songs.

Scenario 3: Tidal Max (192) - Exclusive Mode OFF, No Distortion on FLAC/MQA

Anyone else come across this and find a fix?

What do you mean by "distortion"? Do you mean white/pink noise, or do you mean just some minor harmonic distortion? If you're getting white/pink noise, the most likely culprit is either your DDC and/or your DAC not liking the switch in bitrates and formats.

 

[peterinvan]

With the switch to include Max, I've run into an issue I've seen some people experience before.

Windows 10 x64 (Latest Tidal) > USB > DI20HE DDC > Sonnet Morpheus > Lokius > Amps
USB Driver is Amanero 1.0.67

Scenario 1: Tidal High (44.1) - Exclusive Mode ON or OFF, No Distortion

Scenario 2: Tidal Max (192) - Exclusive Mode ON, Distortion on FLAC/MQA
Inconsistent distortion on MQA/FLAC. Sometimes there will be no distortion on FLAC, then I hit an MQA file, distortion. Then I can change tracks and it goes away. Or distortion can start on a FLAC file, go away when I hit an MQA file. It can also play fine between both MQA, FLAC, standard for a few songs.

Scenario 3: Tidal Max (192) - Exclusive Mode OFF, No Distortion on FLAC/MQA

Anyone else come across this and find a fix?

Win 11 > USB > FiiO K7.

The only issue I have is that when I switch the USB out to my KEF LS50W, Tidal freezes, and I have to restart it to get it to recognize the LS50s.

 

[msing539]

What do you mean by "distortion"? Do you mean white/pink noise, or do you mean just some minor harmonic distortion? If you're getting white/pink noise, the most likely culprit is either your DDC and/or your DAC not liking the switch in bitrates and formats.

Yes, distortion like white noise/static during the switch to FLAC or MQA. But only when Exclusive Mode is checked.