[NobbyChad]

I had an ultraRendu in the media room here, and it was a good way to clean up the sound but I found it to be unstable at the most inconvenient times. I replaced it with a small fanless low-power PC for about the same price, added an ISO REGEN powered by the LPS-1.2 I was using for the 'Rendu, plus a wireless keyboard, and got the same sonic results plus the ability to see apps on our TV as well as phones and tablets. Those apps include Tidal — MQA in the media room! — as well as Qobuz, Squeezelite-X, and VLC.

The microrendu seems to struggle occasionally in my system with Mac/ Audirvana same signal sent to my Naim Unit is rock solid and has never dropped out?

 

[Indrajit]

Hi. I have a question on this thread. May I know if offline versions of mqa files (when played in offline mode) on phones experience any downgrade in sound quality as opposed to playing mqa in online streaming?

 

[Dannemand]

Hi. I have a question on this thread. May I know if offline versions of mqa files (when played in offline mode) on phones experience any downgrade in sound quality as opposed to playing mqa in online streaming?

In the Tidal App settings, you choose the quality level for Downloaded tracks. If you choose Master, you'll get the full MQA quality.

I have verified on my LG V30 (using it's hardware MQA decoder and renderer) that it plays the same, regardless of whether I'm in Offline mode or streaming live.

 

[Indrajit]

In the Tidal App settings, you choose the quality level for Downloaded tracks. If you choose Master, you'll get the full MQA quality.

I have verified on my LG V30 (using it's hardware MQA decoder and renderer) that it plays the same, regardless of whether I'm in Offline mode or streaming live.

Thanks. I have one more question. Are we allowed to play tidal offline files after losing or cancelling tidal subscription? Is it possible to play only those offline downloads after one has stopped paying for the subscription.

 

[Left Channel]

Thanks. I have one more question. Are we allowed to play tidal offline files after losing or cancelling tidal subscription? Is it possible to play only those offline downloads after one has stopped paying for the subscription.

You won't be able to log into the app, and we can't play those offline files with other apps. Offline music is not the same as purchased downloads.

 

[Indrajit]

You won't be able to log into the app, and we can't play those offline files with other apps. Offline music is not the same as purchased downloads.

Thanks. Are you saying that my account gets automatically logged out if I stop paying? If I am permanently logged in and never turn on the internet on tidal or never update tidal from now, just to keep those offline files, will I still be logged out after stopping payment

 

[abirdie4me]

Thanks. Are you saying that my account gets automatically logged out if I stop paying? If I am permanently logged in and never turn on the internet on tidal or never update tidal from now, just to keep those offline files, will I still be logged out after stopping payment

When you download a file through Tidal, you are not buying it. You simply have the right to play it back VIA THE TIDAL APP only, on the device you downloaded in on, and only as long as you have an active (meaning paid) subscription.

If you could just download and keep it forever, everybody would just sign up for 1 month and download thousands of songs and then cancel their subscription. That wouldn't be a very good business model for Tidal.

 

[Indrajit]

When you download a file through Tidal, you are not buying it. You simply have the right to play it back VIA THE TIDAL APP only, on the device you downloaded in on, and only as long as you have an active (meaning paid) subscription.

If you could just download and keep it forever, everybody would just sign up for 1 month and download thousands of songs and then cancel their subscription. That wouldn't be a very good business model for Tidal.

Yeah well. Thanks. That is how it usually is.

 

[Left Channel]

Thanks. Are you saying that my account gets automatically logged out if I stop paying? If I am permanently logged in and never turn on the internet on tidal or never update tidal from now, just to keep those offline files, will I still be logged out after stopping payment

The apps and website check in with Tidal often enough that you may find you have no grace period at all. Once you're logged out, those files are inaccessible.

Tidal does sell permanent downloads in both MP3 and FLAC, but they don't advertise it much because most Tidal users aren't interested. https://store.tidal.com/

 

[Tenashus1]

Bye bye to the Allman Brothers Eat a Peach album in MQA. Another MQA title bites the dust. Shucks, it sounded so good too. I saw myself back on the quad at UVM.

 

[Dannemand]

Thanks. I have one more question. Are we allowed to play tidal offline files after losing or cancelling tidal subscription? Is it possible to play only those offline downloads after one has stopped paying for the subscription.

I have had my subscription expire at one point with the app still in Offline mode. And it actually let me keep playing for a few weeks before finally telling me it had expired. As others have pointed out, that doesn't mean you should count on it. And it certainly doesn't mean you own it. I am guessing the frequency between the app wanting to check in is such that there is no predicting how long the grace period will be.

 

[Dannemand]

I was reminded that I probably should copy the relevant parts of this post for other classical lovers here in this thread.

<snip>

For my part, I only have Master (MQA) albums downloaded in Tidal. So when I use Offline mode, that's what I choose from -- and I know they will all play correctly.

Among Tidal's classical catalog, there really are some excellent Master/MQA albums. To mention a few:

1) The entire catalog of newly transferred Everest Records' recordings. This label distinguished themselves by making very high quality 3-channel recordings on 35mm film tape back in late 1950s-1960s. For example, check Copland: Symphony No. 3 (the composer himself directing London Symphony Orchestra). But there are many, many others, both popular and more complex works. Search in Tidal for "Everest Records Master Tapes" and Show All Albums. They are $40 a pop on HDtracks.

2) Brahms: The Symphonies (Berlin Philharmonic, Simon Rattle). I know some people dislike Rattle for his earlier Mahler cycle, or even his personality. But to me these are the all-time best Brahms performances. Better than the BPO/Abbado cycle, which was my favorite before the Rattle cycle. For example, check the Andante movement from Symphony no. 3. I challenge anybody to show me any music, of any genre, more beautiful than this performance. I am serious, that was a challenge.

3) Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies (Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim). When it comes to Wagner, I am out. But I do appreciate Bruckner's symphonies, and these are great performances and recordings.

4) Dvorák: Complete Symphonies & Concertos (Czech Philharmonic, Jiri Belohlavek). Excellent performances and recordings of these romantic era favorites: These musicians have Dvorák in their blood. (Growing up with Josef Suk's definitive 1976 performance of Dvorák's violin concerto, I have a hard time enjoying other performances of it. Frank Peter Zimmermann does a fine job on this MQA set; and sound quality is infinitely better than the old Supraphon recording, even with its latest 2011 re-release.)

5) Mozart Violin Concertos (Trondheimsolistene, Marianne Thorsen). If you like Mozart, you will be hard pressed to find recordings with higher sound quality than these.

6) The Nordic Sound (2L Audiophile Reference Recordings). Many of these can be downloaded on http://www.2l.no/hires in a number of different resolutions.

Of course there any many others, but these come to mind as particularly excellent.

In short, I easily have hundreds of hours of top quality MQA music to choose from when playing offline Tidal.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Everest Records albums: Each of them exist both as HiFi (44/16 Redbook) and as Master (192/24 MQA). Make sure to choose the MQA version.

BTW this also makes them excellent for comparing the two formats on high quality recordings (as opposed to on crappy recordings, which many MQA releases seem to be). I can suggest albums if anybody is interested in such comparisons.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Today for the first time I had trouble playing tidal over Windows in one room and Bluesound in another room. This never happened before as far as I can remember. Does anybody know if there is a limit when you have a tidal hifi subscription to run more than one device from the same location?

Nevermind, finally found the info on the crappy tidal website. Only one online device at a time. Weird, seems like this used to work. I don't do it that often but I did today.

 

[Left Channel]

Today for the first time I had trouble playing tidal over Windows in one room and Bluesound in another room. This never happened before as far as I can remember. Does anybody know if there is a limit when you have a tidal hifi subscription to run more than one device from the same location?

Nevermind, finally found the info on the crappy tidal website. Only one online device at a time. Weird, seems like this used to work. I don't do it that often but I did today.

Interesting that Tidal didn't notice until now. You can have multiple Bluesound devices active and Tidal should see them as one login, but am I right in assuming the BluOS control app for Windows is not also a local player? For me that would be another reason to stick with LMS/Squeezebox.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Interesting that Tidal didn't notice until now. You can have multiple Bluesound devices active and Tidal should see them as one login, but am I right in assuming the BluOS control app for Windows is not also a local player? For me that would be another reason to stick with LMS/Squeezebox.

I am really not sure. I was running the Windows app in one room through a USB DAC and my girlfriend wanted to listen to something else in another room. She was using the Bluesound app on an Android tablet. I have the bluos controller app on the windows box also but was not using it.

Tidal support is really horrific. The guy was happy to confirm this is not allowed and suggested I look into offline content on Android or iOS. I don't think bluos supports offline Tidal but it's just stupid to have any limit on one IP address. I understand they want people to use a family plan if they are in different locations, but I don't see the issue if I play on a bunch of devices in my house.