Tidal on NDX: first impressions

I like TIDAL implementation in Naim app but I could not find how to use "Radio" function from Tidal app . It is not possible?

Tidal is integration is awesome, now all we need is AirPlay. What are the chances....?

Martin -  I'm having similar issues finding the radio function on Tidal.  After patiently searching the Tidal website tonight, I discovered some helpful information for new users, including videos and Q&A.  Not sure if the "how to" for the radio feature is there, but it should be.  

Go to the website TidalHiFi.com, click on the three horizontal bars in the upper right corner of the page, then click on "help".  Read the menu choices or dig deeper with "view all."  

BTW, the radio feature is nicely integrated into Roon, but as far as I can tell, it only plays from the personal music collection located on the computer.  

I can find it in Tidal app, but in Naim app it is not probably intergrated because I did not find it

Martin, it is in the Naim app... Select a Tidal queue list (playlist or album) and tap the three dots on the right hand side of a track.. You will see the 'start track radio' play button in the pop up shown.

super great, thanks :-)

Tidal integration sounds positive and hopefully Qobuz is on the way.

Has the recent upgrade made any improvement to the multi-room performance of the Naim streamers?  I like to play the same thing in two or three locations in the house so that I can keep hearing it as I go about my business.  The problem with Naim streamers, and the reason (besides Qobuz) that I keep fiddling with Sonos and (for hi def) Simple Audio, is that they down-sample to 320 mp3 in secondary locations.  Give me uncompressed multi-room and I'll gladly switch to Naim streamers, possibly even without Qobuz.

I have participated in the beta testing and have listened extensively to TIDAL on my NDX so I would like to share some experiences in this thread.

Cutting to the chase, I have cancelled Spotify premium and will keep my TIDAL subscription.

why TIDAL?

• The integration via the NAIM app is superb, in fact I find it easier to work with the NAIM-TIDAL menu than with the TIDAL app menu (which i do when i am on business trips which is at least 30% of my time)
• the qualify in TIDAL is to me extremely good. I have read the comments about lower quality vs rips. When I compared directly I could not detect differences - but I deliberately did not try to do a dissecting AB comparison as the key question for me is "can I listen to TIDAL over prolonged listening sessions without feeling I am missing something"? and the answer to this question is "Yes". It wasn't so with Spotify, I had the feeling that it was tiring after a while. 
• On content: (1) TIDAL is a dream come true for me when it comes to genres I want to explore but am not willing to invest a lot in (owning the material), for example heavy bebop. I have listened to albums I would never do otherwise, especially the ones suggested in various equipment and music reviews. (2) On classical, which is my main genre, I learned that I have to be a bit inventive but when i do so the catalogue is by no means poor. At the risk of being pedantic and boring I will list two concrete examples:
• 1. I have on used DECCA vinyl Brahms quartets with the Weler quartet. By queering  TIDAL on 'artist = Weler Quartet' I found and added in "My Music - Albums" all the Weler Quartet DECCA recordings 1964-1970 with one mouse click.
  2. I have a demo CD by Triangle (the speaker maker) having a fantastic piece by Schubert allegedly from his "Stabat Mater". I do know that this is a mistake on the CD label but for months I could not find out what this piece was (Shazam was unable to identify it either) until with some deductive thought I realized it's part of a Mass Credo - a quick search on Tidal then presented me with 5-6 recordings of the correct piece (Schubert Mass #6, Credo / "et incarnatus est". You can find more recordings whether you search by "Scbubert Mass 6" or "Schubert Messe 6" or "Schubert E flat" (for example, the Chandos Chaconne with Collegium Musicum version does not have the "6" in the title in the TIDAL database and so will not show up if you search via "Mass 6" - but it does have it in the Qobuz database and thus Qobuz will return it in either search - try it!). I guess that is the main reason a lot of us might want Qobuz integrated with NAIM (but i must say in my country is not available and i can access Qobuz only when I am in my German company's network...) 

ATB,

Greg

Absolutely stunning integration. Love the fact that you are now driving (almost) everything from the one app. Only ten minutes into the session and the improvement in SQ over spottily is easily audible. User experience very promising, easy upgrade. What more could one ask for!  

Only issue I had was having my old TIDAL app running on the iPad with a different account logged in on NDX. It did not like this, (read did not work). As soon as I rectified my sign ins, everything fired up.

Great job Naim, thanks!

Is anyone having a problem with tracks being skipped. More often than not, if listening to a whole album a track gets skipped - usually, but not always, the last one?

Any tips on how to create a playlist with songs from Tidal and NAS combined? I am getting two separate playlists right now. Love the Tidal integration so far by the way. Much better then Spotify although missing quite a lot of albums.

Thanks

Today in the late afternoon I had the time to listen for some hours to my setup and used primarily Tidal. I confirm that with more complex music there is a difference of sound quality compared to streaming from my NAS but even with longer listening sessions the sq of Tidal is good and not fatiguing. If you add to this consideration the ease of use, the beautiful integration with the Naim app and the possibility of discovering new music with the "artist radio" feature, then you can consider Tidal on Naim as a killing app.

Yes. I thought it was just me. Interestingly the track plays in the standalone Tidal app but not in the embedded Naim version. 

I've had a couple of tracks stop part way through, but it's all too much of a novelty (and a free one at that) to be concerned by it at the moment. 

No problems with skipped tracks here in Milan; maybe it's just an internet problem ?

The tracks stopping problem is one that was experienced in beta testing.  It's down to problems at Tidal's end - not an issue with your streamers or internet connection (assuming your net connection is fine for everything else). 

In the beta group it was more of a problem outside of the US.  I believe Naim are working with Tidal to try and get them to improve this.  Not a lot you can do I'm afraid other than complain direct to Tidal to encourage them to improve it.

David

Qobuz SQ is a whole notch above that of Tidal.

I expected Tidal to be on par with Qobuz, but alas...

Nice new functionality but would have been better to have Qobuz native integration in Naim streamers

Hmm I have both Qobuz and Tidal, and I find SQ the same given the same master, agree it's sometimes difficult to tell, but has improved on Tidal recently, I find the web streamers sound almost if not the same as locally streamed FLAC masters (though this does perhaps change on underlying network and server throughput which drives different TCP behaviour). I do transcode my local media to WAV, and so in doing so I do find a noticeable difference between local WAV and the web FLAC streaming services.

Simon

Is there a way to transcode also the streaming service from Flac to Wav ?

The only way I can think of is by writing a bespoke proxy server than transcodes the media request transfer... Alas I don't really have time, but some enterprising coder could give it a go.. The transcode libraries themselves are public domain In the Linux environment.

Simon

Thanks Simon for your reply; It would be nice if Naim could implement the real-time transcode ability directly into the streamer ! 

Ummm, wouldn't that defeat the object of transcoding before the streamer.. because if you think about it, they do transcode in the streamer.. And it is this transcoding process we or at least some of us, hear the digital signature of.

Simon

You are technically better prepared then me but if you implement a chip that takes care of the transcoding duty before the DSP and the DAC you should achieve the same result (transcoding before the signal enters the streamer)

Well f..k me. Something worth having which is actually free in 21st century Britain (ok only 3 months).

Am presently wandering down 80s John Peel festive favourite tracks which for one reason or another I no longer own but now have access to:

nick cave......Saint Huck

smiths...........Reel around the fountain session version

microdisney......A few kisses

this mortal coil .....Song to the Siren

BTW if anybody reading has not heard that This Mortal Coil song, go find it now - it's epic.

ATB Ray