Tidal Streaming ... Sonic Differences

Posted by: Bill Allen on 29 July 2016

Can somebody explain why I'm experiencing sound quality differences when Tidal streaming with my MuSo.

 Naim App-    Sound is more open and brighter ... but there is a noticeable delay when changing songs.

Tidal App -    Sound is somewhat subdued (softer) ... but instant song changing.  (Airplay connection)

 Spotify had something called Spotify Direct that marginally improved the sound quality.  The way I understood it, there was a direct connection from the MuSo to the Spotify servers.  

Is the Naim App providing a similar service when connecting to the Tidal servers?

 

Posted on: 29 July 2016 by Bert Schurink

I think the AirPlay connection explains the difference, an additional connection point to the source of streaming.

Posted on: 29 July 2016 by Bill Allen

I just pulled up the Wiki up on Airplay and it says they use the Apple Lossless codec, so no doubt some monkey motion is going on converting the Tidal Flac files to ALAC files on-the-fly. 

That still don't explain the annoying Tidal song selection delay using the Naim App.

I tend to start Tidal and change songs with whatever device I have laying nearby, sometimes that's an Apple computer.  (Annoyingly Apps still don't run on their computers ... why, oh why Apple)  So I am forced to open Tidal via the Firefox browser to stream the higher quality Flac files.  I cannot find any option besides Airplay to connect to the MuSo using a browser.  Maybe I am missing something here too.  

The question still remains on how the Naim app works, does it use the processing power of the IOS device or is their a direct connection.  Forced to Spotify last month, I learned that using Spotify Direct does not drain my IOS device battery's. 

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by Claus-Thoegersen

Both spotify connect and Tidal is handled by the mu-so the app only controls it, unless you are using bluetooth or airplay or plug in an idevice, to send music to the device.

Claus

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by winkyincanada
Claus-Thoegersen posted:

Both spotify connect and Tidal is handled by the mu-so the app only controls it, unless you are using bluetooth or airplay or plug in an idevice, to send music to the device.

Claus

Yeah, I don't understand how the app you use could affect the sound quality. How is the Muso connected to the internet? Surely the data don't come in via your iOS device?

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by Bart

The data comes straight to the player if the Naim app is used.  Or one could connect an iOS device to the player via bluetooth or Airplay, in which case all bets are off for sound quality.

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by DavidDever

If you are using AirPlay (and the TIDAL app) to push to your streaming device, do compare standard HIFI playback as well as offline mode (downloads contents of album to your device)...you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by Bill Allen

Tasty Treat Double D

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Interesting. How does one activate offline mode on Tidal within Audirvana ?

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by Erich

What do you mean by offline mode on Tidal within A2+?

Offline mode in A2+ : you replay files in your library or directly drag and drop from your music folders.

Posted on: 30 July 2016 by audio1946

the track delay seems variable .more so with tidals own playlist  quality is good, replay via R2R from tidal/ndx seems identical  . muso qb  has settled down and everyone enjoys it

Posted on: 31 July 2016 by DavidDever

The offline mode only applies to the iOS TIDAL client over AirPlay, and not for OS X TIDAL clients (last I checked).

Posted on: 31 July 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Thank you David.

Jan