Tidal

[bearjew]

Yeah, I think the grayed out stuff has something to do with distribution rights and regional releases.  Sometimes Spotify would show me an album that I couldn't play because that version wasn't released in America, so I assume Tidal has the same issues.

It seems as though I search for something, don't find it, then two days later it's there.  I don't know if these guys are just THAT good at seeing what people are looking for and they're tracking it down, or if it's a coincidence, or what, but I'm not complaining about it.

You don't need to worry about going over 16-bit, as Tidal won't do it.  Tidal is meant to match CD quality, not anything above.  It's just using FLAC files instead of WAV because
a) FLAC takes up less space while providing the same quality
and
b) WAV files are old as hell, so it doesn't handle meta-data and other information as well as a FLAC file, if it will even handle the information at all.  When I was working on an album a few years ago, I forgot to put my information in it before I bounced all of the tracks to their final files, and it took me an hour to figure out how to put the content in there without bouncing the files again.  Long story short, I ended up bouncing the files again.

Your standard 16-bit/44.1k CD's bit rate is 1,411.2 kbit/s, which is what Tidal puts out in "Hi-Fi mode".  Spotify's extreme quality is 320kbit/s, which is what Tidal puts out in "Normal" mode.

It would be very cool if they put 24-bit/48k content on there, but I don't expect it yet, since it's bit rate would be about 2200kbit/s (If my guess math is right).

[tinpan]

Well hell... I guess there's no point in hooking up my DAC. I think I just figured out how to do it. I thought they has 24 bit options...oh well.

[bearjew]

I thought they has 24 bit options...oh well.

Only in a perfect world...  24-bit/48k would be absolutely perfect... hell, 44.1k would be fine.

[tinpan]

It is kind of nice waking up and checking out the what's new section and seeing Pink Floyd Endless River

[papabearjew]

Mine "skips".  Sometimes frequently, sometimes only occasionally. Ideas?

[tinpan]

Sounds like network issues are you using Airplay?

[bearjew]

no, he's not using airplay.

dad, we'll call Comcast on monday when Xinlei and mom go shopping.

[tinpan]

BJ, are you using airplay?

[OldiesButGoodies]

PBJ and BJ, a few thoughts:

Based on the week I had access to it, I noticed that the Tidal windows client is a bit of a hog. It does not like other things running simultaneously and that can hurt playback.

Does Netflix run ok on that same PC?   Does the skipping go away when you down-shift to the 320 kbps mode (the gearshift icon leads you there)?

If it is Comcast related you may need to get into the router's admin prog and give priority to the PC running Tidal,  and even that may not help if the evil Comcast people have figured out a way to throttle dense traffic coming from a particular device.

If you are running Tidal on a Windows machine,  try something else,  a Mac if you have one,  or Apple TV. See if the buffering issues also happen there (you can have a friend over that has a Mac to test this).  Idea is to isolate device from Comcast as the cause.

Just a few ideas to consider...

[bearjew]

PBJ and BJ, a few thoughts:

Based on the week I had access to it, I noticed that the Tidal windows client is a bit of a hog. It does not like other things running simultaneously and that can hurt playback.

Does Netflix run ok on that same PC?   Does the skipping go away when you down-shift to the 320 kbps mode (the gearshift icon leads you there)?

If it is Comcast related you may need to get into the router's admin prog and give priority to the PC running Tidal,  and even that may not help if the evil Comcast people have figured out a way to throttle dense traffic coming from a particular device.

If you are running Tidal on a Windows machine,  try something else,  a Mac if you have one,  or Apple TV. See if the buffering issues also happen there (you can have a friend over that has a Mac to test this).  Idea is to isolate device from Comcast as the cause.

Just a few ideas to consider...

He's using a Macbook Air.

Tinpan, I am not using airplay.

[OldiesButGoodies]

If that is the Air I remember it is first gen,  with a really weak processor. It may not be able to run the Tidal app properly.  Not sure if the Tidal web client is less processor intensive.  Is there a web client like Spotify?At any rate - that Air is good for browsing but may not have enough power to do that kind of streaming.

[papabearjew]

Pepe, I'm using the MacBook Air that I got from you. I guess it's no good for Tidal?

[OldiesButGoodies]

Not saying that definitively,  but it is probable that the Tidal app will struggle with that laptop.  The original Macbook Air was designed to fit in a manila envelope so Steve Jobs could impress everyone with the thinest machine ever made. But processor speed memory data bus were slow. 

If you have not done so already do the usual things to make an old Mac get faster after a months of use - see tips here:

https://gigaom.com/2011/07/26/when-to-reset-your-macs-pram-and-smc/

I would also look at the startup apps and make sure nothing else is running when you are running Tidal, see tips here:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2047747/take-control-of-startup-and-login-items.html

If you can get it to run just Tidal with everything else off and after doing the SMC/PRAM reset,  that may help you determine if it is Comcast or the Mac.  All of this advice needs to be run by your CIO, Bearjew, before executing,  I am just lowly tech providing free support.

 

[papabearjew]

Thanks. BJ will be over Monday so he'll check it out

[bearjew]

pepe, thanks for the info.  i'll run through all that on monday.  i don't have any problems with it on my windows machine, but i'm running an i7.