Tidal Connect

Can’t quite see the excitement then.

If you have a pc and download the app, it casts directly from that now, you don’t need Chrome anymore.

I see. Well I don’t need it anyway, but surely good to know for those who want to stream from the PC

Awesome news both for Tidal and Naim but bit disapointing that the feature will be available from 2021 ( I guess it could be even 4th quater of '21 as there is no info on this) if the competition already implemented it. I guess Tidal had been liaising with different manufacturers at the same time before this was announced.

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I’m sure there’s more complexity, but your examples are bugs. If you’re telling me that you didn’t know that when planning that feature or alternatively that for 9 months you’ve had no time to work on anything but bug fixes. And there’s so many that you can’t even plan when you will release it? Those are all very worrying. It’s not that it was planned for a little bit later, it’s 9 months and not even planned for the next release. People can create another human in that time :wink:

Airplay, again, I don’t understand. It’s an additional connectivity option, but one that’s only usable for iOS users. Why not an additional connectivity option for everyone? Why could Airplay be added, but not any others? Happy to disable most of the others if that makes ‘space’.

I understand that it’s probably a legitimate business decision to prioritise Apple, but let’s not pretend that isn’t happening.

What’s the whole Apple Store thing for example? It works with the features that were there when they bought it. I bought mine in a store that also sells Android devices, does that help to get new features added? And to repeat, I’m just talking about features that work for everyone, not even Android only features.

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There are some features of Tidal that aren’t available via the Naim app, such as the MyMix playlists. I found the search works better on the Tidal app too.
I guess there’s also the possibility of getting the first unfold of MQA, although personally I can’t get excited about that.

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Why Tidal connect is such interesting feature ? I even don’t know what it is.
I am just surprised at how many people are glad to have all these features, like Chromcast, Airplay, soon Tidal connect.
I have not the new streamer but doubt I would need to use all these features, even Tidal or Qobuz native.
Streaming locally from my server is all I need. Or perhaps I miss something ?

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I have no idea either. I just play music.
There seems to be more of an interest in nit-picking than enjoying music.
:thinking:

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Because it allows you to use the native app, which is quite obviously better than any integration will ever be.

Also, it allows other people visiting to easily play something, without them having to install the Naim app which they’ll otherwise never use. (I admit considering the pandemic, the latter is less of an issue atm)

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Spotify Connect is my main reason using Spotify so getting this on Tidal is a huge dealbreaker for me. Using the much better native app and seamless handover between iPhone, MacBook, ipad is great. Unfortunately not supported I’m my 272 but I’ll wait bit more on the updated version. If it doesn’t arrive I might need to solve it some other way.

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It allows you to use the native app without loosing sound quality ? If yes, I understand. If not, I personally only major sound quality, so a better app is not a major concern.
If you can have both, ok.

Is it difficult to pass them your device with the app you use open and ready? That’s what I do.

As for Apple over Android, I think the explanation of multiple variants with Android is a perfectly understandable reason, not excuse, for Android implementations proving to be more difficult and hence delayed: why penalise Apple users by delaying implementation to make them equal if Apple is simple to do? An alternative of course might be to release brand-specific Android versions as they are addressed.

Aside from that, personally I use Apple devices because I think they are better (generalisation of course), though unfortunately more expensive. Perhaps there is a commonality in Naim products tending to be more expensive than many of the alternatives.

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Allows access to way more content that’s not available via the API. Mainly playlists such as My Mix but there are others. Also flexibility to use their app if you prefer it.

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Using Chromecast to my Star I cannot detect any loss in soundquality. Tidal Connect I don’t think anyone has heard yet, but as quality is their USP, and it’s designed to support MQA (even if Naim won’t be able to make use of it) as well my expectation is that it should be fine on that front.

It’s not a big problem, but of course it is nice if they can use their own app with their favourites, playlists etc. And I’d rather not pass other my device if I don’t have to.

I’m willing to believe it’s more difficult, and am not suggesting penalising Apple users.

Regarding the first I just made the point that I think if you haven’t even planned the feature 9 months after the release, and the reason is that you’ve been working on bug fixes only for all this time, something’s seriously wrong. I don’t mind if Apple users get it first, but I think it’s fair to think that it shouldn’t be another year (or longer?) for it to arrive. (assuming it ever will, having worked for software companies I’m familiar with the eternal backlog item)

Regarding your second point, I’m not advocating penalising Apple users at all, i.e. Android only features. I’m advocating choosing options which work for both, not just one of the two. If anything Android users have been penalised if you want to call it that.

I didn’t like them at all in my limited experience. Mainly too restrictive, very much the policy of “if you do it our way it’s great, but don’t you dare try anything else”. Even Microsoft Windows allows for more customisation.

But I’m a technical user, my gf is not tech savy at all, and she had a private Android phone and a work iPhone. She hated the latter with a passion. I guess different people, different preferences.

You feel no loss of sound quality using Chromcast, vs the integrated app? I am surprised because it’s not what I often read.

Don’t believe everything you read, especially if it’s easy to just try it yourself.

But ideally you ask someone else to test you blind. As what you read will make you biased.

I can’t try, have an Nds. However @Stevesky himself, as the main Naim engineer, said recently in another thread that the native app is much better vs Chromcast, which is a cheap and noisy component ( 20 dollars), mainly implemented for convenience.

Maybe his ears are better than mine? But also, I’m personally not that interested in theoretical differences. If you can’t hear it, then why does it matter? Maybe he, as an engineer (although so am I), feels differently?

The article I linked above shows it does have a slight issue, but that’s with the built-in DAC. I.e. one that’s easily solved by using the digital out into a good external DAC. I trust that my Uniti has a good DAC.
But that’s with the dongle, so probably not even applicable to what Naim have built-in. Regardless, I trust that Naim have done everything in their power to optimise the sound quality.

The dongle is not expensive, so if you’re interested you could try it out. I find such experiments interesting.

Glad from day 1 to have traded in my Atom for a NAD M10. Got upgraded with Tidal connect in latest firmware / app upgrade immediately. So not surprised that for Naim, I still own a Muso QB gen 1, we have to wait until 2021 (?!) and the gen 1 is even not supported then ? Don’t tell me integration in Naim app is sufficient. It simply lacks functionality (f.i my mix). Just like spotify connect it would be an essential upgrade and I do not understand why gen1 shall not be supported.

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