Tidal Flac Hi-Res

Hopefully that thread will not eventually be about all three!

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Why would you need Naims app if you use Spotify connect? I mean, naims app is a galaxy behind Spotify in UX/UI IMO.

I fully agree on the UX/UI thing, but I still have a need for the Naim app. Streaming local files and searching in my known services and files.

I like the way Tidal works. I can use Connect when I purely want to use the interface and search Tidal but having the choice and additional integration in the Naim app I also find useful.

Also things like volume control: when I have Tidal Connect open iniOS I can only adjust the volume in 5 step increments.

So its a horses for courses thing.

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Guys, but why does it say FLAC when I play a song?

Because it’s playing flac, just not high res flac.

When I used MConnectHD years ago I remember being told that it directed audio files via my iPad en route to my 272.

But in my tests if I switch off the Wi-Fi on my iPad which is running mconnectLite the music continues until the end of the track. However, the next track in the queue will not start as each track is a separate instruction even if you are playing an album.

I have a very vague memory that I tried that with MconnectHD and the music stopped, which is what convinced me that the files were being processed by the iPad.

Well, following the advice here I put mconnect on my iPhone and like magic I can play up to 24/192 on my NDX2. I can browse my own playlists and see Tidal’s suggestions for the day. I don’t know how it works, but it does. The only curiosity is that it plays each track twice. Anyone know why?

No double track play here.

I get occasional track repeats playing Tidal playlists with mConnect. Not all the time - maybe one in six will repeat.

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Do you have anywhere on your network you could run bubblesoft upnp server? With that you can create an OpenHome compatible instance of your NDX2 then use OpenHome compatible apps to control it. The Linn app works well and looks nice and fresh and that approach may cure the track playing twice problem

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Is it not due to the buffering? When the track is buffered, it is like copied, so you can switch off Ethernet or Wifi.

I’m not 100% sure, but mconnectLite appers to send each track of an album separately when the previous track ends. I notice my NSC 222’s display (which I have set to time out) lights up to show each new track as it starts. With the Naim app this doesn’t happen.

So I am assuming that the album link is sent by the Naim app and a link for each track by mconnectLite. Hence why turning of the Wi-Fi of my controller (iPad) during a track doesn’t interrupt play, but for mconnectLite the next track then won’t play but with the Naim app it does (I need to double check this). Whether buffering plays a part in all this I don’t know.

Edit: I have now double-checked that turning of the Wi-Fi on my iPad whilst running the Naim app does not stop an album streaming, unlike mconnectLite, which works track by track, even with albums.

It’s funny that nobody seems to really know how it works. Be assured, neither me. I read since some years now so many different theories or speculations, even by the most tekies here. Never the same information.
I just know that Mconnect works a bit like a remote. It sends an order to the streamer to stream a local file or communicate with a server.
I really don’t think that the signal is passing through the IPad.
But it’s just another theory, lol.

What should it say?

I believe you are right, based on my tests. But if mconnectLite is just a controller, then my NSC 222 is streaming hi-res itself, given an instruction to. So why are we waiting on Naim to update their firmware and app? If mconnectLite can do it, and it has done for a while, without any need for any Naim firmware changes on my 222, why can’t Naim update their app to work the same way?

Flac 16/44

Maybe because the Naim app is not a controller , but then I don’t know how differently it works.
:thinking:

It behaves similarly to mconnectLite in that it instructs the streamer what to play. So just a controller.