Is Lunatic Soul an artist or is this an album? Also is HiFi mode the best setting?
Many thanks
Artist, If you want to check bands/albums just type into Tidal search box will bring up all the albums available on Tidal. I have my Tidal set to Master but hifi should be fine for cd quality playback.
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Thank you glasnaim.
Iām finding my way around the Naim app. Iām just getting a little confused with accessing Tidal via the app on the iPad or via the Naim app.
Itās a wee bit confusing at first but you will get used to it.
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you must use Tidal app on the Naim app Stephen. Tidal hifi choice, which is in flac 16/44. The less expensive is for mp3 streaming.
You will probably enjoy more and more your ipad now. I guessā¦
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Many thanks for your reply FR. Very much appreciated.
Yes, I am starting to play around with the iPad now. At this minute iām listening to an album I know well by Radiohead on Tidal. I have to say that my locally ripped files sound quite a bit better. Perhaps I just need to play around for a bit and adjustā¦I think that maybe I have taken advantage of the free 90 day trial that came with the streamer. Is this the HiFi one?
Yes, itās the Hifi one. But you are not alone to find locally streamed files better sounding than tidal. However you can discover new albums with it, in good sounding quality condition.
The best, for me, is to download hirez files and send them to your nas. Some 24/48 or 96 sound stunning.
From Qobuz or Highrezaudio sites, or Bandcamp.
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That is a fantastic reply FR.
Great, I now feel a little more knowledgeable. Yes, I enjoyed the sound quality from Qobuz for many years. I personally think itās much better sounding than Tidal. Tidal to me sounds slightly distorted and flat by comparison, iām not even convinced this is HiFi, but as you sayitās good for discovering new music. I think I shall migrate back to Qobuz once this 90 day trial runs out. Iām quite abit shocked (if iām honest) at how bad this is sounding compared to the same album streamed from my NAS. Itās not subtle one bit.
Many thanks
Stephen, thanks to the reply. But i wanted to say that you can buy hirez albums or tracks on Qobuz, with your pc, and then send them on your nas. I wasnāt talking about Qobuz streaming, which is another thing.
But effectively, Qobuz streaming sounds better for some.
But you have the Qobuz store, to buy hirez or wav albums.
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Yes of course FR.
I was streaming Hi-Res from Qobuz. I had a higher tier than the HiFi option. Some albums sounded stunning. As good as my local files.
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Stephen,
Tidal Hi-Fi can actually be very good indeed. It may be that there is an issue with Naimās implementation of Tidal, because most people find (as I do on my Linn Klimax DS/1 or microRendu/Mytek Brooklyn+ or Hugo) that Tidalās 16bit 44.1kHz sounds as good as or at worst very nearly as good as locally streamed CD rips.
It may be the case (as some have reported) that there are issues with Naimās implementation of Tidal or that the worst examples you have found are entirely different masters.
If you ever get round to using Roon with your streamer (although I suspect this is not something you are likely to consider) I am pretty confident your view of Tidal sound quality will change. Mind you, if the Qobuz catalogue suits your music tastes then of course this is possibly your best option.
I personally donāt subscribe to Qobuz although I do purchase high resolution downloads from them from time to time, but as a matter of interest some Roon users have reported that they actually prefer Tidalās 16 bit streaming offerings to those of Qobuz.
As I write this post I am listening to a Tidal 16 bit 44.1kHz album via Roon on my Klimax DS/1 and it sounds absolutely stunning.
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Hi Hmack,
that is very handy to know in that with the right conditions Tidal can win out by the sounds of things. Naim have backed them so there must good reasons for doing so. Iāve only just got Tidal up and running this evening and whilst having a little scout around, I do prefer their catalogue, itās more in fitting with my musical tastes.
It is early days yet, I just need to play around for a bit I think, jumping the gun as always, itās that bleedinā price work attitude that has been instilled into me from bricklaying. I need to get rid of it and fast (pun intended) 
Many thanks
Anyway - very glad to see that you are now up and running very successfully with your new streamer and NAS.
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Whoa, now listening to Pink Floydās Division Bell via Tidal - very nice quality indeed.
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Stephen, I have been using Tidal Hi-Fi subscription for a couple of years and feel that I have gotten my monies worth. I have listened to a lot of music which has led to a CD purchase for my library. More importantly, it has allowed me the opportunity to listen to an album a few time and deciding I rather not make a purchase. I can convince myself the subscription is helping me save money.
Also when you find play a CD via the NAS and find the TIDAL version is not as good, you may want to consider that some albums are released several times over their lifetime and you may be comparing apples and oranges. I have found it to work both ways, I have bought some pretty crappy CDās over the past 35 or so years and the TIDAL version has at times has sounded a lot better then the CD.
JMHO - YMMV
Yes, very good point there seakayaker. I guess the same can be said for the Hi-Res downloaded stuff too. I mean, I downloaded a Hi-Res Marin Gaye album and then compared it to my CD version and it turned out that I actually preferred the CD version and that was at a fraction of the price from a charity shop. I can see that having a subscription services like Tidal or Qobuz can pay dividends in that, in like you say, you can let yourself have plenty of listening to a certain version of that album before committing yourself to the purchasing of it, in that the one you think sounds best. These services allow you to get or find a good feel for what it is you really want and then add it to your physical library once it has past your own listening tests. Makes perfect sense to me!
Thanks
I just canāt keep thinking what a mess and complete disarray this streaming industry is.
Look at history.
FM radio was a properly engineered way to distribute music. You bought a tuner, plugged it in, and tuned to a station. You had music. When FM stereo came out, it was added so that it didnāt break any existing tuners. You can take a tuner from 50 years ago, plug it in, and it will work. No firmware updates.
TV was properly engineered way to distribute video. There was one format (for your country), either NTSC or PAL. You bought a TV, plugged it in, and tuned to a station. You had something to watch. Again, when color came out, it didnāt break any existing black and white TV sets. The old analog TV worked for more than 50 years, until they recently stopped broadcasting in analog around 2009.
When LPs came out around 1955, they were all recorded in the same format using RIAA equalization. This same format is used today. Again, you can take a 50 year old record player and play any modern album. Or vise versa. Itās simple to use. Buy an album, put it on the record player, and you have music.
Yet another example of a properly engineered solution was the CD. It came out in the early 80ās and is still in use today. Almost 40 years now. One format. I can play the first CD I bought on a modern player. Again, it couldnāt be simpler to play one. Put it in the player, hit play, and you have music.
Contrast this to the mess that streaming is. Look at all the formats there are. Some are low fidelity, some are high fidelity. You have MP3s, AIFF, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, and the list goes on and on. This player only support these formats. This other player only supports these other ones. This is because none of this was properly engineered. Every company developed their own format in their own silo, and then rushed it to market to be the first. Every company claims theirs is the best.
Which one do you choose? Thereās always threads about this on this forum. Everyone wants the best, so why isnāt there just one format? If this industry was smart, they would choose one, and obsolete all the others. The format should be designed so that it will be compatible with players now and ones that come out 50 years from now.
The simplicity is gone. It is no longer as easy as buying a player, putting some music into it, and hearing music. Now you have to rip a CD (letās not get into all the variations of doing that), buy some file online, or subscribe to some online service. Now you need a computer to that. Then you have to figure out to get that file to the player. Is there a hard disk in the player? Do I use a USB stick? Do I use a USB drive? Do I use a NAS? What UPnP do I use (how many varieties of them are there)? Then to play it, I need another computer like an iPad or iPhone to actually make the player start. Oh, and your player probably has to be connected to a home network, so you need routers and cables. All these pieces just to hear some music. This is ridiculous!
Radios, TVs, LPs, and CDs probably penetrated 95% of the homes. Thatās because it was simple to use. Anybody could figure out how to use it. You canāt say that about streaming. Nowhere close. Thatās why I contend that it will never go mainstream in its current state. Only a few are willing to put up with all this complexity.
Do you think youāll be able to play any of your current music 50 years from now? I doubt it. Certainly not without some kind of conversion. āOh those old FLACs, yeah we donāt support them anymore. Too bad. You can maybe convert them to our new ultra music def format that we just created two days ago. All the cool kids are using that now. But youāll need to buy the latest player and make sure you get the latest firmware. Then install the proper decoder.ā
After reading this, Iām surprised I actually bought a streamer! The only advantage so far is being able to change music with the press of a finger. No more getting up, finding the CD in my immense collection, fiddling with some dumb CD packaging, almost breaking the CD getting it off that button, and putting it in the player. That part is nice. But LPs sound better! All this technology for a step backwards. This might be the new definition of insanity. 
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If you donāt like it, fine, donāt use it. For me, it means greater versatility and far better access to music than any other format, and I would never consider going back. As for āit will never go mainstreamāā¦it already has. If you want to live in the past, fine - I did that myself by sticking with vinyl, and never bothering with a CD player.
I wonāt bother to argue, point by point, with every anti-streaming criticism you have listed - that would be tedious - suffice to say that I disagree with pretty much all of them.
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100%, that is nothing more than a rant. Why who knows, letās move on.
Iām sitting here with my 8 track cartridges, betamax player and twin cassette deck thinking yourāe all mad 