Tidal FINALLY offers Chromecast support for iPhone!

Rex81

Well-Known Member
I can't believe it. After what, 18 months? But it's true. The Cast button is there.

And this is one week after I finally gave up on my Chromecast Audio for my Apple Airport Express to use Airplay.

I spent 2 hours running a dedicated 50' ethernet cable from my router into my basement listening room and had to fish it through my wall. All because Airplay is so data hungry, it's the only way I could keep the Tidal Hifi streaming without buffering.

Oh well, at least they finally did it.
 
I would have updated the router before doing all that.

"WiFi is always promoted using ‘theoretical’ speeds and by this standard 802.11ac is capable of 1300 megabits per second (Mbps) which is the equivalent of 162.5 megabytes per second (MBps). This is 3x faster than the typical 450Mbps speed attributed to 802.11n."

Tidal claims that "16bit / 44.1 KHz 1411Kbps FLAC Files on average will consume about 10MB of data per minute of content.

So if you triple that (which would be common), you are talking about 30MB per minute on routers that can now handle 162.5 MB per second. It is the reason I have never had an issue with Airplay and Tidal (I recently had a month long premium membership). I also used Airplay on vacation during that time on an unknown router and it played without a hiccup.
 
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I can't believe it. After what, 18 months? But it's true. The Cast button is there.

And this is one week after I finally gave up on my Chromecast Audio for my Apple Airport Express to use Airplay.

I spent 2 hours running a dedicated 50' ethernet cable from my router into my basement listening room and had to fish it through my wall. All because Airplay is so data hungry, it's the only way I could keep the Tidal Hifi streaming without buffering.

Oh well, at least they finally did it.
And you have Ethernet in your listening room. That's a good thing.
 
I've been waiting for TIDAL to support Chromecast for a long time now. Finally! Just in time for Apple to buy them and scuttle the service...
 
So should I not buy a Chromcast now?!?! Because I was real excited to start streaming Tidal.
I guess the question is whether you will give up on all streaming when/if Tidal goes away? There hasn't been any other rumors about Apple buying them since that first Wall Street article. There are plenty of other articles about their high turnover in executive management, so I wouldn't make long term goals for the service anyway.

The Chromecast works with a lot of other services and will stream your own music, so it really depends on what you plan to do when/if they go away. Right now, Apple Music does not work with Chromecast, so if Apple buys Tidal, there is a chance that it won't work with Chromecast even if they keep the lossless streaming option around.
 
Just finished an interesting test. My Schiit Bifrost Multibit has three inputs. Coax. USB. Optical. I have my CD player going to the Coax input, it's also going to my preamp via RCAs... so I can A/B between the DAC and CD Player's internal DACs (Teac PD-H600) if I want to. I have my MacBookPro running Amarra for Tidal going into the DAC via USB. And I have the Google CCA going into the DAC via optical.

This test is comparing the USB from Amarra/Tidal to Optical from the CCA/Tidal.

I played a few tracks, but the one that got me the most was a cover of Danny Boy done by Charlie Hunter. It's a pretty simple track, for those of you who aren't familiar, Charlie hunter is a contemporary jazz guitarist that plays a guitar with a fanned fretboard and plays lead, and the bassline at the same time. I synced the playback of this track using my iPhone to control the CCA, and my laptop for Amarra. I got them within 1-sec of synced. Using the switch on my DAC I could go back and forth between the two. The CCA did quite well. But overall there was a noticeable truncation of the lower notes. The sub-bass notes that you kinda feel and really round out the sound of the bass were lacking from the CCA. Those overtones and hermonics were lessened. The sound wasn't as full, and the bass notes sounded more one-note... kinda fart-like. :) The MBP/Amarra tidal stream was more fully fleshed out. There was a richness to it that the CCA lacked. Those low bass notes I could feel, softly in my sofa and floor. And the tone of the bass notes and regular guitar plucks were more natural with the MBP/Amarra.

The CCA was still enjoyable. For my use of multiroom, and letting other people stream their music quickly, it's still awesome for $35... but I wouldn't use it for critical listening or a primary source. Even with an external DAC.
 
If you have the Chromecast hooked up to your DAC over optical, isn't it just passing the data on directly to the DAC? I don't think you're hearing the Chromecast at all.

I may be wrong, but I suspect the differences you're hearing are not Chromecast vs Macbook, as your DAC is getting the same digital bits from both. Instead, I think you're hearing the difference between the processing that Amarra is doing vs a straight signal from Tidal. A better test would be to run Tidal from your browser on your Macbook vs Tidal from the Chromecast. Then you would eliminate any processing. I suspect the differences would be inaudible.
 
If you have the Chromecast hooked up to your DAC over optical, isn't it just passing the data on directly to the DAC? I don't think you're hearing the Chromecast at all.

I may be wrong, but I suspect the differences you're hearing are not Chromecast vs Macbook, as your DAC is getting the same digital bits from both. Instead, I think you're hearing the difference between the processing that Amarra is doing vs a straight signal from Tidal. A better test would be to run Tidal from your browser on your Macbook vs Tidal from the Chromecast. Then you would eliminate any processing. I suspect the differences would be inaudible.

Yeah... You'd think that, but the longer I am involved with digital sources of different types the more I am questioning normal logic. Like different USB cables and optical cables shouldn't make a difference... But my ears tell me otherwise.

My system is pretty revealing. And I've gotten pretty good at listening to micro details to hear the difference. Things a casual listener wouldn't pick up on for sure.

I'm pretty sure what I'm hearing is a jitter issue or the like. Read this...

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2...ist-intended-google-chromecast-audio-w-tidal/

Apparently I need to invest in a reclocker for thr CCA.

Also, thr Amarra for Tidal software is well reviewed and it's pretty much accepted that it's superior to the Tidal stock desktop app and better than browser streaming. Read this...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/660-amarra-tidal-review/

Or this one...

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2...al-a-better-streaming-sound-for-os-x-windows/

I really want Tidal to be able to be a serious player in my system for a while. I'm willing to make the investment to maximize this little $20/mo service.

- Woody
 
Sure, could be jitter. Still might be fun to just make the comparison without Amarra in the mix. That way you'd know if it was the Chromecast or Amarra making the difference.

I've heard good things about Amarra. My problem is that I refuse to have the complexity of a computer in my setup. I only stream Tidal from my iPhone. And although Amarra makes a remote app for the iPhone, it only controls Amarra on a computer. It doesn't run a full Amarra app on the iPhone.
 
Sure, could be jitter. Still might be fun to just make the comparison without Amarra in the mix. That way you'd know if it was the Chromecast or Amarra making the difference.

I've heard good things about Amarra. My problem is that I refuse to have the complexity of a computer in my setup. I only stream Tidal from my iPhone. And although Amarra makes a remote app for the iPhone, it only controls Amarra on a computer. It doesn't run a full Amarra app on the iPhone.

True. I need to try that. Maybe this weekend.

- Woody
 
Great thread on this, by the way has anyone had a problem logging into Tidal this evening? I never ever have a problem but tonight its a no go... I use Google for the Premium service. Thanks AL
 
Great thread on this, by the way has anyone had a problem logging into Tidal this evening? I never ever have a problem but tonight its a no go... I use Google for the Premium service. Thanks AL

No problems this AM, on since since about 4:30.
 
Thanks olson, Tidal doesnt respond, even tried to reset password and no info on how to in my regular inbox. I had my password stored so I could easily log in, cant log in at all....sigh....
 
Finally received a reply from Tidal, someone got into my acct...Tidal fixed it and all is well. Be vewy vewy careful on clicking on links in AK and elsewhere! :) Al
 
Finally received a reply from Tidal, someone got into my acct...Tidal fixed it and all is well. Be vewy vewy careful on clicking on links in AK and elsewhere! :) Al
That's disturbing. I've been rethinking my singular reliance on AirPlay /AppleMusic. AM causes a huge drain on phone battery charge which will likely impact battery life. CCA OTOH does not. I use an older iPhone that is no longer on plan to cast AM. I don't use my 6S or iPad for AppleMusic. A service like Tidal over CCA may be the ultimate solution... If it stays in business.
 
I use an older iPhone that is no longer on plan to cast AM. I don't use my 6S or iPad for AppleMusic.
What do you mean by the statement above? I haven't heard anything about Apple dropping AM or AirPlay from older phones.
 
Hi Rocky, I emailed them again this evening and all is still not well...I can log in with the password Tidal gave me but the username is aamanahed in the UK. He even changed my email address to his. I cut off Paypal to Tidal till they fix this...Again, be careful on clicking those links in AK, I had the same problem with Spotify 8 months ago. I have McAfee for virus stuff. Hope I didn't hijack the thread! Didn't mean to.........AL
I don't understand how clicking on a link in AK can end up giving your username and password for Tidal to someone else. Please elaborate on what you clicked on and how that ended up giving your password to someone.

As for Tidal, if you can log in with that username, I would change it back to your name, change the password, and change the email back to what it needs to be. At that point, I would expect that aamanahed would be locked out....unless, of course, whatever he used to access the account is still on your computer.
 
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