![]() ![]() *Footnote #1: Based on the assumption that anything other than a bit-perfect stream would not illuminate the MQA authentication light. This post is merely a heads-up that Tidal’s bit-perfect game is afoot. Neither do we know if Tidal plans to introduce bit-perfect playback to Android TV OS. Nor do we know when (or if) Qobuz or Apple Music will follow suit. There is no word yet on how far this Tidal app update has travelled, to which devices or how long users can expect to wait to get their fill. Isn’t this exactly why some are so determined to make hi-res audio work in their system? Whether this fare-thee-well makes an obvious audible difference to CD-quality audio remains debatable but sweating the small stuff is all part of the hifi game for many enthusiasts. Foobar with the right settings can do both the basic bitperfect that bypasses the Windows mixer and also the true bitperfect that doesnt alter any bits on the way to the DAC. Tidal’s bit-perfect app also means that CD-quality audio leaves the Android phone’s USB socket at 44.1kHz. For true bitperfect you cannot do any DSP (EQ, volume normalization, DSP, resampling, upsampling, or anything that alters the bits) or software volume control. Of course, today’s story isn’t only about hi-res audio. Or perhaps this wrinkle is specific to the LG V40 because cutting over to an Essential PH-1 smartphone (RIP), we do get asked if we want to allow Tidal access to the DragonFly DAC and we do see its LED glow purple when we punch in a track from Tidal’s Masters. Perhaps the interceding DragonTail USB-C to USB-A adapter causes the Tidal app not to properly identify the Cobalt? Tidal doesn’t even pop-up to ask if we want to allow it access to the Cobalt. Tidal’s bit-perfect playback also works with the LG V40 and the THX Onyx but – oddly – not the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt. Clicking OK and punching in an MQA stream has the HELM Bolt DAC’s LED turn purple (where previously it remained blue) for visual confirmation that the 48kHz (or 44.1kHz) stream has travelled from Tidal app to Bolt without the Android OS running interference so that the DAC can unfold at will. We know this because “Allow Tidal to access HELM MQA?” pops up on this commentator’s LG V40 (RIP) when the HELM Bolt is connected. The Norwegian-based streaming service has begun rolling out an update to its Android app that allows it to communicate bit-perfectly with any connected USB DAC, thus sidestepping the host OS’s resampling code. Seeing this problem and (finally) tackling it head-on is Tidal. ![]() UAPP integrates Tidal and Qobuz but unlike Qobuz and Tidal’s native apps, it doesn’t accommodate offline content. One common workaround is the third-party music player app USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) that loads in its own USB driver to talk directly to the connected USB DAC, thus avoiding Android’s resampling engine. In digital audiophile parlance, this means Android OS is not ‘bit-perfect’ with USB DACs. Android’s resampling even recooks CD-quality (44.1kHz) streams, upsampling them to 48kHz. A 48kHz stream isn’t passed through untouched but (instead) resampled to 48kHz. A 192kHz stream will be downsampled to 48kHz. Thad said, the whole sound stage improvement of well done computer based music servers may be the real deal.Android smartphone users seeking to board the hi-res audio train via Tidal, Qobuz or Apple Music must mind the gap: Android OS resamples digital audio heading out of its USB port to 48kHz. But I heard what I heard and I had no clue before the fact what I was listening to. Was it a perfect blind test? Probably not. 000000001db -but then again they could have been). (no, they may not have been level matched to within. But I picked this combo out every time blind. I'm not a believer in wire differences, power cord differences, nor any of the "crap" that is sold as high end audio (I have no strong feelings on this subject ). It turned out to be the Music Vault into the Scarlatti stack. I could tell every time when that combination played (though I had no idea what I was listening to). Between the three I thought I was listening to, I struggled to hear much, if any difference, but every once in a while, I would hear one of the combinations that not only had a larger sound stage but the spaces between the instruments was much more defined. There were four combinations I was listening too, but thought I was listening to three: Complete dCS Paganini Stack, complete dCS Scarlatti stack, my Qsonix music server into the Scarlatti DAC and (the unknown to me at the time), a Sound Science Music Vault Music Server (The Diamond) into the Scarlatti Stack. While this was not an Apple/Amarra test, the soundstage issue is correct for what I heard when listening to a well done music server for the first time.Īs I have stated elsewhere, a number of months ago, I was subjected to a blind test I did not know I was taking. ![]()
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