No longer MQA when using TIDAL

Issues
1

Scenario
Perform the following steps:

  1. switch on Arcam SA30 version 1.41, build 867 is used
  2. start Arcam Music Life iOS app, build 4.1.0 is used
  3. Play MQA track on TIDAL

Actual result
Shows MP3 in Music Life, FLAC in web client, starts with 2800kbps but quickly drops to around 1200kbps. MQA no longer shown on amp panel

Expected result
MQA in Music Life, MQA and I guess around 2800 kbps on web client and MQA on amp

Additional information
It stopped working today. Tidal MQA works on my computer, and the ifi DAC used there shows purple, i.e. MQA so my account is correct and regular FLAC files work as normal. I unplugged the amp and plugged it in again a couple of times.

1 Like
2

We have become aware of an issue resulting in the SA30 reverting to FLAC playback instead of decoded MQA. We believe this is an issue from the streaming service itself, but this is still under investigation by both us and our streaming partner. This is currently affecting all products, regardless of software version.

Playback defaults to 48k FLAC playback when MQA can’t be decoded, which I think matches what you’re experiencing.

MP3 is a bug in MusicLife, which will be addressed in a future update where we show more stream data.

3

MQA works perfectly fine using Roon, so it’s definately something between Airable (i guess this is Arcam’s streaming partner?) and Tidal.

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4

That is interesting to know, thanks.

Yes, nothing has changed at either Airable’s end or our end, so we have passed it up to TIDAL.

5

You can find Roon signal path screenshots from me and Ken in the RC firmware thread.
But when i tried MusicLife it didn’t work (MQA).

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6

image
image1174×472 66.5 KB

out of nowhere? :smiley:

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7

Hooray! Thanks for letting us know, I’ll let Customer Support know the good news.

8

I’m not sure if it’s really “hooray” time :wink:
I’ve seen two users on Polish forums reporting this issue to be intermittent. MQA keeps coming and going since last Friday.
So might be Tidal fixed something, but might also be that it works at the moment. Something to be monitored.

9

No, we’ve had word that the change is being rolled back, so I’ll tentatively “hooray”.

1 Like
10

So that was a change on Tidal side?
Why it didn’t impact all streaming devices in the same way?
Asking just out of curiosity.

11

I’ll update the beta thread with more details.

12

Until this morning the mqa was not working. It started before noon and is working steadily at the moment

1 Like
13

Is this issue resolved? Same thing happened on my SA 30. Plays MQA on ROON, displays MQA on amp’s display.

No MQA display and all MQA files played on Musiclife or mconnect displays 44.1 or 48 without MQA display on amp.

Used to work fine on early May.

14

I have no such problems at my place, I described more in the post below.

15

Seems that the MP3 bug is back after the new update. Exactly the same behaviour as before. And I still miss a lot of features: more detailed info on tracks played, a home button to quickly go back to start screen, and adding albums to favourites.

1 Like
16

Same for me, I have an Arcam ST60 and MQA stopped to work about ten days ago.
i have tried all apps i could think off incl roon but no one off them passed the MQA stream to my DAC.
Tested apps. mconnectLite, BubbleUpnP, MusicLife.4.0.1, Roon.
However when i play downloaded MQA-files from my local network the MQA logo lights upp.

Anyone out there with an Arcam ST60 with the same issue.

17

@Arnjo Again, this is a change on TIDALs end we have no control over. If you install the latest beta code for your SA30, this supports the new method of MQA introspection.

Detailed info on the now playing screen is coming in the future.

If you are running iOS 14, and you’re on the MusicLife beta, you can press and hold the ‘back’ button to get a popup which lets you jump straight back to the home screen.

Albums can be added to favourites from the album detail screen. Press the ‘
’ button in the top right hand side and choose “Add to Home Screen”. We have a feature planned to add albums from a listing view (e.g. top albums), which will be implemented soon.

If you don’t have access to the beta let me know and we can add you.

@Trogge see above. DM me and we can supply you with a beta firmware for your ST60. However Roon should already support the new MQA introspection, as it handles the decoding itself.

1 Like
18

I cant find the DM function. Can you help please?

19

Thank you.

I am very interested in the beta firmware for my ST 60.

If possible, set me up for the beta test program.

Best regards

20

I have 1.62 net 1027. And there is no available update and still MP3.

The long press on back was great. Any more such hidden features?

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