Schiit Modius + A30 pro stack clipping in Tidal

[AhmadSharaff]

Hey guys , kinda new to this hobby and glad to see many helpful and knowledgeable people in this forum. I've just subscribed to tidal as my main source of hi-res music. My audio gear is Schiit Modius (DAC) stacked to A30 pro (AMP) via BAl in/out XLR , driving a Hifiman Ananda. Windows audio set at 24 bit , 44.1khz.

With exclusive mode turned off , Peace APO is detecting constant clipping while having the "Forced Volume" feature On and "Volume normalization" turned off.

When Exclusive mode is turned on , of course Peace APO would not work anymore but i believe it still clips because Exclusive mode also :
1. Triggers Forced Volume on by default
2. Prevent Volume Normalization from taking effect.

I can hear things get grainy and muddy when i turn on exclusive mode. It feels like Exclusive mode boost the volume or messes with the pre-amp/gain levels where 11 o clock on my A30 pro is damn hell loud.

Few things i could do now to prevent the clipping is not using Exclusive mode of course , and sort to below :

1. Having volume normalization turned on while forced volume turned on

Or
2.Having forced volume turned off , reducing volume in the tidal desktop interface (50%-75%).

Just a point to note that previously , my DAC/AMP stack was interconnected via RCA and never had this issue. I recently change to XLR interconnect to make use of the BAL in/out. Is this a problem?

Please help as i feels like such a waste of my investments if cant use exclusive mode

 

[Eldgrim]

What stream quality setting are you using in Tidal?

 

[AhmadSharaff]

What stream quality setting are you using in Tidal?

Master Quality - This is what i subscribed for.

 

[Eldgrim]

Master Quality - This is what i subscribed for.

Try Hifi quality instead and see if it registers clipping. It could give you a better experience since Master Quality is not better, just different than Hifi Quality, and the fact that the Modius does not support MQA unfolding.

Also try to play a local 44kHz FLAC file and see if it registers any digital clipping. Might be an issue with Tidal and not your gear. I have often found that lossy streaming services like Tidal and Spotify introduce digital clipping, while lossless streaming like Qobuz or just local FLAC files have no issues at all on the same setup.

 

[AhmadSharaff]

Try Hifi quality instead and see if it registers clipping. It could give you a better experience since Master Quality is not better, just different than Hifi Quality, and the fact that the Modius does not support MQA unfolding.

Also try to play a local 44kHz FLAC file and see if it registers any digital clipping. Might be an issue with Tidal and not your gear. I have often found that lossy streaming services like Tidal and Spotify introduce digital clipping, while lossless streaming like Qobuz or just local FLAC files have no issues at all on the same setup.

Thank you so much for your guidance. I've dropped the stream quality to Hi-Fi and no longer seeing clipping in Peace APO with Forced Volume on and Normalization off :

I believe this would apply to "Exclusive Mode" as well. However , the peak value meter sometimes is very close to a 100%. In terms of sound quality , i still feel its a loud/little muddy somewhat like the pre-amp is boosted. I downloaded Orban Loudness meter just to cross check and this is how it looks like :

Im still reading up on how to interprete these I dont see clipping on local FLAC files , thats good news . Seems like exclusive mode is somewhat broken in tidal . Is there a disadvantage using a DAC without vol control in situations like this ?

 

[aandres_gm]

If you're using asio or wasapi exclusive, then no apo config will affect the signal at all.

 

[Eldgrim]

However , the peak value meter sometimes is very close to a 100%. In terms of sound quality , i still feel its a loud/little muddy somewhat like the pre-amp is boosted.

Close to a 100% is fine. As for the muddy sound, could be something with the mastering of the song or Tidals streaming technology. Have you tried the same song on a different service like Qobuz or a local FLAC file and observered if it sounds different than on Tidal? Can't help you out with Orban, unfortunately.

In my own experience with Tidal, I found that exclusive mode increased the volume compared to regular and that regardless of mode that certain songs sounded different than on Qobuz, Spotify or local FLAC that I had. Not necessarily worse, but just different like they were remastered even if the album name did not indicate it.

 

[AhmadSharaff]

Close to a 100% is fine. As for the muddy sound, could be something with the mastering of the song or Tidals streaming technology. Have you tried the same song on a different service like Qobuz or a local FLAC file and observered if it sounds different than on Tidal? Can't help you out with Orban, unfortunately.

In my own experience with Tidal, I found that exclusive mode increased the volume compared to regular and that regardless of mode that certain songs sounded different than on Qobuz, Spotify or local FLAC that I had. Not necessarily worse, but just different like they were remastered even if the album name did not indicate it.

Tracks i download has sound pretty ok, also tested with FLAC on Youtube and no issue. Yes i agree, exclusive mode makes everything loud . I wish it was in a good way in my case . Been cracking my head on this for the past few days , and i ended up getting Roon. Roon fortunately allows to control gain/Volume via DSP in exclusive mode :