SimpleDumbPilot
Member
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2021
- Messages
- 18
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- 11
Hello ASR folks - long time lurker, first time posting!
I'm interested in using the Node 2i as a streaming receiver for both Tidal and Spotify. To be clear - I understand from amirm's review that the DAC is to be avoided if possible, but the rest of the unit seems pretty legit if you pass the signal off via TOSLINK to an external DAC, which is the plan here.
I have used Tidal in the past (on a Roku Ultra) and was frankly pretty disappointed with the cross device integration - specifically I was thinking they would have features like Spotify Connect, where I can toss my session from device to device, or drive the session on one device using another. For me, without getting too deep into the particulars of my current setup, I found this lack of cross device integration to be a real drag, and I simply found myself using Spotify so much more than Tidal, even though the sound quality is clearly worse. The big must haves for my setup to be practical (which I get from Spotify Connect on my Roku Ultra) is the ability to control the Spotify session on my Roku via either my laptop or phone - both the playback selection AND the volume level. About six months ago I stopped my Tidal subscription, but a buddy of mine the other day pointed out that Tidal has now come out with Tidal Connect (lol at basically stealing the name from Spotify but whatever), which seems to do all the things I'd want:
https://tidal.com/connect
I'm wondering if anyone with a Node 2i has been able to play play around with the Tidal Connect integration, and if they have any feedback. Does it work generally the same as Spotify Connect does? Specifically - If using the Node 2i simply as a streaming receiver (and sending the audio out digitally via the TOSLINK) does changing the volume level on Tidal using Tidal Connect change the volume of the digital signal being sent out of the Node 2i?
In an ideal world, Roku would implement Tidal Connect on their devices, and I'd be able to get what I want with the equipment I already have - but who knows if and when that would happen. Also worth noting - the Node 2i seems to be one of the few devices that ACTUALLY supports MQA streaming from Tidal. I was pretty disappointed researching all this looking at devices from NAD and Cambridge, and finding out that at least for the Cambridge streaming units, they don't actually support MQA!! This, to me, is nuts:
https://techsupport.cambridgeaudio....oes-my-Network-Streamer-support-MQA-playback-
As best as I can tell, they're saying "we support MQA if you plug into the USB port from your computer a source that's MQA quality" - I'd be pretty mad if I spent $1600 on Azur 851N and then found out it can't stream MQA from Tidal. The fact that the Node 2i is one of the cheapest devices that supports Tidal Connect and one of the very few that seems to actually support MQA streaming is pretty impressive to me!
I'm interested in using the Node 2i as a streaming receiver for both Tidal and Spotify. To be clear - I understand from amirm's review that the DAC is to be avoided if possible, but the rest of the unit seems pretty legit if you pass the signal off via TOSLINK to an external DAC, which is the plan here.
I have used Tidal in the past (on a Roku Ultra) and was frankly pretty disappointed with the cross device integration - specifically I was thinking they would have features like Spotify Connect, where I can toss my session from device to device, or drive the session on one device using another. For me, without getting too deep into the particulars of my current setup, I found this lack of cross device integration to be a real drag, and I simply found myself using Spotify so much more than Tidal, even though the sound quality is clearly worse. The big must haves for my setup to be practical (which I get from Spotify Connect on my Roku Ultra) is the ability to control the Spotify session on my Roku via either my laptop or phone - both the playback selection AND the volume level. About six months ago I stopped my Tidal subscription, but a buddy of mine the other day pointed out that Tidal has now come out with Tidal Connect (lol at basically stealing the name from Spotify but whatever), which seems to do all the things I'd want:
https://tidal.com/connect
I'm wondering if anyone with a Node 2i has been able to play play around with the Tidal Connect integration, and if they have any feedback. Does it work generally the same as Spotify Connect does? Specifically - If using the Node 2i simply as a streaming receiver (and sending the audio out digitally via the TOSLINK) does changing the volume level on Tidal using Tidal Connect change the volume of the digital signal being sent out of the Node 2i?
In an ideal world, Roku would implement Tidal Connect on their devices, and I'd be able to get what I want with the equipment I already have - but who knows if and when that would happen. Also worth noting - the Node 2i seems to be one of the few devices that ACTUALLY supports MQA streaming from Tidal. I was pretty disappointed researching all this looking at devices from NAD and Cambridge, and finding out that at least for the Cambridge streaming units, they don't actually support MQA!! This, to me, is nuts:
https://techsupport.cambridgeaudio....oes-my-Network-Streamer-support-MQA-playback-
As best as I can tell, they're saying "we support MQA if you plug into the USB port from your computer a source that's MQA quality" - I'd be pretty mad if I spent $1600 on Azur 851N and then found out it can't stream MQA from Tidal. The fact that the Node 2i is one of the cheapest devices that supports Tidal Connect and one of the very few that seems to actually support MQA streaming is pretty impressive to me!