TIDAL - Media Loading Slowly

Hi did you happen to resolve the issue of Tidal media loading slowly? I am also having the same issue regardless of whether I upsample or run red book from Tidal via Roon. Tidal’s app runs smoothly…

Hi @SHOAIB_AHMED1,

I’ve split off your post into it’s own thread. So we can better assist you, please provide a brief description of your current setup using this link as a guide.

Make sure to describe your network configuration/topology, including any networking hardware currently in use, so we can have a clear understanding of how your devices are communicating.

Does local library content play as expected?

Thanks @noris.

Please see below…

My ROCK is an i5 (2nd Gen) with 8GB RAM with SSD connected via LAN cable to my Router directly (no switches etc.) - easily runs DSD256 at 2.5x consistently and DSD128 at 4.4x when i directly connect a DAC to it via USB (See pic).

Other than the directly connected DAC, I am also streaming Tidal via Roon in DSD256/128 on another Zone PC via a stable 5GHz WIFI.

My audio devices include:

  1. DAC Connected to a IFI HIP DAC; and
  2. A SMSL M500 DAC connected to the zone PC.

I donot have any music library…only streaming Tidal HiFi. My ISP speed is 100Mbps.

The Problem: I am having constant ‘Tidal Media is loading slowly’ error (see pic) on my zone PC but this problem is not there with the DAC connected directly to the ROCK with all DSPs ON (see Mobile screen shot)…so I know its not a Tidal/ISP speed or ROCK processing power issue. I initially thought it was networking problem but then with a separate windows install on the same SSD in the ROCK, I tested the network throughput and consistency of data transfer (see Pic) between the ROCK PC (when it was having windows installed) and the Zone PC by transferring a large file from ROCK PC to Zone PC (see pic) and it was flawless and quite more than the throughput requirement of the DSD256/128 (i.e. ~22.5Mbps/11.5Mbps.)

When it works (very rarely), I can see that my ROCK is processing at 2.4x as shown on my Zone PC before it gives me the said error. All in all, I cant stream any sort of DSD on my Zone PC.

Now, I tested by turning off all DSP and I still have occasional dropouts (see 2nd error pic). Can you put things in diagnostic mode and check once and for all whats the reason for my Zone PC to have said error. I am putting Pics to all references below.

ROCK Connected DAC Performance:

Zone PC Error with DSP ON:

Zone PC error with all DSP OFF:

Data transfer consistency between my ROCK PC (when it was in Windows mode) and the Zone PC on same Wireless LAN:

Hi @SHOAIB_AHMED1,

Thank you for sharing those screenshots!

It sounds like this issue only impacts the Zone PC and devices attached to the Zone PC, is that correct? Does the behavior also occur when you try to play to “System Output” on the Zone PC?

Does the issue go away if you try to temporarily connect the Zone PC via Ethernet?

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply. Between then and now, Ive bought a i5 4th Gen Desktop and installed ROCK as well as upgraded by Wireless LAN to AC 5GHz and and all is working with streaming DSD512 properly now.

I have another question about adding Albums to Library, If I add an Album, all the tracks in that album are added to my favourite tracks…I dont want that…I just want the Album to appear in my Albums without corresponding loads of tracks added to my “Tracks” or Favourites like you ca n do in Tidal for example.

Please feel free to let me know if I need to ask this question in another thread…

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Hi @SHOAIB_AHMED1,

Can you please clarify what you are referring to here, possibly with a few screenshots of what you’re seeing on your end?

When you add an album to Roon it should favorite the album, and not the tracks. The tracks, however, will still appear under the track browser because the tracks are now part of your library. Does this help answer your question?

Hi @noris

I’ve got bigger problems with Roon now unfortunately and it’s pending resolution with no response from support or Dylan for 2 days now. Don’t know if it takes this long for processing or diagnosing server logs which I provided 2 days ago…

Anyways, plz see: Roon Radio limited to Library after adding Qobuz to my existing Tidal service in Roon

All those fancies above can wait untill I am able to actually run Roon properly at all…

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Hi @SHOAIB_AHMED1,

Apologies for the delay due to the holidays, I see that Dylan suggested trying to use a fresh database in the other thread to investigate the issues further. Please let us know if this suggestion helps!

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Hi @noris

Fingers crossed, still trying to resolve as I already did do a brand new installation of ROCK after reformatting the SSD and still faced the same issues. It started after I logged into Qobuz in addition to Tidal and it doesnt seem to go away…anyways, sorting it out with Dylan now.

Hi @noris

I wanted to explain my issue with the favoriting process. When I favorite an album from within the Tidal App or from Roon, the entire album set of tracks are added to the “Tracks” as you mentioned. But the issue is that I want to go back and listen to my favorite songs from within Roon - the ones I pressed a heart button on within Tidal app and that appear as my favorites in Tidal. The issue arises when I go to Tidal tab in Roon and press the Favorites button…there the Tidal Favorites are listed with no option for me to sort them by date added…so if I wanted to go and listen to a song I added yesterday as my favorites…what I had to do was to go to “tracks” tab and there I had to sort by date added to find the recently added songs.

If I had an option to sort my Tidal Favs under the Tidal Tab I wouldnt bother whatever is added to the "Tracks’ tab. If I add something in Tidal app as Fav…its not hearted in Roon automatically so at some point I have to go to Tracks library and locate that song and press Heart in Roon to be able to ‘Focus’ on hearted songs in Roon. When the Library explodes as its adding songs from Fav Albums, its very very hard then.

I hope you understand that having a sorting feature is pretty basic and important for finding the recently added Tidal favs from within the Tidal tab in Roon, else I am missing something pretty basic here…

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Hi @SHOAIB_AHMED1,

Happy New Year and thanks for the feedback here!

I can confirm that this is expected behavior at the present time. Since this is current behavior, I would recommend also posting your suggestion in the Feature Request section of the site.

Our product team and developers keep a close eye on that category, so that’s definitely the best place to propose a change like this and get feedback from the Community. Please let us know in the Feature Request of any improvements you’d like to see here!

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