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Improving streaming SQ

I have an Aurender A10 and stream Tidal and Qobuz.  I'm looking for an easy and cost effective way to to improve streaming sound quality as it seems to fall a little short of my ripped CD's.  Artistic Fidelity makes an ethernet galvanic isolator (GISO GB) that plugs in between the CAT 6 cable and the Aurender.  I'm wondering if any one has tried this or a similar product and what your experience was.  I don't think this product is available in the USA, but I can get one shipped from Germany for 299 euros.  As always, any and all comments are appreciated!
shoff
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
Good thing to know about Tidal. I have been paying the premium price for Tidal for quite awhile. I shut this switch off too, but also noticed I had my streaming set for the "HI-Fi" mode and not the "Masters" selection. I hadn't realized it till I looked in the settings. This is my fault and should have checked it sooner. The sound with these two simple changes improved the sound quality pretty dramatically. Lesson learned.....
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
Mr-m.
I am on Tidal premium too but do not have a "masters" streaming option showing?
Just normal, high and hifi.
gdnrbob
4,444 posts
 
@uberwaltz,
I don't think there is a 'Masters' streaming option from the list.
If I do play a Masters album, my DAC shows that the file is in high resolution.
Bob
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
Bob
I know I do not see a Masters streaming option but Mr-M posted that they did so wondered what if anything I was missing?
I must state that I access Tidal via an android app, wonder if anything more to be seen on a desktop app?
shoff OP
133 posts
 
I started this thread so I thought I should chime in.  I access Tidal thru my Aurender A10's Conductor app and stream fully decoded MQA files with my $19.99 subscription.  When I checked my Tidal subscription on my iMac I found that it was set to "Hi-FI" not "Masters" so I changed it.  I can't tell a particle of difference.  Prior to the change both the window on the A10 and the display on the Conductor app showed 24bit/48,96,188,192, or 352khz depending on the track.  It still shows the same thing and sounds the same so, for me, moving the button to "Masters" did not improve anything.

 In settings though, I was able to find a tab under "Sound" called "Sound Output".  It has two choices, "Default built-in output" or "Built-in output".  If you click on Built-in output, you can enable/disable 3 features: Exclusive Mode, Force Volume (which I assume is the volume normalization), and Passthrough MQA.

The text under Exclusive Mode reads:"With Exclusive Mode, Tidal has exclusive use of the audio device.  This option only has effect for HiFi and Master playback"  Does anyone know what this means?  Also, I wonder if disabling MQA decoding has any effect on SQ for those without MQA DAC's?"
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