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Ifi Zen Stream with Tidal Connect Frustration

I’ve been streaming with my modest systems for a few years using Tidal and others. I have 2 systems in different homes using LS50 Wireless and Cambridge/Dynaudio systems. My previous streamers were Sonos Connect and Bluesound Node 2i. The KEF system has a built in Dac accepting Toslink and the other system is using a Schiit Multibit Dac. In an effort to upgrade sound quality I picked up a used Ifi Zen Stream. I also have a LPS on order but already hear a noticeable improvement in sound quality with fuller sound and less sibilance. 
 

My problem is the frustrating process of using the Zen Stream to stream via the Tidal Connect interface. My process started out with numerous resets of the ZS and an eventual Windows OS reset on the ZS. After that I believe the ZS is working as designed. Unfortunately playing music for an evening is an unpleasant experience due to the buggy Tidal Connect/ZS interface. Every time I try to skip a track or start a new piece of music the ZS stops sending a signal to my Dac (the speed color light goes out). If I go into the Tidal app output selection I see the ZS selected and the eq activity indicator showing it’s playing. This happens almost every time I try to navigate to different music. I can sometimes get it to start playing again by stopping play in Tidal and jumping back and forth between the iPad and ZS outputs. I can spend more time trying to restart music than listening.  Not how I want to spend my evenings. 
 

Can anyone explain to me what I may be doing to cause this, or is this just inherent in the poorly integrated Tidal/ZS interface and lack of full native support of Tidal in the ZS?  I’d really like to understand how to get this working since I like the sound quality. I have tickets open with Ifi but no clear explanation so far. 
 

Please do not respond with recommendations of other streamers. I’m not able to spend thousands on this and will live with my BS Node if the ZS isn’t workable. 
 

Hoping someone out there has the simple solution…..

buckycyo
buckycyo OP
13 posts
 

Big oversight in my op description…. I’m wired to my router by Ethernet so it’s not a WiFi issue. The interface is a convoluted mess. I’ve got my iPad connected to the ZS using the Ifi.local network connection for setup, which seems solid. Then I’m using the iPad Tidal app, which seems pretty solid, to select music. The tricky part, where the problem seems to reside, is in the Tidal Connect app process where you start playing music on your iPad, then select an alternative destination. This music output icon brings up all the connected network devices… in this case including the ZS. Just doesn’t reliably connect or stay connected when you navigate to new music…

I’ve already accepted the likelihood that I’ll have to eat this purchase, since I’d be reluctant to sell it on.  I do have to say that Ifi support has responded to tickets within a day… sometimes with useful suggestions. But I suspect the Tidal Connect to ZS interface is just ill-conceived and not ready for consumer use. 
 

Any suggestions are much appreciated. Stunningly bad interface for a product with so much potential. 

buckycyo OP
13 posts
 

In researching this further, it appears that the Tidal Connect app is problematic in general. Web chatter about it is not flattering and offers no real definitive solutions. So it may not be that the root problem was created by ifi.  HOWEVER, ifi is marketing the ZS product as supporting Tidal when it relies on a flawed interface.  

Based on my experience (and mine alone) it is very misleading to promote the ZS as supporting Tidal streaming. It’s still quite possible I’m just not using the interface correctly.  I’d love to hear that there’s a simple solution to make it work smoothly.

But my current situation is that I own a product that does not reliably do what it claims. It’s a shame, because the ZS sounds very good when you can get it to work. YMMV…

buckycyo OP
13 posts
 

PROBLEM SOLVED !

I wanted to share my experience and solution in case anyone else has this problem.  The bottom line is DON'T USE AN IPAD WITH TIDAL CONNECT !

The tidal app for ipad is distinct from the iphone or Android apps.  The ipad app does not show the ZS as an direct output device, so it was using airplay to connect Tidal to the ZS.  This bypasses the native ZS connection to Tidal and causes myriad issues with navigation, drops, etc... Not to mention lower SQ.

After messing up my router fooling with static DNS addresses, and 2 weeks of other misguided efforts, I'm now successfully using the ZS and enjoying the nice SQ.  Not a slick interface, but it now WORKS.

Thanks to all (and ifi, in spite of criticisms of their support) offering their help 

soix
9,456 posts
 

Thanks so much for the follow up, and I’ll have to revisit this now myself. Did iFi actually figure this out or did you figure it out some other way? Just curious cause they didn’t do squat for my very similar problem with Qobuz and mConnect+. Anyway, congrats on getting this very annoying problem sorted, and a pox upon Tidal for releasing an app that doesn’t work properly with an iPad — like I needed yet another reason to dislike Tidal!

buckycyo OP
13 posts
 

Last word on this. The iPad is now working.  My iPad settings showed that the Tidal App did not have access to the local network, which is where the ZenStrea was connected.  Sooooo…. My bad. Problem solved with input from ifi support and this link….

 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tidal-connect-not-showing-on-ipad

thanks again to all. 

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