What is the most common cause of dropouts when streaming Tidal?


Sometimes when streaming Tidal on my Bluesound Node 2 I will experience audible dropouts in the music...sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes longer. I can go for days and never experience a dropout and then for a period of 15 min or so they frequent. I contacted Bluesound support and they requested a log file, which I sent them. They saw no indication of a problem on their end and suggested I contact Tidal. Tidal support directed me to Bluesound. When I told them I had already discussed this with Bluesound they suggested it might be my ISP. Of course, everything from their end also looked good and I had not been having any other Internet connectivity issues. My high speed Internet speed is around 48mbps. My Bluesound is connected via Ethernet and I have no dropout issues when playing music from my NAS. Just wondering if anyone else has run into this issue and if so how/if you were able to resolve it.  BTW, I stream CD and MQA quality.
randyhat

Showing 2 responses by dlcockrum

Hi randyhat,

Been there but with my Aurender (not WiFI). This may help with troubleshooting:

1) Run a speed test on your particular provider’s internet service when the problem occurs using a spare Ethernet output from your router/modem. IME, you need 20Mbps consistently to avoid occasional drop outs with Tidal, especially MQA files.
2) If your Bluesound generates a playlist on your iPad/whatever, check how long it is when the problem occurs. Excessively long playlists cause this issue with my Aurender (might be caused by limited memory of my iPad? but I cannot understand why that would matter). Just clear the playlist occasionally and see if this helps.
3) My experience with Aurender is that they will blame everything else but the unit if you are using aftermarket cables, and in my case, another manufacturer’s DAC. Even my TOTL latest Motorola dual band router/modem was blamed at one point (I am using Ethernet connection also! lol). My experience is that the issues resided within the Aurender App/iPad interface. Just for grins, try swapping in the cables provided with the unit (Aurender provides none) if you are using aftermarket cables. At least that will clear their minds about such nonsense and maybe you will actually get some real help with solving the issue..
4) Tidal "help" is worse than useless.
5) Keep thinking through possible causes and experiment on your own as it seems that nobody knows why - these devices are just computers after all. Can you say "Reboot"?

Hope at least some of this is helpful.

Dave
My Xfinity ISP tests at 120 Mbps via Ethernet and this still happens sometimes as described above, albeit much less frequently since moving my router/modem to my listening room with 1m Ethernet cable between my router/modem (Motorola MG7550) and Aurender. No other devices (fed through WiFi) from same router/modem ever have a problem, even while my computer audio front end acts up  streaming Tidal. 

????

Dave