Tidal to marantz 6011

[linnasak]

Hi

Aquired one of these for our office setup, initially connected to laptop and tidal via Bluetooth, but get interference with Bluetooth mouse. Now 6011 and laptop connected to same router by Ethernet, hence can I output to 6011 by this wired network connection.

Using windows 10 on a i7 high spec laptop with latest tidal desktop app. So ideally wanted to use Masters quality as have premium level subscription.

Anyone succeeded at this or what is best connection method?

Kevin

 

[larkone]

Buy a Chromecast Audio (CCA) for £25 Google Chromecast Audio £24.95 - Free Delivery, connect to an optical input on the Marantz (so you use the Marantz's DAC not the CCA DAC) and stream directly from the tidal app. Job done.
Chromecast

 

[Cebolla]

I suspect the OP wants to network stream the software decoded MQA audio from the TIDAL masters tracks. The only TIDAL app that has the MQA software decoder is the (Windows or Mac) TIDAL Desktop app, which AFAIK doesn't have Google Cast support.

Also, (for non MQA masters tracks) the Marantz 6011 is a UPnP/DLNA streamer, so no need for the CCA if the OP uses a TIDAL supporting UPnP/DLNA controller app, eg the BubbleUPnP Android app.

 

[Cebolla]

Using windows 10 on a i7 high spec laptop with latest tidal desktop app. So ideally wanted to use Masters quality as have premium level subscription.

Hi Kevin,

By "wanted to use Masters quality", do you mean:
actually use the TIDAL Desktop app to software decode the MQA Masters tracks (ie to get the first 'unfold' to 24/88.2kHz or 24/96kHz),
or not MQA software decode and just passthrough the MQA Masters tracks (ie keeping them undecoded at 24/44.1kHz or 24/48kHz),
or even, not bother with the actual MQA masters tracks at all, but still use the lossless HiFi FLAC tracks at 16/44.1kHz?

John

 

[linnasak]

Hi Kevin,

By "wanted to use Masters quality", do you mean:
actually use the TIDAL Desktop app to software decode the MQA Masters tracks (ie to get the first 'unfold' to 24/88.2kHz or 24/96kHz),
or not MQA software decode and just passthrough the MQA Masters tracks (ie keeping them undecoded at 24/44.1kHz or 24/48kHz),
or even, not bother with the actual MQA masters tracks at all, but still use the lossless HiFi FLAC tracks at 16/44.1kHz?

John

Just after best sound quality from tidal. Currently using iPhone tidal app via airplay, but seems shame when I have masters on the desktop app.

Kevin

 

[linnasak]

Hi

Managed to install the windows 10 media player extras today on laptop (laptop had business windows 10 installed). Setup SR6011 as other device. Then streamed flac files by right clicking on files / folder and selecting "cast to device". Then plays across network to SR6011, so part success!

Can't find way of getting tidal to "cast to device" though. Is this same reason chrome cast is not a solution. Perhaps need to wait for tidal update. Is there software solution to get a "sound device" to "cast to device".

Kevin

 

[Cebolla]

For "best sound quality" what you are looking for is bit perfect sound capture and then network streaming the captured audio via UPnP/DLNA, which the 6011 supports. This can be done, but the problem is TIDAL masters tracks decoded by the TIDAL desktop app vary, ie, they can be either 24/88.2 kHz or 24/96kHz and the TIDAL desktop app doesn't even tell you which one it's outputting.

Unfortunately, the only method to do any of this currently requires you to manually find out and set the capture bit depth and sample rate to match, in various places. For further info see my posts on the subject on page 2 of the 'Streaming mqa using tidal' thread, starting with this post:
Streaming mqa using tidal....
Ignore any parts mentioning the Chromecast Audio and substitute the Marantz 6011 for the Pioneer N-50. Don't expect it to be straight forward!

If it's just a bit too klunky for you, why don't you just connect the laptop to output the audio to the 6011 directly via HDMI cable, instead of trying to find a 'best sound quality' solution via network streaming? Just configure the TIDAL Desktop app to output to the HDMI Windows audio device, with Use Exclusive Mode & Force Volume set and PassThrough MQA not set.

BTW, there is the alternative of easily network streaming TIDAL Hi-Fi FLAC tracks at lossless CD quality 16/44.1kHz, eg, by just using the BubbleUPnP Android controller app with the 6011 - the TIDAL desktop app is not used at all in that case.

 

[Paul Selwood]

I use a program called TuneBlade, which uses AIRPLAY. Hope this helps.

 

[Cebolla]

Presumably, you are recommending not bothering with "best sound quality", since AirPlay streams audio (using the ALAC codec) over the network at a fixed lossless cd resolution of 16/44.1kHz.