Thread: Does anyone use OFFLINE mode in either Tidal or Qobuz?

A couple of friends and I were passing around an article stating that you were not really experiencing streaming properly until you enabled and used offline mode.

I agree to a point and it’s like streaming from a NAS, storage device or computer.

The article was light on facts.

I’ve never directly compared the streams but I thought even my online streaming sounds really good.

Thoughts?

I have not but it seems the only way you'd be able to do that is download to phone or tablet, then playing from those would have limited options that would be inferior to just streaming. I'm far from being the expert though.

I am not aware of any way to play offline with my Aurender and I would think they, as well as similar, would provide a way to receive the best signal. Or, at least make you aware of the best way. Aurender does have a Q though so maybe the music is loaded before playing which is the same as offline playback. I am able to fast forward and rewind a song from Tidal.

Also, if offline was the best way that would defeat the purpose of streming and just go to downloads.

OK that's my random thoughts, LOL

I have a selection of albums downloaded for use on airplanes.


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Are you guys saying that for Tidal and other streaming services that you can download an album? If so then how many albums can you download; 10, 100 or as many as you can put on your hard drive?

I’ve read there’s a 10,000 song limit, but I’m not 100% sure.

There are limitations related to the downloads though.

For one, you need to have an active subscription. And the music is also downloaded within the app. So you cannot move them somewhere else, e.g. your NAS or something.


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I use it to download a limited number of favorite albums or tracks to my phone, which I can then listen to in the car without burning data. And since we have a single-use plan, it means someone can listen "live" at home or in the other car while I'm offline. Not a frequently used thing, but I appreciate that it's there. And of course for travel (airplanes or data-roaming) it's quite nice.

Just one example of a method : Tidal OFFLINE, seems to be for smartphones. https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/...yback-0180357/

Originally Posted by BlueFox

Are you guys saying that for Tidal and other streaming services that you can download an album? If so then how many albums can you download; 10, 100 or as many as you can put on your hard drive?

With your smartphone Tidal app only. Not with Lumin or typical streamers.

Those downloads are playable only when your streaming service subscription remains valid.

Hi Peter, when streaming Tidal from Lumin does the unit download the song before playing it, or buffers a portion?

The article says that playing the music file offline is superior to streaming it.

Originally Posted by wklie

With your smartphone Tidal app only. Not with Lumin or typical streamers.

Those downloads are playable only when your streaming service subscription remains valid.

Originally Posted by JCS123

Mr. Peabody, in which article does it say that playing the music file offline is superior to streaming it? Thanks.

The Best Way to Listen to Tidal Is Not With Expensive Hifi Equipment | by #hope | The Startup | Feb, 2021 | Medium



The Definitive Guide on how to listen to Tidal at the highest possible quality without popping, distortion or interruptions | by #hope | Medium

Couldn’t I just use Tidal Offline from a Macintosh or Windows computer hooked up via usb to my DAC ?

If offline is offered on the computer ap that would seem to be a good option.

Originally Posted by joeinid

Couldn’t I just use Tidal Offline from a Macintosh or Windows computer hooked up via usb to my DAC ?

Originally Posted by Alkyogre

There is a very easy way to store your cds in the memory of an intel nuc with Roon rock installed. This one works on the high models with an extra harddisc or SSD installed

Buy an external dvd/cd player with USB connection, hook it to your nuc, put your cd inside and Rock starts ripping automatically to the second harddisc. And there it is: your cd stored on Roon for offline usage

But that's not streaming - just ripping your own CDs and playing from a hard drive.

The question is about streaming from Tidal or Qobuz. Now as I iunderstand it, you can't stream offline any more than you can contribute to this forum. Offline means no internet connection, either from broadband, wi-fi or using data from your phone service provider.

I was unaware that you can record music that is streamed from Tidal or Qobuz - surely it's totally illegal as the artists get paid (next to nothing) for their streamed music each time it's streamed. If we just recorded it and never stramed it subsequently, the artists would get next to nothing. If we download (from the download providers) we pay per track and it's a significant sum, some of which goes to the artist in the same way they get paid from CD sales. Amazon in UK charge 99p per track or £5-7 per album for low res downloads I believe - never used it though.

How can we record music from these providers both technically and legally? When I go to Europe and cruise the inland waterways (away from wi-fi and with limited mobile data) I take an MP3 copy of my own ripped CDs - but nothing obtained from streaming services.

Can anyone clarify please? Peter

Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

Hi Peter, when streaming Tidal from Lumin does the unit download the song before playing it, or buffers a portion?

A portion is buffered.

Originally Posted by joeinid

Couldn’t I just use Tidal Offline from a Macintosh or Windows computer hooked up via usb to my DAC ?

I have not checked this myself, but I believe this feature is specifically limited only to smartphone app.

Originally Posted by Hear Here

I was unaware that you can record music that is streamed from Tidal or Qobuz - surely it's totally illegal as the artists get paid (next to nothing) for their streamed music each time it's streamed. If we just recorded it and never stramed it subsequently, the artists would get next to nothing. If we download (from the download providers) we pay per track and it's a significant sum, some of which goes to the artist in the same way they get paid from CD sales. Amazon in UK charge 99p per track or £5-7 per album for low res downloads I believe - never used it though.

How can we record music from these providers both technically and legally? When I go to Europe and cruise the inland waterways (away from wi-fi and with limited mobile data) I take an MP3 copy of my own ripped CDs - but nothing obtained from streaming services.

Can anyone clarify please? Peter

The simple, legal way is use the official smartphone streaming apps built-in offline playback function. The downloaded content is protected and you cannot play it after your subscription expires.

Another simple, legal way is to purchase music from the providers (distinct from streaming subscription, although Qobuz Sublime+ subscription offers a discount towards purchases).

Any unauthorized way to rip the stream is likely not legal. The streaming service terms should also prohibit it.

Originally Posted by joeinid

A couple of friends and I were passing around an article stating that you were not really experiencing streaming properly until you enabled and used offline mode.

I agree to a point and it’s like streaming from a NAS, storage device or computer.

The article was light on facts.

I’ve never directly compared the streams but I thought even my online streaming sounds really good.

Thoughts?

I've not read the article, but the only way I see that is practical for using offline mode with an audiophile DAC is this: use an iPhone running Tidal (or Qobuz) app and connect it to the USB DAC via the authentic Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter USD39.

If it works for a USB DAC without requiring an Apple charger to be plugged into it, then the source is purely battery driven and avoids AC. Some people prefer the SQ this way.

As for saying offline mode is better, I suspect it is similar to the common claim that streaming sounds worse. I believe network isolation may help (via fiber isolation using a pair of FMC, or native SFP port of Lumin X1, or something like GigaFOIL). Some people also reported changing the router and switches to use LPS helped.

Android does, but since every Android phone is different, and it's not clear to me the apps can always bypass the OS mixer for all different OS updates for all Android phones, I specifically mentioned iPhone because it was proven to do bit perfect transfer including MQA Core (otherwise you cannot get MQA Renderer DAC to function in the best manner).

When I researched an audio company that closed business and cheated customers who placed order for its Android-based audio product without actually shipping them products or refunding them in 2020, I found a Darko review that mentioned its inability to bypass the OS mixer, causing all digital data to be resampled to 48kHz - this is completely useless for a digital transport / streamer.