sound quality of Tidal via Lumin app vs. Tidal+Airplay

[jaynyc]

Hello Lumin audio experts

Is there a sound quality difference when listening via U1/U1m/T2/D2 with a 16/44.1 FLAC HiFi Tidal track between

(a) an iPad running the Lumin app using Tidal integrated account

vs

(b) an iPad running the Tidal app playing via Airplay

thx

--jay

 

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Jay, thank you for joining.

 

[Oly]

I own a LUMIN A1 and compared the LUMIN app to Roon and Airplay. Both the LUMIN app and Roon have much better sound quality than Airplay.

 

[jaynyc]

I own a LUMIN A1 and compared the LUMIN app to Roon and Airplay. Both the LUMIN app and Roon have much better sound quality than Airplay.

Thank you Oly. I am fascinated to understand why Tidal via Airplay is worse than Tidal to LuminApp.

 

[Oly]

One possible explanation for the difference is that I use a wired Ethernet network which I find to be superior to WiFi

 

[AVphile]

I also use wired Ethernet for both my Roon Nucleus+ and my Lumin T2. I cannot detect any sonic difference between Tidal via the Roon and Tidal directly to the T2 (using its embedded Lumin app). I don’t ever use AirPlay.