Hope someone from dCS answers
Can someone explain why I would want Tidal Connect?
Tidal Connect is like Spotify Connect. It allows you to use the native Tidal app to control playback, with the streamer device pulling the tracks from Tidal instead of your phone “casting” them to the streamer device.
If you use Tidal via Roon, or are happy with the Tidal interface within dCS Mosaic, then you don’t need it. But if you want to use the native Tidal app as your primary control point, it will help.
Thanks, I access Tidal via Roon so it would not be appicable for me.
Hi all,
There are no current plans to introduce Tidal Connect functionality to the dCS range.
Aside from the different user interface of the native Tidal app, no functionality is added compared to Mosaic Control (in fact, one loses the ability to have queues and playlists from multiple sources).
We will of course keep an eye on the demand for the feature going forwards.
Hi,
Yes, a functionality is lost that for me is basic. Like Spotify, and is that when you just listen to a playlist, Tidal or Spotify begins to suggest music. For me, this is an essential function of streaming platforms.
And another functionality that Spotify or Tidal Connect provides is to forget about Roon.
I find it very unfortunate that a brand as expensive as dCS does not want to implement this functionality. Sound excellence should not neglect the comforts of listening and discovering music, which in the end is what it is all about.
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Hold on there. dCS have said that there are no plans to implement it but they will keep an eye on it for the future. They have not made a quasi-moral decision about it.
Every implementation of a new function costs dCS tens of thousands of pounds, yet they give it to us the users for free. They therefore have to ensure that the requested function is both practical to implement and has some degree of economic justification ( e.g. by sufficient demand). Perhaps those requirements in respect of adding Tidal Connect will occur at some time but until they do I am sure that the resources of this relatively small company are pretty well fully occupied. Remember too that there are other requests competing for those very same resources. After all we are still awaiting the next version of Mosaic yet that will be relevant to every user of current dCS products.
The only financial justification I know of is mine and that of users who have spent a large amount of money on a dCS product.
Digital platforms are getting better every day and if a luxury company feeds on digital broadcasting, it should be in the lead and not in the tail. When you buy a luxury product you have to demand the maximum, although I don’t think that asking for this option is asking for the maximum. How can it be that Bluesound, which sells products for € 500, is already in the lead? These things put me in a bad mood.
I do not know the investment in money or time that it means to implement this option, but neither do you. With all due respect, stop defending dCS, they can defend themselves.
I dream of the day when Spitify broadcasts in high quality because that will kill the multiple applications. The “Connect” option is the most comfortable for everyone.
Regards,
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Tidal Connect plays on StreamUnlimited products. How far is it from dCS?
You joined comparatively recently and may not have seen past comments from dCS on the cost of implementing features. Here is a quote from Andrew Papanikolas:
Any company who wants to stay in business has to weigh the benefits of implementing a feature compared to the cost.
I will continue to write what I want to here within the rules of the forum. That may well include defending dCS if I think that the criticism is unreasonable or excessive.
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I agree with both of you, no one should defend dCS, but for one good reason, not because they can defend themselves, but rather because no one should be aggressive with them. It is a chance we have that dCS spends some time to provide us with information in an interactive way, and very often.
So, if someone defend them to keep them active on this forum, personally I shall support him.
For me, the activity of dCS people on this forum is precious.
So when we ask them some new stuff, being hardware or firmware we should do it like the British like it…with a sense of humor, even though it is not easy…I am French, some are Swiss if I read well, some are American, but they love Swiss watches…
I am pretty sure dCS shall provide us with interesting product and software in the future, no one should worry about it.
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As I wait for my dCS Rossini DAC to arrive, I too would love to see Tidal connect functionality in the future. I will be mainly using my DAC to stream Tidal (qobuz not available I Canada). I haven’t had a chance to use the dCS mosaic control app but it would be nice to be able to control the DAC while staying within Tidal to get its other features directly.
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asking for tidal connect is a reasonable request.also agree that software development costs a lot of time and money.all the more reason to prioritize the development team’s efforts towards features like tidal connect.
there are many folks who would just want to do streaming without local storage and hence would not want roon core.
mosaic does not have the interface, searching and discovery aspects like roon.
but there is a lot to be learnt from spotify connect other than its low res quality.spotify connect is great which dcs has implemented it.the spotify app is very good.if tidal and qobuz app can match up to it and partners like dcs and others can implement tidal and qobuz connect, it would be great and simple without the need for an additional server for many people who just want to stream conveniently at hi res with a great app.
Having lived with Linn’s Kazoo app for 9 years (while using a KDS), and hearing comments from my Naim brethren bemoaning the Naim app, I am of the belief that dCS, Linn, and Naim should stick with what they know and do best - making great hardware products.
With all three companies control point software is not their forte - best let the software companies who specialize in this handle things. I think ROON, and the native Spotify, Tidal, and Qobuz apps far exceed what dCS, Linn, and Naim are capable of doing. My opinion and of course your mileage may vary.
Best
Gregg
PS - the only hardware company which got it right for control point software, imho, was Lumin. During the development of their first digital player they sent a “spy” to the Linn forum pretending to be an end user who said he was looking to write a program we could use for our DS’s. He picked our brains and used our feedback and beta testing. We were quite surprised to discover he was the Lumin employee tasked with developing their software. We all got over being tricked rather quickly once we realized how good of a job he did and the fact that it was free to use and worked perfectly with our DS’s
Ok, we should send a spy to Lumin and Roon forum, we steal their brain and we do a long list of requested fonctionality for dCS…Christmas after Christmas…in the end we shall have the perfect app…let’s wait the next release and see the improvements 
Chris, whatever the “ultimate” app turned out to be I will guarantee that someone will still complain. Like it won’t use the right fonts or you can’t display lyrics, booklet notes etc.etc. Or the user’s fingers will be too big or too small to operate the functions. Further by then there will be startup services which will not be catered for immediately leading to more complaints. And so it goes.
Says who? I respectfully submit you’re making some unwarranted assumptions. Even if Spotify were to eventually offer higher res streaming than it does now, do you genuinely envision it displacing all other streaming options, let alone management of local storage? Do you think Tidal has shown any especial competence as a universal music manager/controller? How do you see or define the “Connect” option as the “most comfortable for everyone”?
I’m not a huge Spotify fan. I ditched Tidal, and kept Qobuz. I occasionally will look for music on Spotify if someone recommends it to me, or I am intrigued by a review and I cannot find it elsewhere, but I could not care less about other people’s playlists (which apparently is a huge selling feature for some), and I meet my travel music needs differently. I don’t find its search/recommendation capabilities superior to Roon, though its fans insist they are. Still, I know a lot of folks love it. And as Darko says, 320kbps is better than 0kbps. But I also know there are many non-Spotify users, just as there are many on-Apple, non-Android, non-Roon, non-Minim, etc. users. Why should you want to force all of those users to have only one way to connect their music streams to their devices? And why should you want the service whose DNA is low-res to be that monolith?
What will such users do for local storage control? Last time I checked, Spotify does not support any of the file formats that full-res/hi-res files require. This could change in the future, no doubt. But for now and the foreseeable future, people who purchase dCS-level equipment are not likely to see Spotify as much more than a music exploration service of convenience.
Remember, it’s Spotify that refused to work with Roon. I understand Spotify wanting to control and manage their user relationship and data, and I get that. That’s their biz model: monetizing their customers. But had Spotify not so refused, we might have a wonderful integrated ecosystem for the high, mid, and low end. Now, I completely understand that Spotify is an independent business with its own plans, goals, and aspirations. It has no obligation to make nice with Roon or anybody else. So, this is mostly fanciful rumination, but in my view, it’s Spotify that has walled itself off from better integration, not dCS, and not Roon. And they’ve done so primarily because their biz model leverages their customer relationship in a social media type of way. I am less comfortable with that.
One thing missing from all these “Connect” options is the ability to have detailed interaction with the hardware, and make firmware/software changes in the components themselves. I don’t use Mosaic much, but I do use it almost daily to control the screen of my DAC and Upsampler, and to interact with the Clock modes, upsampling, filters, etc. Unless you plan to have Spotify (or Tidal or whoever) do all that—and I don’t see the manufacturers allowing that—you’re not going to get rid of individual manufacturer control apps. But hey, it’s good to have dreams! 
P.S. As a long-time Lumin owner/fan, I loved reading Gregg’s account. Fascinating and amusing. I had no idea. I do think Lumin did the software side pretty well, but not well enough to be a software market leader. For an example of just how hard this is, and just how messy the sausage-making can be, head over to PS Audio for an historical look at their cratered eLyric software and their travails developing their Octave server and client. This really is hard, expensive work.
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I guess that when you sell product you are aware of that, and despite of the never ending complaints you still go on and improve your products…I do hope dCS believe in their products, including Mosaic.
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In that context It is interesting that Spotify ran a market test on hi-res streaming ( however hi-res is defined) a few years ago in California. It appears that the take-up must have been low enough for them not to develop the idea any further. They are only interested in the big numbers and I mean tens of millions of paying customers. There are not tens of millions of customers who even know what hi-res is ( ask your neighbours ) let alone want to pay a premium for the privilege. Spotify had a paying customer base of 144,000,000 in October 2020. That’s what I call a mass market.
Enjoy your turkey 
.
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