AV Receivers & Tidal

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This year could see an interesting development in AV receivers, if you're a subscriber to Tidal.

Already Anthem's higher end receivers (MRX720 & 1120 but sadly not the entry-level 520) bundle DTS PlayFi which apparently includes Tidal. Well I've just noticed that Onkyo's receivers just released (TX-NR555; TX-NR656; TX-RZ710; TX-RZ810) include a feature called FireConnect by Blackfire that seems quite similar to Yamaha's MusicCast system, but does include Tidal streaming, although this will only work after a firmware update in the summer.

Presumably Onkyo's higher end receivers will follow suit, and you would also think that seeing Pioneer and Onkyo are so closely linked that they would adopt the same technology.

So, in theory at least that adds Anthem, Onkyo and Pioneer to offer native Tidal streaming. It would certainly save me money on a separate streamer from Sonos or Bluesound, so pound for pound it enables me to look at a better quality AVR. The part that appeals to me most about this is that I can then stream to my AVR using the ethernet cable, which ought to increase quality and reduce drop-outs. I tend to manually tether my ipad to my Pioneer AVR already (in its Apple-friendly USB port) but the ipad is still pulling the stream by wi-fi. It's more reliable than Airplay though.

Spotify Connect already seems an almost obligatory feature to any current AV receiver, so it will be interesting to see if Tidal can catch up in this area. So Yamaha, Arcam, Marantz, Denon, when will you be adding Tidal to your repertoire?

 

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As anticipated, it seems that Pioneer are following Onkyo's example and using the Fire Connect feature for streaming. Their website shows the new VSX-831 AND VSX-1131 are adopting this technology. So I'd imagine when the SC-LX59/79 & 89 replacements come along they'll have the same feature. It's worth noting that this will be rolled out by a firmware update "in the Summer".

Two things of note on the Pioneer (EU) website. This Fire Connect will apparently support CD-quality Deezer too (it's explicitly stated in the blurb). I understood with Deezer that their CD-quality streams were limited to Sonos, so the availability seems to widening out to other parties now.

The other thing of note to Pioneer fans is that they've finally replaced the dreadful remote (after how many years is it?) My AVR's remote has a plethora of tiny equally-spaced multi-function buttons that makes it impossible to locate the volume buttons in the dark. Thankfully the new remote seems to address this with a much clearer looking design.

With Spotify, Deezer and Tidal streaming, the full gamut of HDCP 2.2, HDMI 2.0, 4K, Atmos and DTS-X, this year's releases look like a pretty decent proposition, especially if they bring with them the excellent sound quality of their forbears.

 

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For anyone who's interested, it seems Denon's latest AVR's, AVR-X4300H and AVR-X6300H will support Tidal on board (along with Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud etc).

So that brings the list of Tidal-friendly AVR's to;

Anthem (although only on the models with DTS Play-Fi and according to one reviewer, this fails to work in the UK, so far at least).

Denon

Onkyo

Pioneer

With all the above, Tidal is not yet available on their entire range, often only the very latest models (read the small print if you're that concerned), but as each subsequent part of the line is released, they'll probably be bundled accordingly and as yet, rather like DTS-X was, Tidal will be introduced to some of these models by a firmware update sometime this year.

Will be interesting to see how Marantz deal with this one. Usually they'd do the same thing as Denon, but obviously the Heos multi-room brand is very much a Denon marque.

Anyway, for Tidal users, it's nice to see it becoming available on more platforms; partly to offer more choice but also it helps bring Tidal further into the mainstream, which might help the brand stay around for longer, which I certainly hope will be the case.