For audiophiles and casual listeners alike, Tidal has long been a top-tier music streaming platform, celebrated for its high-fidelity (HiFi) offerings and master-quality audio levels. However, in recent months, a growing number of users on Android devices began experiencing a frustrating and persistent issue: audio skipping during HiFi playback. This glitch has threatened to undermine Tidal’s reputation for pristine sound quality and left many users seeking answers. Below, we explore the nature of the problem, the steps taken to isolate it, and the codec compatibility fix that ultimately resolved the issue.
TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
Tidal HiFi users on Android devices encountered frequent playback skipping, especially with lossless FLAC streams. After considerable testing and user feedback, the issue was traced to codec compatibility problems between certain Android firmware versions and specific audio codecs. The fix involved disabling problematic codecs in Tidal’s developer settings or adjusting the phone’s media codec preferences. Once implemented, playback returned to smooth, uninterrupted quality for most users.
The Problem: Skipping with HiFi Playback
One of the primary appeals of Tidal is its HiFi and Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) audio streaming, which offers users CD-quality or better lossless audio. However, many Android users began facing a consistent issue where songs would play for a few seconds and then abruptly skip. In some cases, the song would restart entirely or skip to the next track without any user input. The interruptions made it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to enjoy an album or playlist without constant buffering or drops in audio fidelity.
The issue appeared to span across various devices, including models from Samsung, OnePlus, Google Pixel, and others using Android 10 through Android 13. Common threads across reports suggested that the problem was confined mainly to HiFi-quality tracks encoded in the FLAC format, pointing toward a deeper issue with codec processing.
The Role of Codecs in HiFi Audio
Codecs are essential to compressing and decompressing digital audio data. HiFi music on Tidal is typically delivered using the FLAC codec, known for its lossless compression and high-quality playback. On Android devices, audio codecs are processed either via software (handled by the app) or hardware (handled by the phone’s built-in audio chipset). When a device’s software or hardware does not fully support a codec, playback glitches like skipping or crashing can occur.
The challenge here lies in the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem. With hundreds of devices, each running different firmware, customized user interfaces (e.g., Samsung One UI, Oxygen OS), and varying hardware components, ensuring universal codec support becomes a daunting task for app developers.
Investigating the Root Cause
Developers and tech-savvy users began compiling bug reports and logs to investigate the issue. In several diagnostic logs, the root cause pointed to codec negotiation failures within Tidal’s player engine. When Tidal attempted to use the highest-quality codec available, Android’s media framework failed to process it correctly, leading to stream buffering, playback freezes, or complete song skips.
Community forums such as Reddit’s r/Tidal and XDA Developers also played a crucial role in uncovering the patterns. Key findings included:
- Skipping was most prominent in tracks streamed at 16-bit/44.1 kHz or 24-bit/96 kHz resolutions.
- Playback via Bluetooth headphones sometimes reduced skipping, suggesting hardware decoding differences.
- Disabling WiFi and switching to mobile data had inconsistent results, pointing away from network issues.
- Other streaming apps like Qobuz or Deezer did not exhibit similar problems on the same devices.
These insights helped narrow the scope of the issue to the interaction between Tidal’s audio engine and Android’s codec management system.
The Codec Compatibility Fix
After extensive user trials, a consistent fix began gaining traction. Users found that by accessing Tidal’s hidden developer settings, they could manually disable specific codecs or switch playback preferences, effectively bypassing the problematic part of the audio stack.
Here is a step-by-step guide to implementing the fix:
- Open the Tidal app on your Android device.
- Navigate to Settings, then scroll down and tap on the About section.
- Rapidly tap the App Version seven times to unlock developer options (similar to enabling dev mode on Android itself).
- Under the new Developer Options menu, locate Codec Preferences or Disable Audio Offload.
- Experiment with disabling FLAC offload and MQA decoder offload, or switch to software decoding for high-resolution playback.
Once these settings were adjusted, many users reported instant playback stability, even on tracks that had consistently failed before. Moreover, the fix did not appear to significantly impact battery life or CPU usage, a common concern with software decoding.
Alternative Workarounds
For users uncomfortable with modifying developer settings, other potential workarounds included:
- Switching Tidal’s streaming quality from HiFi to “High” or “Normal” temporarily.
- Playing tracks through an external DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter), which offloads decoding outside the phone.
- Using Tidal Connect to stream music to another device that has more robust codec support.
While not permanent fixes, these alternatives allowed continued music enjoyment without the constant skipping, albeit at a potential sacrifice in audio fidelity.
Response from Tidal and the Android Community
Though the issue was significant, Tidal’s official support channels were slow to acknowledge the extent of the problem. Users repeatedly received boilerplate responses, suggesting they reinstall the app or check internet connectivity. However, behind the scenes, developers began rolling out silent updates and stability patches to help address the underlying codec compatibility issues.
Eventually, some affected devices began receiving patch notes specifically referencing “improved audio stability and compatibility with Android media codecs.” This marked a turning point, showing that user feedback and community collaboration were instrumental in resolving the crisis.
Long-Term Implications for Streaming on Android
This issue highlights the broader challenge of delivering high-resolution audio in a fragmented Android ecosystem. Unlike Apple, which tightly controls its hardware and software, Android manufacturers have vast latitude in implementation. As a result, music streaming services like Tidal must account for a more complex matrix of compatibility scenarios.
For audiophiles and tech enthusiasts, this case could serve as a pivotal example of why codec documentation, driver-level testing, and user-accessible configuration options are so vital for media apps. It also reinforces the importance of community collaboration through forums and bug reporting to resolve technical challenges.
Conclusion
In an environment where audio quality is increasingly prioritized by music lovers, Tidal’s ambitions to deliver lossless and high-resolution streaming have encountered growing pains on the Android platform. Fortunately, a combination of community intervention, detailed troubleshooting, and a savvy codec compatibility fix has allowed many users to regain the smooth, uninterrupted musical experience that Tidal promises.
As streaming technology continues to evolve, it’s essential for both users and developers to remain adaptable—and vocal—so that the promises of HiFi sound are not derailed by software missteps. For now, the fix holds, HiFi streams are smooth again, and high-quality audio continues to find its place on Android devices of all kinds.