Tidal Connect Failures

FWIW, when Tidal Connect would run into more frequent connection hiccups before, I managed to reproduce the error on another brand’s streaming system + UI that runs on an AVR. And the solution with that system was… to clear my queue, turn it off, then restart it and attempt playback again.

That’s what led me to think the issue had more to do with Tidal Connect itself than with Volumio - at least for that particular issue.

Yes it’s definitely a tidal connect issues not hardware.

Is Qobuz connect up and running yet (not that I’m interested)?

No it’s still in beta by Qobuz themselves.

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Well I ended up getting a new phone. I don’t want to jinx it too early but had a good responsive session for an hour or so yesterday with tidal connect. :crossed_fingers:

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Tried logging in and out. Tidal connect is stubbornly refusing to show volumio as a device. Haven’t seen it for many weeks now. Super disappointed. Has anyone else got any bright ideas??

I don’t understand but after trying literally nothing different it’s worked tonight!! So flakey but don’t want to jinx it so just going along for the ride…

Glad it’s working now. Let us know how it goes from here on.

Hi, this is the log for whenever Tidal Connect fails and blocks ALSA.

As reported before, the behavior is that there’s suddenly no audio from a loaded Tidal track, although the track seems to be playing from the Volumio UI (but not from the Tidal app, where there’s no playback indicators). Upon stopping Tidal Connect and selecting a local track, this error is registered in the system log:

Sep 27 18:54 : exception: Failed to open "alsa" (alsa); Failed to open ALSA device "volumio": Device or resource busy
Sep 27 18:54 : player: problems opening audio device while playing "INTERNAL/Blackfield - II/01 Blackfield - Once.flac"
Sep 27 18:57 : player: played "INTERNAL/Blackfield - II/01 Blackfield - Once.flac"
ALSA lib /home/pi/volumio-alsa-plugin/src/pcm_volumioswitch.c:143:(_snd_pcm_volumioswitch_open_target_pcm) PCM Volumio ALSA Switch Plugin failed to open the switcher target pcm volumioLocalPlayback`

Upon further inspection, I’ve found this line when the error was triggered:

nomad vtcs[22334]: [2024-09-27 18:38:01.738] [tisoc] [warning] [flac_decoder.cpp:282] FLACDecoder::error_callback FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_LOST_SYNC

I tested it again, skipping tracks randomly from a playlist, and got these errors all within a minute, when Tidal Connect failed again and blocked ALSA:

vtcs[27745]: [tisoc] [warning] [PlaybackControllerImpl.cpp:510] Illegal state:1
vtcs[27745]: [2024-09-27 19:15:02.772] [tisoc] [warning] [PlaybackControllerImpl.cpp:214] Ignore play request because playback state is not STARTED. state_=2, playstate_=1, player_state_=0`
vtcs[27745]: [tisoc] [warning] [flac_decoder.cpp:282] FLACDecoder::error_callback FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_LOST_SYNC
vtcs[27745]: [tisoc] [warning] [flac_decoder.cpp:282] FLACDecoder::error_callback FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_BAD_HEADER
vtcs[27745]: [2024-09-27 19:15:03.903] [tisoc] [warning] [flac_decoder.cpp:282] FLACDecoder::error_callback FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_LOST_SYNC`
vtcs[27745]: ALSA lib /home/pi/volumio-alsa-plugin/src/pcm_volumioswitch.c:912:(_snd_pcm_volumioswitch_advance) PCM volumioMultiRoomServer cannot write to target PCM volumioOutput as it has failed its update check.
vtcs[27745]: [tisoc] [warning] [PlaybackControllerImpl.cpp:214] Ignore play request because playback state is not STARTED. state_=2, playstate_=1, player_state_=0`
vtcs[27745]: [tisoc] [warning] [PlaybackControllerImpl.cpp:214] Ignore play request because playback state is not STARTED. state_=2, playstate_=1, player_state_=0`
[tisoc] [warning] [TidalEvents.cpp:446] Continue event sending result: 502

Hope it helps.

Also, why does the Spotify Plugin constantly receive Volume updates? When not in use, like when playing a local file, Tidal Connect, or Tidal file; every time a track changes a line like this appears:

volumio[981]: SPOTIFY: RECEIVED VOLUMIO VOLUME 22

@volumio @Marco_Melziade @Darmur

ALSA Error Message Tidal Connect

Failures continue after quick track skipping. And no reply to this thread since even before Sep. 27th. :man_shrugging:

Since the Hi-Res update of the TIDAL SDK we have been struggling to get the regressions fixed as much as we would like.

This is not simple to fix and solve, as we are working with a SDK where we don’t have much control on.

But rest assured we are on it and are doing all that we can to get it completely sorted.

Thanks for the update. It’s good to know that the issues have been tracked. We’ll wait for more information as these are fixed. Please keep us informed!

I will

I can confirm that even on Roon with a Raspberry Pi Bridge this happens from time to time although not that often. So it has to be the Tidal Linux player that they provide to partners.

Also saw it happening on a NAD M33 with BlueOS when using tidal connect.

Is there any solution for this problem now? I’ve got this problem for years now, and there is still no fix. This would be ok for an Open Source application, which i can use for free. But i am paying for this product, and the main reason is that i want to use it with tidal. So will this problem ever solved? If not the developers should think about refund money to paying users, because they don’t deliver what they promised. The tidal connect is in alpha status for years and the Volumio-UI does not depic the whole funtionality of tidal. For example: I’ve never found the “My Daily Discovery”-Playlist into Volumio. And i can’t use it with tidal-connect, too. Today one of my playlists disappeared in the volumio UI. I don’t know why. Then i tried to use Connect, sometimes it works. But at the moment my phone do not even appear in the Volumio-UI.

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Hi @formes, I’m happy to share that - at least for my use cases - the connectivity issue seems to be resolved. I run Tidal Connect daily without even a hiccup, and can switch from both the native Volumio UI to Connect and control from a mobile device or computer with no problems. Hope it stays like this!

As for the My Daily Discovery playlist implementation within the native Volumio UI; you’re right, it’s not there. And I wonder whether if it exists as an item that’s viewable/indexable by 3rd party integrations (like Volumio) or not, because if it doesn’t then it would be on Tidal’s development pipeline instead of on Volumio’s or others.

For example, while I don’t currently have experience with BluOS or LinkPlay/Wiim’s UI, I do know HEOS and Marantz/Denon/Sonos devices can’t see it either. They view exactly the same items that Volumio sees - which points to the matter being entirely on Tidal’s side.

I’m sorry you continue to have issues. It might help to post your device model, Volumio version, logs and extra information so the team can look into it further.

Thanks for your answer. I’m happy for you that it works in your case. But it seems that i’m not the only person with this problem.
The frustrating thing is that i can’t rely on tidal connect into volumio. Sometimes it works for days, or maybe for weeks. Then it disappears randomly. Sometimes restarting the tidal service helps, sometimes a complete restart helps for the moment. But sometimes not. And both of them are not solutions for the problem, these are only workarounds.
I’ve got two different Volumio-Installations at two different locations, with different routers and different pi’s. I also tried it with or without wireless network and cabled network. The tidal connect-problem still occurs in every setup i tried. And i didn’t mentioned the complete re-installation of volumio on different storages and with different DACs. On each system i’ve activated automatic updates, so both of the should be up to date.
If i could rely on tidal connect, i wouldn’t care if any specific playlist is shown in volumio or maybe disappears, like one of my playlists did 2 days ago.

Sorry, i forgot about the logs. I will try that. But how can i know the specific moment when it occurs. Is it possible to log complete days or weeks? I thought that you need to reproduce a specific problem and then send the log of this specific moment.

Hi. I’m sorry this isn’t working out for you at the moment. It would help if you:

a) Describe the current issue in detail. What happens, exactly?

  • Is it that you simply can’t see your Volumio endpoints within Tidal apps? if so, on which OS’s? Do you force a refresh scan of available outputs from Tidal by clicking on the speaker icon, wait for a second or so, close the list, then click on it again?
  • Is it that Tidal disconnects while using Tidal Connect?
  • Is it that some songs don’t play, and others do?
  • Is it the “Failed to load ALSA device” message?

b) Can you trigger the error with specific behavior, like fast track skipping, for example? If so, can you trigger it and post logs with it?

Once your issue(s) appear, can you open a log session, attempt to use Tidal Connect as usual (even if it fails), and send that log to the dev team? (here, on a support ticket, wherever you think is best).

Regarding the “Failed to open ALSA device” error; I’ve managed to trigger a similar situation on HEOS where you can produce a Tidal Connect drop out and only regain it after a disconnect, source switch, and reconnect again.

It’s as if a handshake between the endpoint & Tidal fails, and in Volumio’s case the system is still locked-in and sees the audio output device as busy and unavailable. That’s why if you change your audio output device, from a DAC (I2S, USB), to say HDMI or Headphone out, apply (which restarts the audio server), then switch back to your DAC and apply again, the issue gets sorted out without the need to reboot. I hope this helps, somehow.