I hate to post this question/issue. So many have complained. I guess I am proof the developers have not licked this one yet. But in combing through the forums going to back 2016, nobody seemed to have the definitive answer. So with great hesitantly and disappointment I post the issue yet AGAIN.
I have a new DirectStream DAC with the Bridge II network card. When using the Bridge Ethernet connection, artwork from Tidal and Qobuz does NOT show up on the display panel. The other metadata does display just fine (song title, artist & album).
I have a gigabit Internet connection.
I am running Snowmass 3.06 (shipped directly from the PS Audio factory with 3.05).
My audio source in an INTEL NUC running Roon ROCK OS (with both Tidal & Qobuz).
I have a clean 2 GB unlocked SD card formatted in FAT32 inserted.
Everything works just fine other than the album art.
I would try a clean SD card and just delete any files donât format it. That way the MBR will remain intact. I have a newer version Bridge II and the art works with an odd quirk in some releases. You can follow threads to identify releases.
Have you ever seen any PS Audio promotional or marketing material, or anywhere in the DS or Bridge2 product manuals, where album art is a supported feature in the DS DAC with Bridge installed?
It works in general unless switching between different resolutions or file types (ex. FLAC to DSF). I have had a Bridge in my PSA DACs for a very long time and album art has only worked perfectly for a very short period (donât remember which software versions worked properly). I have complained often and in detail. Not a big deal but it should work 99.9% of the time and doesnât. Also, still canât figure out why sometimes album art reloads between songs on the same album. There was an attempt to fix this but itâs unreliable.
JRiver, latest version running on a big PC tower and a very stable, hard wired, network.
Album art works for sure but I donât believe it does on the streaming services - though I could be incorrect. My memory suggests they donât give us the data.
After reading Mr. McGowanâs post about not being sure if streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz provided album art (would love the definitive answer by the way), I tried another test.
I played all local files via the Bridge II connection. All of my local music files have full metadata including artwork. The files are stored directly on the Roon ROCK music server via SSD. I tried AIFF, ALAC, DSD and even found a few MP3âs I have yet to replace with AIFF. No artwork on the display. All the other metadata works (song, artist, album). I am able to switch between between the Bridge II and USB connection and the DirectStream DAC plays with no issues. Everything is working as it should. Just no album art.
I tried reformatting the 2 GB SD card in FAT32 again with Windows 10 Pro. This time I unchecked âQuick Formatâ. No luck with with album art with streaming services or local files.
As I mentioned above, I donât think PS Audio have ever promised album art as a feature of DS/Bridge in any documentation. If they havenât promised it, and it doesnât work properly, some might need to adjust their expectations accordingly. What we are waiting for, however, are fixes for promised features. But as has been mentioned before, in their priority of things, working on the new products to get them market ready is higher up the priority list than fixing old products.
Album art works for me from Qobuz and Tidal using mConnect Control HD. What it does or doesnât do with Roon or any other third party app is probably subject to the setup.
Thatâs not the point. I donât recall anywhere that PS Audio ever mentioned album art as a supported feature, whether a promotional photo appears to show album art or not (remember also that PS Audio have photo-shopped these things in the past).
Does it work when going from 16/44 to 24/96 or FLAC to DSF? I bet it drops the first songâs art. It comes back after two consecutive songs with the same data rate or file type. Again, not a huge deal but seems easily fixed since itâs easily repeatable.
So many have complained. I guess I am proof the developers have not licked this one yet. But in combing through the forums going to back 2016, nobody seemed to have the definitive answer. So with great hesitantly and disappointment I post the issue yet AGAIN.