DirectStream and bridge

In the case of Linn Kazoo iPad control point you put your Tidal account details under settings and instead of your own music library you choose Tidal as source. I can use Linn Kazoo also with PS Audio DS but if I choose Tidal as source I get error message that DS doesn’t have Linn’s firmware supporting Tidal. I think PS Audio is also planning to add Tidal support to DS at some point but I don’t know if their solution will be anything similar to Linn. Hopefully yes, because then it would mean there is no need for extra hardware but all is done thru DS software updates.

magister said Thanks rogerdn and jka. Could someone explain at a more basic level how to access a streaming service, since I've never done it? Obviously I have to set up an account with Tidal or Qobuz or whatever. Once that's done, how does it work? I have a Win8.1 computer in the audio rack that I use for ripping vinyl with the NPC, but not for general listening. I could use it for streaming, but how? I have foobar and MinimServer on the computer; the latter does not support streaming services, if I understand correctly. Do I have to own some piece of hardware, such as the Linn that jka mentions, that can access my Tidal account? Or can this be done with software from a computer? Sorry for the elementary questions.
If you want to stream Tidal from you PC, I'd recommend that after getting your account, download their app for the PC, install it, and go into settings to ensure it is setup for HiFi (this gets you 16/44.1) and the output is set for the DS USB driver on your PC. You should then be able to stream Tidal from your PC to the DS. Of course, if you have S/PDIF or other outputs on the PC you'd rather use, then set the Output in the Tidal settings menu to correspond to the appropriate output on the PC.

Another more flexible option if you have a smartphone is to install a bluetooth streamer and connect it to the DS. You can then stream fromn the Tidal app on your smartphone.

Hope this helps.

magister, it’s pretty straight forward, just google Tidal or Spotify on your computer, set up an acct and you can then install their app or use their web screen to access their music. Once you do this it will be obvious how to proceed. Then simply select the DS input for your computer, start an album/track you’ve selected and you should have music. If you do Spotify the audio is better/bit rate is higher than Pandora but not red book of course, but I find on good recordings it’s pretty darn nice on the DS. And if you use an IPad, Spotify now allows you to control their player on your computer with your iPad app, cool and very convenient, believe it’s call Connect.

Thank you, ksalno and rogerdn. This should get me going nicely, since I already can control my Windows machine from my iPad or Android tablet. So I’ll just download the Tidal app on the computer.

Regarding rogerdn’s comment about the sound quality of Spotify: I listen to a music show on NPR via internet radio, less than CD quality obviously, played through the DS, and I often think “this sounds better than it has any right to!”