John Darko
Marantz MODEL M1 owners woke up to a nice surprise yesterday: an update to the HEOS operating system that adds 1) Deezer Hifi Music (inside the HEOS app) and 2) Tidal Connect. The latter is our focus today.
Tidal Connect behaves similarly to Spotify Connect: fire up the Tidal app, hit play on a song, album or playlist and select the MODEL M1 from a dropdown to have the smartphone hand off the stream to the mini Marantz.
Like AirPlay, all Tidal Connect streams are gapless. Unlike AirPlay, Tidal Connect doesn’t force the stream through the remote control device en route to the streaming endpoint, in this case, the MODEL M1. And that remote control device can be the native Tidal app running on iOS, iPadOS, Android, MacOS or Windows.
But it’s not just the MODEL M1 receiving this HEOS update. It’s all HEOS-equipped devices; including the Stereo 70s that we reviewed earlier this year — a full-width component that blurs the lines between a streaming integrated and an A/V receiver. The Stereo 70s offers 75wpc into 8 Ohms of Class A/B amplification, 25wpc less than the Model M1’s 100wpc rating. The Model M1’s chassis can be shrunk to the size of a MacMini on steroids because its direct digital amplification requires no internal DAC or large toroidal transformer.
I still have the Model M1 review sample and I bought a Stereo 70s last month. Both received their Tidal Connect update a few hours ago. Do you see a side-by-side comparison coming on? I see a side-by-side comparison coming on.
Those asking when Roon Ready will make its way into Marantz’s streaming-capable products must swallow the question. Whether I know or not, I won’t reveal the launch date. If I don’t know, I (obviously) cannot tell you when it’s coming; and if I do know, I will behave as if I don’t — because who am I to spoil Marantz and Roon’s big reveal when both companies have been working on the project forย years?
Further information: Marantz
