THE TIDAL CONTROS

This is a great arresting image from the factory, which conveys a few intriguing messages all at the same time. First you spy a piece of witchcraft; how can a box of high end audio electronics achieve such a balancing act ? This miracle for me is primarily an echo of exactly what Contros is and how it performs. Certainly for Lotus, it is a new way of doing things and a new unprecedented milestone of performance at its price level.

Secondly, the image is perhaps a nod to the product’s compactness and lightness and the startling fact that this is a single box that formerly may have taken at least 3 boxes to replicate or indeed up to maybe 7 boxes if you needed clocks and upsamplers, a linestage or streamer with separate power supply.

Lastly, the image tells a story of delicacy, beauty and balance. Attributes which are intrinsic to the Tidal listening experience and indeed to the very best audio systems.

In 2019 Tidal Audio were selected by one of the most prestigious brands in the world, the Bugatti motor company, to design and create a “no limits” home audio system for their lifestyle suite of luxury products. This initiated a period of intense focus and painstaking hard work at the factory in Koln, in their efforts to overcome the challenges of creating a compact simplified audio system that did not compromise on sound quality over a more traditional complex multi-box setup.

New levels of ingenuity were required to produce a product that would be both visually alluring and desirable to a Bugatti owner yet still strictly maintaining the uncompromised sound quality that a true Tidal system is know for.

As it turned out, it’s fair to say that the delectable fruits of the Bugatti partnership have not only matched but actually advanced the Tidal sound across the entire brand, a testament to the passion and dedication that went into the project in the first place.

This is certainly true of the Contros and Intra, the first two products that have been transmogrified into the core Tidal brand and made available to us. They both move the frontier of performance and the whole product landscape markedly forward with respect to the products that came before them. I am sure the Royale loudspeakers will have a similar impact when one day they will hopefully also be made available as a pure Tidal product.

A Bugatti owner probably isn’t a die hard Audiophile or a hobbyist. Two floorstanding speakers (with amplifiers housed inside) and one slimline control box that is simply connected to the internet. That is the form factor of the Bugatti system and that single box is essentially what Contros is. Slightly reworked as a Tidal, inside the Contros is a new streamer based on the Tidal Arkas technology, mated to a Camira DAC with integral volume control. One needs only to connect to the home network and then to a suitable power amplifier and speakers to complete the system. For more on the Tidal Arkas streamer, it’s ingenious handling of incoming streaming services, and how it compares back to that other industry giant the Taiko SGM Extreme, see a previous blog of mine linked here.

The key message to convey with Contros is that because the pathways have been shortened, power supplies optimised and shared, because the DAC and Streamer use i2s connectivity and because the volume control only alters the voltage output directly in the DAC’s R2R network so is essentially perfectly transparent and noiseless, a Contros is in the same domain sonically as Arkas with Camira and Prisma preamp and a set of Assoluta interconnects and mains cables – that’s £139,383 at todays prices.

Go back 5 or 6 years ago and if you were attempting to chase Contros performance what would it have cost you ? Well you would have needed one of the best DACs around, so a minimum of dCS Vivaldi level with all the extras, the best streamer possible but neither the Taiko Extreme or Arkas existed back then so the best available back then would have probably been the Aurender W20 or Melco ZS SSD. Lastly you would have needed nothing less than the Tidal Precensio Linestage at £50,000. Throw in dual AES cables, some decent clock cables, mains cables and XLR’s and the bill would have been even more at over £150,000. The sound would be some distance short of Contros too. This is how far and how fast the industry moves.

There is a small caveat to the price savings though. Contros sports a plethora of digital inputs but there is no analogue linestage as such meaning no analogue inputs. There might be an exciting new product in the works for customers who wish to add a turntable to a Contros but at least for now, if you wish to also run multiple analogue sources then you will need a separate Prisma as well. But then Contros still costs significantly less than a separate Arkas and Camira so you still benefit financially.

For everyone streaming, playing files, CD’s and who only uses digital, only a power amplifier is required and right now, in the UK, this is most people. Our most popular system and indeed invoice this year, has been a Contros with an equally small and featherweight Intra power amp. Many customers simply plug into the home network and then use Qobuz and Tidal streaming. With a smattering of the best network improvements – audiophile switches, ethernet leads etc. – music from streamed services through the Contros sounds pretty much as good as stored wav files. Arguably never before has the very best of high end audio been available in such a simple reduced form factor and low real estate.

In a word, exactly like a Tidal. If you look back through my writings here you will see me describe the Tidal sound over and over again. Breathtakingly transparent and resolving but welcomingly, a touch more liquid and less biting than some of the obvious rivals – Dartzeel, Soulution – but then neither intentionally smooth or warm or indeed shy in the treble. Tidal always manages to render its presence as something undetected. None of the hifi aspects – detail, decay, separation, space, air, leading edge, texture etc. – are embellished or spotlit and so they never become a feature of the final sound; only music dominates. Its supreme feeling of refinement and naturalness is a difficult to convey in words, you have to witness it with your own ears. Tidal conjures forth a perfect impression of neutrality, ease and purity and its exquisite form of unselfconscious musicality will charm you totally unfatigued for hours and hours on end. It is very very easy to listen to, spookily so, but then also incredibly dynamic and wideband.

Does Contros push the envelope for a Tidal source ? Yes possibly. I would say that the prize for doing away with analogue inputs is a newfangled volume control that is possibly even cleaner than the Prisma. With the absence of interconnects and just a single and highly bespoke power supply, there is a arguably a feeling of purity and clarity there now which goes one higher than what the Lotus demo room has witnessed up to this point.

Like all Tidal electronics Contros is alluringly minimal, only the input selector rotary and the famed Tidal Volume control adorn the fascia. Output is balanced or single ended as you might expect but there are two sets of XLR out sockets just like the Preos and Prisma units. This can be useful with customers who have Stax headphones, an AV amp or similar.

Digital input options are almost identical to the standalone Arkas streamer, so that is optical, AES, RCA spdif, i2s Tidal Link, ethernet and two USB inputs. Whilst the Tidal Link is a tantalising hint to perhaps some future Tidal product, the Ethernet input is the connection most users will primarily employ, feeding straight into the home network. One only needs to fire up the Lumin control app and Qobuz/Tidal/Radio will be at tour fingertips, as well as any audio files that are on a locally attached network drive.

That said, if you are serious about playing files then the two best options are either to attach a portable USB disk directly into one of the USB sockets (these can be as large as 4TB now) or if you already own a server device (like a Melco, Innuos, Auralic etc.) then this can feed the Contros through the ethernet with itself being attached to the home network. If you care to read my Arkas blog you will discover that although the Contros/Arkas sounds nothing short of incredible pulling WAV files straight from a basic £100-£300 USB SSD, if you instead use a server like a Melco that is more sympathetic to noise reduction and audiophile considerations, then the results are even better again.

As hinted at above, the Contros is designed primarily around the Lumin app. It is not perfect of course but I happen to like it. It looks good, is easy to operate and is certainly better than many other offerings. It’s not quite as good as Aurender’s Conductor and it’s obviously not Roon but then it doesn’t have Roon’s rather sizeable sound quality penalty and instead is a very good sounding app relative to others. There are others you can use like Linn Kazoo and the Esoteric app but Lumin really is the pick for most customers.

So that just leaves the volume knob, probably the single most difficult design challenge which demanded a very high degree of complexity and R&D to problem solve. When your hand reaches for the beautifully machined Tidal cylinder and feels the delightful frictioned weighting as it turns, you will know instantly that it is the same Tidal volume that has gone before on every other control unit. This time though, the mechanical apparatus has been cleverly grafted onto a design that is entirely electrical. Contros alters volume by directly changing the voltage output in the Dac electronics. This is not, I hasten to add, anything like a digital volume control which have never yet even matched the standard of the best in analogue. There is no calculation and no componentry so it simply can’t be any more transparent and pure. New ground then for Tidal and a big achievement as far as raw performance is concerned.

That really just about tells all. This year the Lotus preloved classifieds have been littered with fairly juicy used amplifiers, preamps, DACs, individual Tidal separates and indeed other top name streamers like the Taiko and the Pink Faun. The reason is Contros. It does the job of 3 flagship units. It can’t be improved upon at this present time from my own portfolio and represents the pinnacle of Tidal know how. Pipe it through a linestage, any linestage no matter how expensive, and it will only sound less pure. Plug a separate Arkas into it to compare back to its own internal Arkas and again, it sounds less pure.

In the world of ultra high end, Contros is a veritable gift for digital users. Something so simple and small which matches or even outclasses complex arrangements of yesteryear that would have cost 2, 3 or 4 times the price. The only problem is waiting for the next batch of stocks and we just hope that Tidal do not cap it as a limited run model.

This is a great arresting image from the factory, which conveys a few intriguing messages all at the same time. First you spy a piece of witchcraft; how can a box of high end audio electronics achieve such a balancing act ? This miracle for me is primarily an echo of exactly what Contros is and how it performs. Certainly for Lotus, it is a new way of doing things and a new unprecedented milestone of performance at its price level.

Secondly, the image is perhaps a nod to the product’s compactness and lightness and the startling fact that this is a single box that formerly may have taken at least 3 boxes to replicate or indeed up to maybe 7 boxes if you needed clocks and upsamplers, a linestage or streamer with separate power supply.

Lastly, the image tells a story of delicacy, beauty and balance. Attributes which are intrinsic to the Tidal listening experience and indeed to the very best audio systems.

In 2019 Tidal Audio were selected by one of the most prestigious brands in the world, the Bugatti motor company, to design and create a “no limits” home audio system for their lifestyle suite of luxury products. This initiated a period of intense focus and painstaking hard work at the factory in Koln, in their efforts to overcome the challenges of creating a compact simplified audio system that did not compromise on sound quality over a more traditional complex multi-box setup.

New levels of ingenuity were required to produce a product that would be both visually alluring and desirable to a Bugatti owner yet still strictly maintaining the uncompromised sound quality that a true Tidal system is know for.

As it turned out, it’s fair to say that the delectable fruits of the Bugatti partnership have not only matched but actually advanced the Tidal sound across the entire brand, a testament to the passion and dedication that went into the project in the first place.

This is certainly true of the Contros and Intra, the first two products that have been transmogrified into the core Tidal brand and made available to us. They both move the frontier of performance and the whole product landscape markedly forward with respect to the products that came before them. I am sure the Royale loudspeakers will have a similar impact when one day they will hopefully also be made available as a pure Tidal product.

A Bugatti owner probably isn’t a die hard Audiophile or a hobbyist. Two floorstanding speakers (with amplifiers housed inside) and one slimline control box that is simply connected to the internet. That is the form factor of the Bugatti system and that single box is essentially what Contros is. Slightly reworked as a Tidal, inside the Contros is a new streamer based on the Tidal Arkas technology, mated to a Camira DAC with integral volume control. One needs only to connect to the home network and then to a suitable power amplifier and speakers to complete the system. For more on the Tidal Arkas streamer, it’s ingenious handling of incoming streaming services, and how it compares back to that other industry giant the Taiko SGM Extreme, see a previous blog of mine linked here.

The key message to convey with Contros is that because the pathways have been shortened, power supplies optimised and shared, because the DAC and Streamer use i2s connectivity and because the volume control only alters the voltage output directly in the DAC’s R2R network so is essentially perfectly transparent and noiseless, a Contros is in the same domain sonically as Arkas with Camira and Prisma preamp and a set of Assoluta interconnects and mains cables – that’s £139,383 at todays prices.

Go back 5 or 6 years ago and if you were attempting to chase Contros performance what would it have cost you ? Well you would have needed one of the best DACs around, so a minimum of dCS Vivaldi level with all the extras, the best streamer possible but neither the Taiko Extreme or Arkas existed back then so the best available back then would have probably been the Aurender W20 or Melco ZS SSD. Lastly you would have needed nothing less than the Tidal Precensio Linestage at £50,000. Throw in dual AES cables, some decent clock cables, mains cables and XLR’s and the bill would have been even more at over £150,000. The sound would be some distance short of Contros too. This is how far and how fast the industry moves.

There is a small caveat to the price savings though. Contros sports a plethora of digital inputs but there is no analogue linestage as such meaning no analogue inputs. There might be an exciting new product in the works for customers who wish to add a turntable to a Contros but at least for now, if you wish to also run multiple analogue sources then you will need a separate Prisma as well. But then Contros still costs significantly less than a separate Arkas and Camira so you still benefit financially.

For everyone streaming, playing files, CD’s and who only uses digital, only a power amplifier is required and right now, in the UK, this is most people. Our most popular system and indeed invoice this year, has been a Contros with an equally small and featherweight Intra power amp. Many customers simply plug into the home network and then use Qobuz and Tidal streaming. With a smattering of the best network improvements – audiophile switches, ethernet leads etc. – music from streamed services through the Contros sounds pretty much as good as stored wav files. Arguably never before has the very best of high end audio been available in such a simple reduced form factor and low real estate.

In a word, exactly like a Tidal. If you look back through my writings here you will see me describe the Tidal sound over and over again. Breathtakingly transparent and resolving but welcomingly, a touch more liquid and less biting than some of the obvious rivals – Dartzeel, Soulution – but then neither intentionally smooth or warm or indeed shy in the treble. Tidal always manages to render its presence as something undetected. None of the hifi aspects – detail, decay, separation, space, air, leading edge, texture etc. – are embellished or spotlit and so they never become a feature of the final sound; only music dominates. Its supreme feeling of refinement and naturalness is a difficult to convey in words, you have to witness it with your own ears. Tidal conjures forth a perfect impression of neutrality, ease and purity and its exquisite form of unselfconscious musicality will charm you totally unfatigued for hours and hours on end. It is very very easy to listen to, spookily so, but then also incredibly dynamic and wideband.

Does Contros push the envelope for a Tidal source ? Yes possibly. I would say that the prize for doing away with analogue inputs is a newfangled volume control that is possibly even cleaner than the Prisma. With the absence of interconnects and just a single and highly bespoke power supply, there is a arguably a feeling of purity and clarity there now which goes one higher than what the Lotus demo room has witnessed up to this point.

Like all Tidal electronics Contros is alluringly minimal, only the input selector rotary and the famed Tidal Volume control adorn the fascia. Output is balanced or single ended as you might expect but there are two sets of XLR out sockets just like the Preos and Prisma units. This can be useful with customers who have Stax headphones, an AV amp or similar.

Digital input options are almost identical to the standalone Arkas streamer, so that is optical, AES, RCA spdif, i2s Tidal Link, ethernet and two USB inputs. Whilst the Tidal Link is a tantalising hint to perhaps some future Tidal product, the Ethernet input is the connection most users will primarily employ, feeding straight into the home network. One only needs to fire up the Lumin control app and Qobuz/Tidal/Radio will be at tour fingertips, as well as any audio files that are on a locally attached network drive.

That said, if you are serious about playing files then the two best options are either to attach a portable USB disk directly into one of the USB sockets (these can be as large as 4TB now) or if you already own a server device (like a Melco, Innuos, Auralic etc.) then this can feed the Contros through the ethernet with itself being attached to the home network. If you care to read my Arkas blog you will discover that although the Contros/Arkas sounds nothing short of incredible pulling WAV files straight from a basic £100-£300 USB SSD, if you instead use a server like a Melco that is more sympathetic to noise reduction and audiophile considerations, then the results are even better again.

As hinted at above, the Contros is designed primarily around the Lumin app. It is not perfect of course but I happen to like it. It looks good, is easy to operate and is certainly better than many other offerings. It’s not quite as good as Aurender’s Conductor and it’s obviously not Roon but then it doesn’t have Roon’s rather sizeable sound quality penalty and instead is a very good sounding app relative to others. There are others you can use like Linn Kazoo and the Esoteric app but Lumin really is the pick for most customers.

So that just leaves the volume knob, probably the single most difficult design challenge which demanded a very high degree of complexity and R&D to problem solve. When your hand reaches for the beautifully machined Tidal cylinder and feels the delightful frictioned weighting as it turns, you will know instantly that it is the same Tidal volume that has gone before on every other control unit. This time though, the mechanical apparatus has been cleverly grafted onto a design that is entirely electrical. Contros alters volume by directly changing the voltage output in the Dac electronics. This is not, I hasten to add, anything like a digital volume control which have never yet even matched the standard of the best in analogue. There is no calculation and no componentry so it simply can’t be any more transparent and pure. New ground then for Tidal and a big achievement as far as raw performance is concerned.

That really just about tells all. This year the Lotus preloved classifieds have been littered with fairly juicy used amplifiers, preamps, DACs, individual Tidal separates and indeed other top name streamers like the Taiko and the Pink Faun. The reason is Contros. It does the job of 3 flagship units. It can’t be improved upon at this present time from my own portfolio and represents the pinnacle of Tidal know how. Pipe it through a linestage, any linestage no matter how expensive, and it will only sound less pure. Plug a separate Arkas into it to compare back to its own internal Arkas and again, it sounds less pure.

In the world of ultra high end, Contros is a veritable gift for digital users. Something so simple and small which matches or even outclasses complex arrangements of yesteryear that would have cost 2, 3 or 4 times the price. The only problem is waiting for the next batch of stocks and we just hope that Tidal do not cap it as a limited run model.