Can we talk about Qobuz for a minute

Qobuz offers high resolution outside the MQA. If you don't have or like MQA then Qubuz is the way to go. Tidal is almost all MQA at this point for hi res.

I have two reactions to this thread.  (1) OP is doing something that, IMHO, more people should do: bypassing the Node 2 DAC and using it as a streamer only.  For $500 (ish), it’s a decent streamer.  (2) I question whether it’s decent enough, however, to reveal a difference between HiRez Qobuz files and Tidal’s MQA.  I’ve invested a decent chunk of money into my digital side on two systems, and I still find it a close call.  But, like others have said, I do prefer the Qobuz sound for some elusive reason.  I also have a dumb, but nonetheless real, skepticism toward MQA and its whole “compressed, but not really” approach.  But the depressing reality is that we have no control; a really good recording streamed over Tidal will always beat a so-so recording streamed over Qobuz, and vice versa.  We spend too much time and energy agonizing over gear when we should be agonizing over recordings.  Do better, music biz.  Your entire job is to help me and the rest of us .0000005 % audio-geeks get the most out of our toys.  

I use both and have specific preferences for each

I prefer Qobuz sound quality on my 2 channel reference system, but it's bandwidth intensive and prone to more drops than Tidal

For mobile listening, streaming over cellular while driving or on the beach, riding a bike etc I cannot maintain a reliable connection with Qobuz but Tidal rarely let's me down and is my go to source for mobility

Also Tidal has a few discount plans for students, military and first responders, as well as loyalty renewal discounts after 2 years, e.g. 12 months for the price of 10

I'm unable to find similar discount options on Qobuz

I do find the Tidal UI a bit easier to navigate and more user friendly

I’ve been using Qobuz since 2019. At that time, I preferred the overall Qobuz experience over Tidal and Amazon Music HD.

I do still love the sound quality, but the more I’ve used Qobuz, the more I taken issue almost everything else--e.g. their search engine is slow and often inaccurate, the interface is cumbersome, they have poor playlists for entire genres, untrained prediction algorithm. I told Qobuz in 2019 that they had some of the best Chromecast implementation I’ve seen in any app. But over the last 6 months, the casting has started failing where music will play on both my phone and the stereo system--and the pause button only turns one of the two off. It’s painful. I’m very much looking forward to Spotify HiFi.

I currently have a Spotify and Apple Music subscription too. I’m ultimately going to migrate to one of those two by the end of the year.

Qobuz has gotten a little annoying for me because some music does not stream properly without dropouts. My internet connection is solid and when the Qobuz drops I check out the same album on Tidal. On Tidal the music has far less dropouts. I cannot remember the last time I had a dropout on Tidal.

I went back to Qobuz recently because they had a few tunes that Tidal did not. However, I am finding the tech a little less reliable than Tidal.

The latest ROON update added the DAILY MIX feature from Tidal and I am very impressed by that feature. It is a playlist about 3 hour long based on your listening habits. They focus each Mix on a particular artist and then go deep into that artist and similar artists.  I discovered Fela Kuti's drummer today by listening to Tidal's Fela Kuti's DAILY MIX based on my listening habits. I do not see this integration with ROON for Qobuz.

Oops, hit send too send.

Beyond sound quality, the app UX is very important to me. I like Spotify’s AI curation of songs. I enjoy listening a lot better with an AI DJ, that Qobuz doesnt have.

I liked Qobuz a lot. This is my last month though as Im stopping my subscription and will be using Spotify, that Ive kept for my kids.

Reason being, I finf the Qobuz interface through the Blusound app tedious, and using the Qobuz app, the Blusound only puts out CD quality.

im resting my ears a few months and am looking forward to Spotify HIFI. 

I switched from Tidal to Qobuz and am much happier all around.  I also think MQA is an overly intrusive sham and want no part of it.  

When I started streaming a couple of years ago I did the trial for both Tidal and Qobuz.
Qobuz was sounding better. 
After some critical listening, I was sure Qobuz had superior SQ. 
I started to think that there was some compression applied by Tidal. But more 
likely it's EQ.
 
Qobooz, or in French, Qoboos.

I have a high end system and am 100% digital.  I have a 8tb music server that is loaded with music so I have a lot.  I also have Tidal and Qobuz.  I find myself going to Qobuz more than even my own recordings.  Tidal has more artists but the sound of Qobuz can't be beat.  BTW, at one point I had Spotify Premium.  Spotify is great for playing genres of music but the quality is not in the SAME league as Tidal or Qobuz.  Go with Qobuz and enjoy your music.  

@kgveteran  

Google Translate's suggestions for pronunciation. Click on the speaker icon to hear the suggested pronunciation.
https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=qobuz&op=translate

If i was looking to just stream hi-res would i be choosing the $15 month rate, i have no need to purchase downloads

Is it pronounced   ko-buz

calvanandhobbes, I have the same impression of a “smile” shaped eq.  A bit of boom and sizzle with every song.  Current Tidal user here. 

My subjective impressions of the musicality and sound quality of the major HD streaming services:
1. Qobuz
2. Primephonic
3. Spotify Premium (320 kbps Ogg Vorbis which is not lossless)
4. IDAGIO
5. Amazon HD
6 Tidal

My listening notes comparing Qobuz to Tidal:

Round 2, Qobuz vs Tidal: So far Qobuz is clearly better than Tidal even listening through pretty cheap desktop passive speakers. Tidal sounds very two dimensional and flat in its sound quality but with some harshness in the high frequencies. I’ll listen a bit more to Tidal, but so far I’m not impressed at all. Spotify Premium even seems to sound better than Tidal.

Some additional thoughts about Tidal after listening on higher quality equipment. I think they have applied some equalization to boost the bass and treble. In the process, I think side effects of doing this is to take out some of the presence of voices and instruments and add an artificial quality to voices and instruments.. Qobuz sounds a LOT better. Spotify Premium also sounds better. To my ears at least. (Disclaimer: Your results may vary). I’m currently listening to a track that is a MQA file on Tidal vs a CD quality file on Qobuz. The CD quality file on Qobuz sounds a LOT fuller and more natural.

Not a big fan of hip hop, but decided to listen to something that is squarely in Tidal’s area of focus. I listened to ’The Box’ by Roddy Ricch which is a MQA file on Tidal and CD quality on Qobuz. Same results. The Qobuz file sounds fuller and has more presence. Almost sounds like two different recordings when listening on Qobuz vs Tidal.

QoBuz offers high-res streaming that includes 24/96 and 24/192 albums. Another option is to type #hires in your search tab for a listing of hi-res albums.

QoBuz offers 1,540 playlists. You can type jazz, for example, find a playlist you like and make it a favorite.

QoBuz’s catalog is very good but, obviously, does not contain everything. I can always find an album I like. I switched from Tidal to QoBuz because of their hi-res selection. QoBuz Customer Support is excellent. I usually get an answer in 24 hours. BTW, my source is the Aurender N20 Music Server.

QoBuz web site info:

“More than 70 million tracks available for unlimited playback, of which 185,000 albums are in Hi-Res with Studio Premier and Studio Sublime

Human recommendations from our team of experts

Access to millions of digital booklets and extra information on our musical content”

If you're using the Bluesound app to select your music then Qobuz will be identical to using Tidal operationally.  There is a lot of overlap in their catalogs but they are not identical.  I prefer the sound quality of Qobuz, particularly of their hi-res catalog and I'm not a fan of MQA which Tidal uses.  I switched from Tidal to Qobuz a couple of years ago.  Pricing is very similar.