News: Qobuz Hi-Res platform's debut is scheduled for this October. See Qobuz Links below
I have been looking for information on Qobuz for many months and finally was able to get some useful information about its "scheduled" release date, information on who is working at Qobuz, some features and other background information. I will add additional information as I get it. Please see:
1) Qobuz Names Music Industry Veteran Dan Mackta Managing Director USA with more Key Executives for U.S. Launch:
Some Qobuz Features are: Over 40 million 16/44 tracks and over 2 million high-resolution tracks up to 24/192 bit high resolution.
You can actually off-line any album or track onto your computer, phone and many servers. So if your Internet is not up to full 24/192 streaming, but you need to have a perfect demo, you can download unlimited playlists and albums in high resolution.
About Qobuz Founded in 2007, Qobuz is a French commercial online music streaming and download service that addresses the needs of curious and discerning music lovers across the globe. It is currently available in Europeand the UK and Ireland. Complementing its unparalleled expertise in sound quality, Qobuz includes an exceptional range of music genres as well as exclusive editorial content. Qobuz offers subscription to streaming services with CD quality and Hi-Res audio spanning all genres. The service also offers the largest catalogue of 24-bit Hi-Res albums for download. For more information, visit: www.qobuz.com.
My Aurender N10 Music Sever already supports Qobuz streaming and I am anxious to start listening to Qobuz music streaming.
I was afraid of that, the Qobuz rep at RMAF did warn me. For me, the biggest draw would be the availability of 24/192kHz titles. A quick glance at some of my favorite artist are available in 24/96khz resolution only.
@nickolaspappas, Thanks. Are you listening to the Qobuz 24/192 Kbs Streaming or 24/96 Kbs streaming? How is their classical, jazz and blues catalog? What does it mean their pop, rock and alternatives catalog is terrible? Are you unable to find the albums you are looking for or is their catalog just limited? Does Qobuz have any plans to improve their pop, rock and alternatives catalog? Do you have any other comments about Qobuz Streaming?
I am anxiously looking forward to Qobuz in the USA but have no information when it will be available. Qobuz was the RMAF but, to my knowledge, there were no announcement made about its USA launch date. I also heard, but not confirmed, the Qobuz 24/192 Kbs streaming option is $249 per year.
There is a free trial in the USA if you have a promo code . However as I stated previously the rock selection is sadly lacking compared to Tidal so right now it is of little interest to myself.
“Trump signs bill that ensures music streaming services pay artist royalties. The legislation substantially changes the way musicians are compensated for their work played on digital streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora”.
I don't know what is going on over here, but Tidal using the same app, sounds much better to my ears. Open, airy, more focused. It is not even close on the albums I compared. I just got it yesterday, so have not given it the widespread try with more music, but was surprised at the results I got comparing.
16/44.1, 24/96, and 24/192 all sound great. as I mentioned the selection of rock/pop content is terrible. For most of the artist I like, if they had 10 albums Spotify usually has 9 -10 of them, TIDAL might have 6-8 of them, Qobuz seems to have 2-4 of them. I'm not exaggerating, it's that bad.
In case you, like me, were wondering what happened to this thread the past couple days:
-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [Audiogon] Re: "This discussion has been removed One of our moderators or admins have removed this discussion." Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2018 13:47:01 +0000 From: support@audiogon.zendesk.com
Hi, I would be happy to assist you.
Our moderators are very careful what they remove but sometimes some threads can be taken down in error.
The thread you are referring to was accidentally marked as spam and I have now re-opened this thread for you. Please let us know if you need further assistance.
In this case there was useful information, and a number of questions answered, wrt the impending launch of the Qobuz music service in the USA.
Rather than deleting entire threads, maybe your admin/moderator group could exercise more surgical precision and remove offending individual posts instead of entire threads. Value of forum.audigon.com would benefit from that.
I am still waiting for Qobuz to provide additional information about its steaming options, catalog content, pricing, expected USA release date and anything else they can provide about their streaming service. They have been very quiet and I do not understand why.
Of course, it is possible they might not be ready to market and/or launch in the USA. It could be hardware, Software, staffing or even legal issues. We will see what happens in the next 30-60+ days. As already stated above, I am interested in their 24/192Kbs album streaming service and how it compares to Tidal’s MQA coded album streaming. I am also interested in seeing how their album catalog compares to Tidal’s album catalog.
If you have any additional Qobuz information, please post it. Thanks.
A launch like this is hard. Esp. for a non-domestic company of the scale and ability of Qobuz. When I asked a couple months ago, their customer service replied "We hope open by end of year." I'm guessing that's as good a guess as any.
I've not listened to any 24/192 streaming so am not informed to comment on that particular delivery mode. I have listened to alleged "hi-res" audio files from HD Tracks - other than what to me sounded like monkeyed EQ across the frequency spectrum, mostly in mids, for me the difference in sonic "quality" between that and redbook is modest at best.
Indeed there are clear-headed perspectives if not analyses about the 'value' of so-called "hi-res" music reproduction (including this, and this). These may be helpful as we try to discern real vs perceived differences in what the streaming services offer.
Wrt MQA, there's growing opinion if not evidence of that being a total bucket of bullsh!t. Archimago's usual measured and thoughtful analysis is a good source, and here's another from someone on the ínside, so to speak.
You can be as disparaging as you like about MQA and all the supporting evidence. I know what I hear and to me that is ALL that matters. Comparing MQA and non MQA titles on tidal I can clearly hear a difference on MQA for the better. IMHO To my ears In my system
Let’s not make this thread about MQA. Like many of us, I am waiting patiently for official launch of Qobuz. So far, no quibbles with the free trial of Qobuz.
To my ears and in my system, the Qobuz catalog of 24/96kHz files sounds pretty amazing.
Lowrider. I honestly do not remember exactly what the code said. It did give me 30 days free trial but for me the paucity of rock titles compared to Tidal or even Deezer makes it a non starter for myself.
No complaints on the sq just the limited rock catalog.
16/44.1, 24/96, and 24/192 all sound great, agreed. I'm just starting and had Tidal but MQA although nice on some tracks is limited and a non-starter with its aim to takeover the industry.
On my high-end tube rig, Tidal does not compare in the standard 16/44.1 quality. The jazz listings are beyond belief. They must have had historians digging albums up.
I've listened to Robben Ford & Larry Carlton live in Paris. It was standard redbook but it was super good. It was easily better than the Tidal flac quality. Don't ask me why, I have no idea.
Have not looked through the entire rock catalog so can't comment. They have 40 million titles and 2 million are high res. "In Between Dreams" by Jack Johnson never sounded better. The subtleties are captured in everything. It's uncanny and best streaming I've heard.
Think the official release is later this month. Happy listening.
To the best of my knowledge, Qobuz has NOT BEEN launched in the USA and I have no additional information when it will be released. Their web site (as of 10/25/18) states "Qobuz will launch in the United States in 2018. Leave us your email address and we will keep you updated!”. I entered my email address and have not received a response.
I am hoping for a "Qobuz Press Release" that provides additional information about Qobuz, its steaming options, pricing, catalog content, expected USA release date and anything else they can include. They have been very quiet and I do not understand why.
It is possible, of course, Qobuz is working very hard on their hardware, software, catalog preparation, marketing, legal issues and what ever else is needed for a USA Launch. We need to give them more time to complete their USA Launch preparations. Hopefully, it will be soon.
I have an overseas QOBUZ account that I use over here. By far the best Hi Rez Service (I have Tidal as well). The classical selection is second to none.
With that said, I generally do not expect companies to stick to their launch dates. Heck, remember HDTracks Streaming that was suppose to kick off in 2017?
While I’m disappointed that Qobuz isn’t available in the US yet, I’d rather them get it right, especially if they can get coordinated with Roon at launch, than them making us all beta testing guinea pigs. Is any audio product ever released as scheduled? The hype marches on.
I have been using free trial since my return from RMAF. So far no quibbles, the catalog is well laid out in my Conductor app.
To my ears, the 24bit/96kHz files on Qobuz has a bit more fuller sound compared to MQA - 24bit/96kHz files. In comparison, the MQA files seems ‘tweaked’ in high frequency and slightly less weighty in bass.
My friend saw this on the Room Forum that there is now an English Qobuz store. You can search but not buy. This link does not answer your question if the Qobuz trail includes 24-bit/192Kbps streaming. BTW, some of these links do not work.
As you know, Qobuz is available in Europe and seems to have a strong following. Qobuz has made no announcement about its USA features and/or availability. My best guess is they are very busy working on hardware capabilities, software, marketing and/or legal issues with artist payments, etc.
For some reason, it seems, they are keeping a low profile and not making any announcement about feature and/or a release date. A Qobuz Press Release with some info would be helpful to keep the “buzz” going. So, now we wait.
If you are a Sprint customer, you can get Tidal HiFi/MQA free trail for 6 months then $9.99 after. 16/44.1 is a big leap from 320mps. 24/48,96,192 will add listening experience.
Bump bump bump I signed up for Qobuz email alerts two years ago I've never gotten one. And now October 2018 is "sometime early" 2019. At this point I won't believe it's coming until it's here.
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