Qobuz.

I have an Aurender N10 and I have both Tidal and Qobuz.  the two catalogues do overlap a lot but there is some material that's available on one and not the other.  My hifi theory is that I want access to all of it.   

I would love Qobz except I find it so frustrating to use!  Seems like I'm in a constant batlle when I try to do business.  I'm trying to buy some tracks this morning but apparently now I'm locked out. Jeez.

hgeifman,
Glad you got your internet access sorted out.  Streaming music takes WAY less bandwidth than streaming video.
We have Comcast where I live and it seems that someone has too much time on their hands, have been randomly destroying the orbs by the street and bending the connectors from them to the cabling leading into the houses.  Once the orbs and cabling were replaced, good solid internet service, though we are in an area where the homes are really spread out!

@cleeds,  I was streaming Qobuz and the sound quality was poor and I was getting dropouts.  I called my Cable Company and they said the cable signal needs to be in a certain frequency signal range and my signal was LOWER than it should be (meaning it was out of the required operating range).   

In any case, the service person arrived and adjusted the cable signal so that it was in the correct frequency range.  Since he was here, and very knowledgeable and helpful, I asked him to check EVERYTHING.   He said my outside junction box was corroded and replaced it.  He then checked the outside cable amplifier and it also needed to be adjusted.  He also replaced my inside cable wiring and completely rewired my outside cable junction box.  He then tested everything and said I was good to go.  I immediately tested my Qobuz streaming and it was great.  

The cable signal being out of frequency range is nothing you can check for.   When I called my Cable Company complaining about streaming sound quality, etc. the person reported my cable frequency was out of the required frequency range and it needed to be adjusted.    Does this answer your question?   

My advice is if you are having streaming sound quality issues and dropouts, you need to ask your Cable Company to check these components.  

hgeifman

Your Internet signal needs to be in the correct range (My cable signal was out of range) and provide a solid signal.

Will you please explain what you mean when you state the cable signal "needs to be in the correct range?"

I was a beta tester for Qobuz and like it very much.  Its album selection is acceptable and you can always find something to listen to.  I especially like their hi-res albums.  I dropped Tidal streaming since I was always listening to Qobuz.

Qobuz has 575 available playlists and they are terrific. For example, listen to Prestige 70 Jazz classics for 70 handpicked jazz tracks.  Many of them are in the hi-res format.  This Qobuz jazz playlist is 7 hours and 38 minutes long. This makes listening to music very easy.  Enjoy.  

On my Aurender, I go to the playlist tab and look for Qobuz playlists that I like.  The Aurender Conductor App has a search option that is very useful to find interesting playlists.  You are also able to mark your favorites for future listening.

I am still waiting for Qobuz to complete their API so that my Aurender Conductor App will provide sort by artists, etc.  An estimated completion date is to be determined.  My best guess is maybe sometime late this year (I hope). 

Qobuz sound quality is excellent and I recommend it.  Qobuz customer support is excellent and they usually respond to my questions in 24 hours. 

I have also stated in other posts that all streaming services require your cable company components, router, modem, cables, etc. to be working 100% of the time.  Your Internet signal needs to be in the correct range (My cable signal was out of range) and provide a solid signal. Your cable company can confirm everything is operating with the correct specs.  Some times streaming sound quality issues mean one, or more, of these parts need repair.  

If you are unable to find your favorite artists, please send your album requests to Qobuz to add your artists.  

It seems everybody is North American here and Qobuz hasn’t been available for long for you. I just wanted to give my 2 cents as a Belgian user who has used Qobuz since early 2016.

I think the Qobuz sound is great but most of you here have noticed and are more knowledgeable and better equipped than me around sound.

What I especially wanted to share is this: Before I used Qobuz, I used Deezer, then Spotify. One of the things I appreciate immensely with Qobuz is its "culture" = the fact that they really support good music. With Qobuz I don’t only listen to music, I learn about music. For instance:

- Whatever the kind of music, what they offer in their Qobuz playlists is excellent music. I discovered many artists I din’t know before, thanks to those playlists.

- They don’t give a description for all artists nor all albums but when there is one, it’s always rich and intelligent.

- The Magazine (on their website) is also another great source of new discoveries and intelligent reviews.

The downsides:
(same as many of you here noticed)
- They don’t have (yet?) as many albums as bigger streaming services
- Their search engine could be finer, more subtle.
- Their present app is really made for tablets & smartphones. I don’t know about Mac but on PC Windows, it’s not greatly comfortable and I experience bugs now and then. They used to have another app for PCs’ (up to 2018 ?). Although some of the new features are interesting, the old app was much more comfortable to use and more reliable.

Anyway, the downsides are for me much less than the advantages. In fact I feel grateful to Qobuz for the pleasure and quality of listening, and for the many musical discoveries I made (and make every day).

ozzy thats good to hear. I am enjoying Qobuz and Tidal both, though Tidal has a deeper category, particularly in jazz, I still find things on Qobuz that aren't on Tidal. I think I will be keeping them both and what a world we live in with all this music at our fingertips!

hgeifman,
One of my audio buddies had the same problem, contacted Qobuz support, who told them that these are known problems, that they are working on updates to the Windows app, and that a future release would hopefully fix those "freeze" issues, but gave no time frame on the fix.  When he told me that, I figured I'd wait for a while and try Qobuz again in a few months.

@ejr1953, Unfortunately, I cannot explain why Qobuz does not run on your Windows 10 Pro Computer App. Obviously, something is wrong.

Please send an email to Qobuz Customer Support and describe the issue, the hardware being used, Operating System, etc. They should be able to determine the issue and work with you to get it resolved. Their email address is support-help@qobuz.com.

As you noted, you are moving to a Roon Nucleus Plus box so we will see how Qobuz runs on that computer. Qobuz should run on these computers so please contact them ASAP if you have ANY operational issues.

I have reported other Qobuz issues and they usually respond within 24-48 hours with a solution or other information.

I "took the plunge" with Qobuz, but the Windows app was just un-usable.  I'd say it functioned normally only about 20% of the time, spent most of it's time gobbling up most of the CPU, but not functioning, either to search or play music.

So I cancelled my subscription.

I'm soon to move my Roon core from the Windows10 Pro machine to a newly acquired Roon Nucleus Plus box.  Maybe after that I'll see if I can get Qobuz to work on that box.

I just got connected to the TOTL Qobuz trails and got it talking to my Ayre Codex.  I frankly don't know that my aging ears hear a demonstrable SQ improvement over the Tidal Hifi, but I do think their jazz catalogue is perhaps deeper than Tidal's and the selections much more accessible.  For an extra $5.00 a month compared to Tidal Hifi, I am pretty sure I will be staying with Qobuz. Frankly, even with 5 TB of jazz on my HD, I still stream music half my listen time. After going to Axpona last month and hearing all the high end TT's, I feel like I am missing nothing with streaming music.  

I too was as hopeful as the rest for Qobuz USA. And then I tried the beta trial.

For me the subjective improvement in sound quality isn’t enough to overcome the objective shortfalls: the native app UX & function, the web app UX & function, their catalog gaps, the metadata misses, the weirdo curation, etc. All of that and for +$5/mo. more than the kinda-comparable Tidal "HiFi" plan. Tidal has its issues for sure - like I said in a earlier post it ain’t quite a race to the bottom, but it’s close. It’s just that for now, Qobuz wins that race.

I’ll stay with Tidal. Maybe later, after Qobuz sorts ’le merde’.

I haven't yet directly compared SQ of Tidal MQA against 24 bit Qobuz but I did prefer 24 bit files on my drive to Tidal MQA using Roon to do the first unfold. I am quite certain I do not want, much less need, MQA. Pretty sure I will cancel Tidal and pay for Qobuz subscription.

 

The only thing that gives me pause is the ~30 titles in my library on Tidal but not Qobuz. Some are obscrure artists but others are more mainstream (eg, John Prine, Josh Ritter). I am hoping Qobuz will get many of these titles as they move out of beta. But I think I will just buy many of these files rather than keep paying Tidal.

I was a Tidal subscriber, and am now using the Qobuz trial.

I find the sound quality on Qobuz to be superior to Tidal.  However, >50% of the time, I'm not able to find titles (jazz, electronic) that I find on other services.

So for me, I'll probably not renew Qobuz for the time being.  I'm assuming (hoping) that the catalog will only grow (it is offered as beta), so I expect to check-in again.

My Qobuz trial was up tomorrow, decided to "take the plunge" and sign up for a year of the hi-res streaming plan.  I find that they have a better selection of classical music and the search for that is a little better than Tidal.  I'll be keeping Tidal, using it and Qobuz with my Roon subscription.

Qobuz has more bodies than Tidal MQA. But the Qobuz App beta is difficult to look compare to Tidal. Lack of App on Apple TV and Oppo 105, 204 player is another draw back. Tidal HiFi/MQA has $9.99 price discount for student and Sprint customer. I would say Tidal wins so far.

Meats, I'm with you. When it's not stopping or locking up or having to put your audio info in every time you start it up, yeah it sounds great. But I'm a jazz guy and the stuff I'm looking for I search for. Sometimes it shows up sometimes it doesn't. Until their whole catalog is there, whats the point of great sound if there is nothing you want to hear. I'll come back in a couple of month's and check it out. Until then, Spotify. More music then I know what to do with. For me it's more about the music. 

Have been using Qobuz for three weeks. The high res is better than 24/96 MQA (my dac is not MQA) in most cases. I've had no trouble with skipping or lock up using windows app. I do find that Qobuz is lacking in many areas of Jazz in regard to Tidal. They are almost even for all of the usual suspects, but on many lesser names they are way behind. They claim that they do not have there entire catalog available as of yet, licencing issues perhaps. I will give them a few months to get this squared away before I dump Tidal.

By the end of the week I'll be thru my month's trial of Qobuz and will need to decide if I'll buy a membership.  I'm leaning to do so and to also keep my Tidal account as well.

I do enjoy many (but not all of the) MQA masters on Tidal.  If there's anything that doesn't sound "right" to me, it's that many of them seem to have accentuated the bass.

When I've compared the sound of "regular" CD quality albums, Tidal vs. Qobuz, using the same Windows machine, same USB connection to the same DAC, the only difference is the Tidal vs. Qobuz app to do the playback, I must say I believe that the sound quality on Qobuz is slightly superior (i.e. a little better clarity, sound stage, stereo image), not a "day and night" difference, but it does seem to be better with Qobuz.

I have both Tidal and Qobuz at the moment. 

Comparing 24/96 Qobuz and Tidal MQA unfolded to 24/96, both sound good but different. For certain tracks, vocals seem to have more body and are more present on Tidal than Qobuz. For certain tracks, Qobuz seems to have a wider soundstage and better at micro details. On balance, I slightly prefer the sound quality of Tidal. 

At this point, I might stick with Tidal since I find the interface more intuitive (probably since I've been using it longer and prefer the black background) and music selection better aligns with mine. It's not a strong preference and I could be convinced either way. I do find the option of not having to get an MQA DAC a very big plus for Qobuz. 

@jond Thanks. I plan to try it soon, probably go with the sublime package.

beetlemania I just clicked on a random album in the Quobuz store Mini Mansions.....A Guy Walks Into a Bar and the CD version $12.99 hi-rez $14.99 but hi-rez with the sublime streaming package $7.49. Quite a nice savings! The Sublime Tier is $299.99 per year. It's basically the same monthly rate at the Studio tier $24.99/month but you pay upfront.

Just started my trial today.  Compared to the last time I perused Tidal, there seems to be a lot more Classical available, not to mention better organized 

Here’s an honest review from someone with an MQA DAC.  I’m currently using an Aurender A10 (which I purchased in order to stream MQA tidal files).  I would like to believe that I have decent equipment that could showcase the potential differences (McIntosh preamp, 601 monoblocks, and Amati Futura speakers).  I’ve been A/B’ing the Tidal MQA files against the comparable Hi-Res files and will say that they are very close to identical for me.  Here’s what it boils down to:

Tidal - $5 cheaper/month, even though MQA is lossy - it sounds identical (to me) to the uncompressed Hi-res files from Qobuz.  The downside is that you have to have an MQA DAC to get the full potential from MQA.  

Qobuz - The biggest plus for Qobuz is that you do NOT need a specific DAC to recognize the potential of Hi-Res and It sounds ohhhh so sweet! Did I mention that they have Springsteen in Hi-Res?  I’ve been quite impressed with their Hi-Res catalog. 

If you have an MQA DAC, you will be just fine with Tidal.  If not, I would recommend Qobuz.  When all is said and done I will probably stay with  Qobuz due to the fact that I prefer their Hi-Res catalog and like the fact that I can purchase the music from them as well.

bye bye $14-25 high resolution downloads from HDTracks

I plan to switch from Tidal to Qobuz soon (I don't understand why anyone prefers MQA over true hi-rez). If I sign up for the top tier Qobuz service, what is the typical price range if I want to buy an album?

I’m in the Qobuz beta now. Observations so far:

- I *love* Hi-Res audio enough to probably stick with Qobuz over Tidal, despite:

-The lack of an Apple TV app
-Many many missing albums, not just in hi-res, but missing completely, by smaller indie artists I like. Have a lot of this on CD though, so maybe not too big a deal.
-Cannot even get the Desktop app to mount.

The bass on the hi-res files tickles my eardrums - this is listening with standard issue apple earbuds and an iPhone. I go back to CD-quality and it sounds weak. I am so happy that artists/labels have gone and produced hi-res versions of songs and albums. Some I have enjoyed so far are Neil Young (of course, but I also subscribe to his NeilYoungArchive), Wilco, Marshmello w/Bastille, the 1975, Grateful Dead.

How the heck does Qobuz sounds so much better than playing the same files thru itunes with Fidelizer ?

I think it sounds incredible.  I never knew my system could sound so good.

Classic I just got an email from Quobuz saying I may now sign up for an account. I've been a beta user for two weeks already. ;p

I can do the same with my Roon. But to get the second, and the final MQA unfold, you need a MQA DAC. So not completely MQA you are comparing, and not fair

Of course it is unfair. Qobuz is true 24/96/192 where Tidal MQA is at best upsampled(unfolded) to 24/96 or 192 if it goes there. Ive been using Qobuz for months, and most anything that you can find in MQA on Tidal can be found in a true hi res version on Qobuz.

My Roon friends report they already can sort albums and have filters for hi-res selection.

You can sort for Qobuz Hi Res in Audirvana too!

I'm still a free beta Qobuz user, but it integrates so well with Roon and the 96/24 sounds so good I'm sure to be a subscriber.  I plan to keep Tidal as well.

I just joined closed beta this week.  Looking forward to canceling my relationship with Jay Z.  Qobuz hires blows away my standard tidal.  I’m running tidal and Qobuz through aurender n10. 

I’m running both Tidal and Qobuz via Roon and preferring Qobuz more generally. UI is irrelevant due to Roon. I am finding more high res pop and rock titles with Qobuz, and both have gaps, nice to use both. Not sure whether I’ll pick one or just keep both.

@thyname,

The comparison was made between identical files of same resolution between Tidal and Qobuz, i.e. Tidal MQA 24/96kHz and Qobuz 24/96kHz. And Qobuz files sounded fuller and natural in comparison. 

The point i was trying to make is with Qobuz streaming upto 24/192kHz resolution, one doesn’t have to rely on a external MQA decoder. As is there are very fewer MQA compatiable DAC’s currently available. In contrast, most modern DAC’s regardless of price point are now capable of decoding resolution upto 24/192kHz and beyond. 

@dgarretson,

I believe the beta trial limits the access to 24/96kHz resolution files only. I don’t use Roon so you may be prevue to something I couldn’t see through my Aurender Conductor app during the trial. 

I am just glad that we have options on how we stream our favorite tunes. Qobuz is a keeper for me, bye bye $14-25 high resolution downloads from HDTracks. 

LOL!! The only 24/96 Tidal has is WITH MQA

Just today I was approved for the Qobuz beta free trial and have been poking around and comparing hi-res Qobuz to Tidal MQA streaming within Roon.  There are fewer 24/192 titles than hoped for on Qobuz, but they sound amazing and are a clear notch up from 24/96 with or without MQA.

I know @lalitk 

I can do the same with my Roon. But to get the second, and the final MQA unfold, you need a MQA DAC. So not completely MQA you are comparing, and not fair

@thyname,

That’s correct. Aurender streamers are capable of unfolding MQA encoded files.... upto 24/96kHz resolution 😉

I also liked the fact that with Qobuz I no longer need to pursue a MQA compatiable DAC.

Hmmm.... and yet you were able to compare MQA vs. Qobuz HiRes

After a month of using Qobuz, i signed up for yearly subscription at $249.00. To my ears, the Qobuz high resolution SQ easily trumps Tidal. In direct comparison between MQA 24/96kHz and Qobuz 24/96kHz files, Qobuz is superior in dynamics by a good margin.

I also liked the fact that with Qobuz I no longer need to pursue a MQA compatiable DAC.

Since i use Aurender conductor app, I experienced no issues with artist or albums search with Qobuz. 

@usery,  As a Qobuz beta tester, please report all your comments and suggestions to Qobuz.  Thanks.  

Everyone needs to report their finding to Qobuz. 

I have already reported that my Aurender N10 needs an Qobuz API so they can sort my favorite albums into artist sequence.   And, another API so my Aurender can create a tab so I can select 24/96 coded albums and 24/192 coded albums. Qobuz reports these are on the list but no time frames.  

My Roon friends report they already can sort albums and have filters for hi-res selection. 

Revised verdict:

After a few more days using Qobuz, the slightly-better-than-Tidal audio quality may not be enough to overcome the absolutely sh!tty search UX and catalog indexing. Even if Qobuz has the recordings I've painstakingly assembled in my Tidal library, if one can't find them they might as well not be there at all.  Awful, and a real disappointment.

Also continuing to find holes in the Qobuz catalog compared to Tidal - in classical recordings, of all things.

@bander

"Who is using g [sic] Qobuz and how are you finding it?"

1. Qobuz > Tidal

a. audio quality: to my ear Qobuz "Studio" is better than Tidal hifi and Master: broader dynamic/frequency range, better definition, presence, air, blah blah quack quack ... fill in favorite insipid audiophile adjectives.

b. metadata: Qobuz seems to have broader and deeper collateral data on their catalog selections. Sadly the suck UX’s in web player and Mac native app make it hard to get to (see 3a.)

c. classical catalog - though after cursory look only Qobuz marginally better than Tidal.

2. Qobuz < Tidal

a. curation (playlists, "events" etc): Tidal sets a low bar and Qobuz manages to fall under it. See 3c.

3. Qobuz == Tidal

a. both Qobuz and Tidal native Mac apps are crappy. So is Spotify’s. Not quite a race to the bottom but close. Tidal seems to have copied Spotify’s UX - apparently what’s good enough for Sweden is good enough for Norway. Too bad Qobuz chose a "light" theme as background - at least France could learn from Sweden & Norway.

b. both Qobuz and Tidal seem to have hit-n-miss catalogs. Surprised to find certain off-path classical titles in Tidal’s catalog, as well as more recordings than Qobuz from Nikhil Banerjee (greatest 20th century sitar master you’ve never heard of).

c. both have stupid, what-are-they-thinking assemblies of ’multimedia’ (music, bio’s, AV media, reviews, commentary etc). These seem more the whims of self-indulgent editors and hipsters than anything of much value to subscribers. Producing and/or licensing and curating good content is expensive (hiring experts and licensing expert material). Neither Qobuz or Tidal seem to want to spend that money. On the other hand that might price them right out of business.

4. Verdict
Ultimately audio quality wins the day for me - I’ll probly ditch Tidal after my Qobuz beta/free trial ends. French heritage also gives me some vague, grudging alliance to Qobuz. It won’t be without some PIA given the shortfalls noted above. C’est la vie.

I agree with 'cymbop' in that Qobuz, which i have been beta testing for a week,is a better alternative to Tidal in a number of ways..The hi-rez sound is, in my opinion, as good or better than MQA. The availability of so many classical albums makes it a no brainer too. The complete 'Living Stereo' group of albums is there.The site is well structured and the playlists are superb..I will be staying with it after the 1 month is over..

I've been on the US beta for a couple of weeks, listening through Roon into a PS Audio DSD.

Qobuz hi-res streaming provides the best sound quality I have ever experienced in my listening room, hands down.  We're through the looking glass now.  For $25 a month I have access to 170,000 albums in 24/96 and 24/192 quality.  

I was a big fan of Tidal MQA over normal 16/44 material, and Qobuz hi-res sounds better.  In comparison, MQA sounds a little recessed, a little crispy and brittle.  Hi-res brings all the detail and all the body.

For my musical tastes, Qobuz is missing perhaps 10% of the titles I might enjoy in Tidal.  But I could spend a lot of time exploring those 170,000 hi-res albums before I get around to missing what's not on Qobuz.

I was offered a month's trial, installed the Qobuz 64 bit Windows app on my quad core I7/16 gig Dell machine, outputting to my DAC via USB.  I also have the Tidal Windows app installed on the same machine.  I have my audio system "hard wired" to my network, with Comcast service with about 200mb down.

I find the Qobuz app is a little flaky.  Sometimes the cursor doesn't appear to select an item, like it's doing something in the background, consuming all the resources...though Windows doesn't show the processor or memory particularly busy.  Not a consistent thing, more of an occasional nuisance.  I do find their selection of classical to be better than Tidal.  And, I do like their search function to be more rewarding.

When I compare music I'm familiar with, Tidal with MQA and regular CD quality, Qobuz either running regular CD or hi-res quality, more times than not Qobuz (to me) sounds a little more "distinct", not a huge difference by any means, but noticeable.  Most of the 96/24 and 192/24 music from Qobuz is just awesome to my ears!

I'm not yet ready to commit to Qobuz, just had it for a few days, but so far I think it's a winner.  I wouldn't give up Tidal for Qobuz.

If I decide to keep Qobuz, I'll set up Roon to stream both.