Qobuz and Tidal comparison

This post addresses Qobuz dropouts. I have used Qobuz directly from the Internet to my Linn streamer for a few years. Dropouts happened sporadically. Turns out DNS performance and physical distance from my router to the DNS server can induce enough latent delay that dropouts occur. Linn documentation suggested specifying a different DNS service. I made the change in my router. Either the Google public DNS service (8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4) or the Cloudflare DNS service (1.1.1.1/1.0.0.1) work perfectly.. No dropouts for 6 months. 

I use both services with my Aurender W20se. I find that they both sound great, as a general rule. Some songs sound better on Tidal others on Qobuz. I like some of the features better on Tidal, particularly the "My Mix" playlists which I use to discover new music. The AI probably isn't as good as Spotify for sourcing "similar" music but I have yet to identify that feature on Qobuz. Qobuz seems pretty basic and I don't like the way they sort their music as much as Tidal. 

Qobuz via Roon preferred and used. So many high res tracks/albums too.

Drop out(s) likely are due to bandwidth (buffering) not the apps. Do some steamers buffer better than others would be a good thing to know?

Long-time (content) Tidal user here.  But I'm always open to other opinions.

I have a lot of obscure musical interests (like 1970s Soviet and Eastern European jazz & progressive rock) that Tidal serves surprisingly well.  But I have one big issue with the service:  When accessing it via various Android and eqpt-mfr apps, I have no access to the credits or artist information that Tidal provides in generous quantities in its Windows interface.

How does Qobuz compare on this front?

And, no, before somebody chimes in with a mansplanation, I have no interest in adding a third-party interface like Roon.

The Qobuz default player was slightly better than Tidal's, although both can stream with the top of the players, Audirvana, and tie on that.  However, most importantly, Tidal is giving me the new king of reasons to subscribe to a streaming service in the first place:  8 rotating smart custom playlists.

It's unbelievable how well my playlists give me a list of unheard tracks based on what I favorite, and also gives 8 unique rotating lists, based on what I play.  Tidal wins that prize, and Qobuz is actually LAST place, out of all services I tried, because my playlist had nothing to do with me, and never changed anyways.  Their home page recommendations list was small, and didn't change for 2 months, and then, only very slightly.  Tidal always tells me when something new comes out.  With Qobuz, all you can really do, is find stuff to look for somewhere else, and then manually search for them.  I don't see the big deal about having a library-only service, even though that's what I initially only thought I would be getting for subscribing, anyways.  Tidal beat my expectations of a streaming service, by giving me a colossal 8 custom smart playlists.

All streamer default player apps suck, Tidall's was the least bad VS a standalone player, until Qobuz somehow managed to almost equal a standalone player.  But I only need a player's default app during gaming, otherwise Audirvana was the newest best sounding file-only player before supporting streaming, and compared to the default player apps, is almost perfection of streaming.

I have compared both on my system and with a couple of different streamers and prefer Qobuz. Fortunately, I have not had any drop out issues like some others have run into.

I have both. As others have  said, to my ears there is no across-the-board correct answer some tracks sound better on tidal and  some better on qobuz

i generally  prefer Qobuz but honestly the difference when comparing tracks is very slight  to my ears if noticeable at all 

 I'm listening to Hans Zimmer-Blade Runner right now and it's blowing me out of the

nice movie + ost

Agreed and no drop out issues.  I’d still lol at the fact that maybe they have higher resolution and your equipment and streaming needs to handle that …  This is only an option 

I prefer Qobuz, sonically.  I can hear little if any difference between their streams and my stored tracks of the same music.  Like others here, I find their presentation crisper and more lively than Tidal.

I had Qobuz but cancelled it and went back to tidal. Too many dropouts and software issues. I have very few issues with tidal and they also dropped the price. I’ll stick with tidal. 

Qobuz sounded more detailed and organic on my systems based on the same tracks at the same volume levels. Cancelling Tidal and going with Qobuz was a no-brainer decision.

@bobbyloans 

I have a Sonore streamer mainlined via ethernet.  But still get these “pauses” via Roon.  I think it is, meta data updates, as best I can tell.  I have lots and lots of tracks.  When Roon wants to update, it updates. Which is different that the pauses I am talking about. Now that I think abut it, it probably has nothing to do with Tidal vs. Qobuz.  I think it is all about Roon.  Sorry for the confusing question.

I have both also and find differences depending on the recording. Some Tidal tracks sound better but for the most part I lean to Qubuz more often. Regarding drop outs; I’d look more at your streaming source and internet connection. Are you streaming via WiFi or direct Ethernet? I switched to fiber over Ethernet as my last connection and it was dramatically better all around.  Senore makes a great product.  Sorry to go off track guys

Do any of you Qobuz users ever have drop outs or meta data update pauses in its service?

In my experience it depends on the streamer. With Lumin U1 Mini as Roon end point Tidal sounded better to me. With Bricasti M3 inbuilt network card used as Roon end point I also found Tidal more to my liking. 
With Aurender N200 I prefer Qobuz. I use Tidal now to stream music that does not exist on Qobuz. 

I have both Tidal and Qobuz running on my Aurender N200 and Vault 2i in sys 2.   They both sound excellent but I have to give the edge to Qobuz.   Tidal has some great live recordings which is why I keep it.   

I have both, and I’ve spent numerous hours comparing the two. In my experience/system, one doesn’t sound superior to the other across the board. Some tracks sound better via Tidal, and some tracks sound better via Qobuz. I find the differences in sound quality between Tidal and Qobuz to be negligible at best, so I use Tidal as my Roon default. Happy listening.

I'm a new and happy Qobuz user. It took a couple of weeks to get the cabling right on my streamer but it's a very good source. I'm listening to Hans Zimmer-Blade Runner right now and it's blowing me out of the room with the volume just at a very low to moderate level.

When I compared Qobuz sounded better. Additionally Qobuz has over half a million high rez albums and Tidal has a small fraction.

I started with Tidal and after a year of urging by my audio guy, I started a free month with Qobuz… I cancelled my Tidal subscription within days.

Qobuz always sounded more "wholesome" and "meaty" to me.

I cancelled Tidal for the same reason, couldn't stand being starved.