Qobuz hell

someone should merge the Qobuz problem threads

I have no trouble with Qobuz via my Android phone, Small Green Computer Sonic Orbiter and Sonare Ultra Rendu.  Used in conjunction with Roon.

Qobuz works well and sounds good as it should to me. I use mainly with Roon on Cambridge streamers. If in doubt, I would stick to more widely used product lines.

Thank you. This thread is the reason I signed up for tidal instead.

Qobuz "customer service" in one word: awful.   

Signed up Feb 24, after 4 days cancelled seemingly w/o issue.  Have the documentation for signup and cancel for cc company if ncessary. Not anticipating any issues.

For me, too many annoying dropouts versus what I have experienced using Pandora Plus which exhibited zero issues over >1 year of use. The streamer/setup matters little because it works great w/everything else, and since I've read stories where throwing resources at the gremlin (Cat 6 cables, etc) didn't help, I abandoned the thought of that approach entirely. I reached out to the manufacturer who "unfortunately" could not offer a potential solution. 

Since the stream is largely for background when WFH, P+ with its limited catalog is good enough. I agree w/others that the Qobuz interface is a bit clunky, but did enjoy the SQ of the hi res, esp the increased dynamic range. 

@mirolab

I spent a week trying to get in touch with them. They responded to the chat twice. basically blowing me off. Then I opened a case with my cc company and was done. They should not have a license to operate such scams.

So I did try Qobuz for the past month, and I'm now trying to cancel it.  Yeah, it's not easy.  While I'm 99% sure I signed up for the monthly service, they went and charged me $129 for an entire year!  I was able to stop the renewal, but I'm still stuck with a 1-year purchase that I did not want. I don't mind losing 12.99/mo to try it out, but not willing to sacrifice $130!   Their customer service chat is "not available" and there's no way to leave a message or email them.  I have no choice but to dispute the charge with my credit service, and waiting to see how that goes.  

"Cancelling any subscription on the web is a pain"

sometimes I have to call customer support and ask where can I cancel and they direct me to my settings, change my profile then go to some feedback page, login again, find the uncontinue link, set it to suspend unti 2099 and then confirm it via email too :)

I have been a Qobuz subsciber since their beginning in France. Hi Res was is still is audibly better than cd quality. I used Slimdevices transporter and now  Aurender NH100  which ties in to Qobuz nicely.  I also bougnt many hi res albums (over 100) . The hard drive version used to sound a bit better, but now with clean ethernet the difference in gone. 

I had Spotify for its suggestion algorithm, then got the songs from Qobuz. Big difference in SQ. I cancelled Spotify to protest their disinformation endorsment and moved to Apple music., much improved since 5 years ago. Better suggestion algorithm, covers all languages and styles, not 80s biased like Tidal. (I think MQA is not convincing and doomed). 

Cancelling any subscription on the web is a pain. Everything is done to make you fumble and forget a little detail. Qobuz should do better on this.

Just FYI for those in the U.S. who might not know: If you like Tidal (any paid tier, with or without MQA) you can get it for a yearly subscription through Best Buy "dirt cheap", and make it price competitive with any other streaming service. That’s what I have: Tidal HiFi (no MQA) CD quality and I’m more than happy with it, especially now that more streamers have the Tidal Connect app. Ease of use is almost as important as sound quality, at least for me.

@steakster 

Thanks for the Tidal advice.... you know, I have not made any of my own playlists at all.  I do lots of searches, and play songs and albums, but haven't spent the time to make playlists, as I don't think I'd ever play a playlist that I made. 

Which brings me to a thought.... why isn't there a manual or user guide or tutorial on how best to use Tidal??  I remember looking for info on how to use the app, and came up empty.  Maybe its on me for not digging more, but I still find myself swearing at the interface!  

Can it, if you don't like it.

These quys are here to give you a bad deal.  That' s how they make their money.  Like the victims of a Ponzi scheme or crypto, there are always enough idiots out there.

Until there aren't.

@mirolab 

I will definitely check out Tidal. In all honesty, Qobuz could be decent, if it weren't for the connection drops and the lame search. It's hard to believe they couldn't write decent queries that would literally take a day or two.

As a frustrated Tidal user, I am 2 weeks into trying out Qobuz. I really hate Tidal’s interface (using app on Mac & IOS), and they seem to push R&B and Rap rather than the music I actually listen to. I don’t like their playlists.

Qobuz does not yet have volume normalization... so that’s frustrating. I do like their album info better than Tidal. They look like actual liner notes, whereas Tidal’s credits page is not pleasant at all. Qobuz music selection is far less. That may well decide it for me. I’d really rather have more selection than ultimate sound quality. I’m not a fan MQA, but it’s not a deal breaker either.

I’ve recorded identical songs from both platforms into my DAW, and gotten them to "very nearly" null when inverted and level matched. It’s just stupid to see "MASTER" on audio that’s been heavily limited in the mastering, and then lowered by 6 dB for level matching, and then claiming some benefit by it being MQA. What the heck good is MQA on dynamically limited rock music??

To be honest, I’ve had more FUN listening on Spotify, thanks to their great selection of playlists. They claim that the Premium bitrate is 256kbs, but it sounds a bit worse than that. It’s OK, but the same tracks sound FAR superior at full resolution. I've found that using Spotify via web browser is not volume normalized, but using the Mac App, it WAS normalized (to -12 LUFS I think).

As of this moment, I think I’ll give up on Qobuz, and keep Tidal and Spotify.

I happen to LOVE Qobuz and sorry your experience is not a good one.  I DO agree their customer service sucks, as for the FINANCIAL issue there is an easy fix. File a dispute with your credit card company and let them handle it for you. That’s when QOBUZ will have no choice but address your issue. 

Personally I find Qobuz superior Tidal, Apple and Amazon. Never a problem with the service and it integrates quite well with Aurender. 

Call the card company and tell them the story.  They can stop payment. I use "Discover" and they are great to work with.

@philosurfer 

the chat is not supposed to work like that. You don't chat with some and get back to them in one business day. That's what email is for

@grislybutter

Re: the chat window, I’ve used it before - you just have to wait. The times I’ve used it, they got back to me within one business day. They're in France, so you have to keep the time zones in mind.

@philosurfer 

that link - the chat is DEAD. No one responds to it. I also tried the email address, nothing. 

The last time I had something like this was with Brussel Airlines that had their call center in Suva, Fiji, with 0 competence. But at least they responded. Seems like their idea of customer service is a chat window, where you can type things. How original and frugal.

Yes, Qobuz definitely needs to work on their customer service. I'd saved a link: 

but now it's different, but I can still get to a contact point via a lot less trial and error.

Regarding the service, I didn't like their Windows interface (cell/tablet apps always seem limiting to me, vs. a full screen and the information/options it can show) - and in the beginning I was accessing Qobuz via the Bluesound Windows program, yet another serious limitation.

I ended up buying the Roon software, and that got rid of all the problems I was having with the Qobuz program. As regards music "hanging" sometimes while listening, I recently replaced my DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem with a DOCSIS 3.1 version - same speed - and all those problems disappeared (DOCSIS 3.1 isn't just helpful with getting higher max speed service if your provider offers it; it's got performance improvements that make any bandwidth tier more responsive).

I realize that the Roon software purchase is expensive, but they've got a subscription plan. For discovering new music related to your tastes, organizing everything and much, much more, I wouldn't want to be using any of the current streaming services without it.

I've seen one or more criticisms of MQA, here, and it just doesn't jibe with my experience. Maybe I've got a "better" sound system or just more inclusive tastes, but I've listened to some MQA music and didn't have a problem. Of course, much more depends on the processing in the front end of the process (recording and mastering equipment and choices), but on a good, flexible system there shouldn't be an issue. If people have objections from a simply mental pov (numbers people) without much regard for psychoacoustics, you have my sympathies; for me it's all about the music.

Qobuz, Are you listening?  Your search engine is terrible.  I search for a song by title, and it brings up many many other songs with different titles, and then, far down the list, is the song with the exact title.  It is not just me.  This is a foundational feature to your product - please fix it.  

@bobbyloans

"This is a fairly lame forum topic "

and everyone else.

I am happy for everyone who enjoys qobuz.

For me, connection dropping is a show-stopper. Which happened all the time.

Now about customer service:

They did not honor my request to cancel it from 01/16 (the request that was supposed to happen when it said it did 2 weeks ago). They cancelled it now, so it would be live until 02/16, Except that I can no longer log in.

SO THEY CONTINUE TO CHARGE ME WHILE THEY DELETED MY ACCOUNT.

They are either incompetent or scumbags. Just one story, one view. It’s one of the worst customer services that I experienced. I also emailed them 24 hours ago at the support address, no response.

Since now I get all the errors on the web site in French, I assume (and I looked it up) they are located in France. It is also a window into communication and customer service outside the US. E.g. in my old country, there is pretty much 0 customer service, vendor is the king 

I continue to use Qobuz exclusively.

The Qobuz UI is indeed BLEAK. Worse than useless, in my opinion.

However, I use Qobuz via Roon, so the UI is a non-issue, except in the car.  I stream through a Linn Akurate System Hub in my main home system and through a Bluesound Node 2i in my second system, and I am very happy with the SQ in both setups. 

I have not used other services, so I cannot speak to the Qobuz catalogue relative to other services.  With a few notable exceptions (ZZ Top Deguello and many Telarc offerings), however, most of what I want is there.  The Telarc omissions are indeed regrettable (but I wonder if the other services are any better in this respect), but I have most of the Telarc I want already ripped from CDs onto the HD in my Roon Nucleus.  

I am very happy with the Linn/Roon/Qobuz setup and not itching in the least to do something different.

Quboz with Roon works great. I’m not getting rid of it.

First, why didn’t you like it? I’m trying to decide if I want to get into subscription streaming. Also, can’t you just cut off your credit card? I’m sorry that you’ve had a bad experience but those of us who are still deciding want to hear you’re story. 

I love Quboz, it has revolutionized how I discover and listen to music. I have zero issues with the service. It’s regretful that a few have problems, but this should not dissuade others from trying it.

My $0.02... Qobuz is the first and only streaming service I have used.  In combo with Roon, I find navigation pretty easy using search function.  Sound is pretty good, streamed through Sonore Ultra Rendu into Sonore Ultra Digital into a Denafrips Pontus II via I2S over HDMI.  I don't notice any bass bloat.  Yes, there have been fruitless searches, and then there are the files that do come up, but with that dreaded red "not available" warning.  But I have used Qobuz to add many albums to my library that I could never afford to buy, even if I could find them.  My library has gone from about 2200 albums to over 5000 since joining Qobuz.  The seamless integration of my server with Roon and Qobuz is fantastic.

I don't have anything special in terms of signal transfer, but I did move from WiFi to Ethernet when I got the Sonic Orbiter bundle from Small Green Computer.  So far, no dropouts at any resolution, only a rare, slight click or pop, like from an LP.  I am talking like once a week or so.

But, as they say, YMMV.

I tried Tidal and still use Spotify some. I recently tried Amazon Music and find it sounds the best of the 3 for me. I a using my Samsung S9 phone into a Wiim Pro streaming into a Topping E30 DAC (AKM chip). I connect the DAC via RCA aux input into my Willsenton A8 tube amp. Sounds as good as my vinyl rig... a vintage Pioneer 707 deck, Darlington Labs MP7 phono amp with a Stanton 681 cart with a fineline stylus.

Enjoying my low/mid-fi digital bliss!

Never tried Qobuz or MQA

This is a fairly lame forum topic but I’ll add my 2 cents and agree that you may be frustrated for other reasons. Possible your dislike to the quality could be your equivalent. I’ve compared Tidal and Quobuz. I found the sound quality at the highest  playback levels was much better using Quobuz   
I will agree 100% that finding a song is EXTREMELY frustrating   You need to look through entire albums to find it.  If they fix that there’s no comparison in my opinion. Also $8 or $12 or anything that is less than $100 in this expensive hobby should just be a write off.  Don’t lose sleep over it. 
beet of luck to you 

My playlist on Qobuz is full of the songs I grew up listening to and a lot of new ones as well from suggestions from members here. I use the BluOS app and it works great. Couldn’t be happier

I also had problem canceling Qobuz, and did it with a call to my credit card company.  
  Qobuz was reasonably stable with my streamers at home but was terrible on the move, whether I was walking or driving, with both Apple and Android mobile devices

I also dropped Qobuz. Had nothing to do with SQ, so my streamer selection is irrelevant. The UI was far worse than Tidal and Spotify, so I’ve stuck with those. Finding a selection, an album, a good playlist, etc is a big part of the experience and I‘m very happy with Tidal Hifi (no MQA) for SQ. Thankfully I had no issue cancelling Qobuz.

Really don't know why a few posters here want to leave Qobuz, for me it's the best quality streaming service and works well. 

Why?

Cancelling Qobux is straightforward - go to the Qi=obuz website for your country. Click on your username top-right, select my account and you will get options to Change Plan, Update Your Payment Method and Cancel - the latter is even in red text.

The only downside is that, as others have said, your subscription will continue to the end of your payment month if you pay monthly or the end of your payment year if you pay annually (i.e. no refunds on subscriptions that you committed to).

As for searching sometimes Qobuz can be a bit clunky, but then so can Tidal and Deezer (I have had both), but certainly not so much as Amax=zon Music (which I have also had). Spotify seems to be the only one that gets that right.

The only dropouts I have ever had were when trying to play 192kHz material in the car when lost mobile (cell) signal. This is, of course, purely a function of the signal that you supply to Qobuz!

Quality - on my system the sound quality is excellent (Moon MIND 2 into a Moon 650D CDAC/CD Transport, Moon 700i and Sonus Faber Concertos, all cables are Nordost), certainly up there with CD replay for 44kHz material and for higher resolution material there seems to be that extra bit of magic. In the car, I would struggle to tell the difference from any other service.

I found Qobuz much improved from all points of view including sound quality over both Tidal (especially the lack of French R&B suggestions), Deezer and as for Amazon ;-(

Interesting how different experiences are for each person, and shows once again one size doesn’t fit all. I’ve had subscriptions to Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz, I’ve still got Qobuz and Spotify, the others have gone. Tidal in the UK costs £25 a month, that is ridiculous compared to other platforms, not only that I’m dubious about MQA and don’t like to feel cheated. The library for my tastes, which is extremely varied, was very poor on Tidal, all of that meant I got rid. Qobuz catalogue surprises me more each day, I rarely ever don’t find something I’m looking for which includes some random music from far-flung countries. The app does need work, but I have written to support with suggestions and always get a quick reply and even a suggestion actioned (maybe they were already going to do it but it happened soon after my message). The app does need work, but it’s close to being as good as you’d hope. 
One thing I always wonder is when people say the suggestions are weak, I’ve never found any app to reliably suggest music. On all of them, including Spotify, I have to search through to find the ones I like, this takes time and I think it’s this time people don’t want to put in. Personally I enjoy that search, the gems you find are more rewarding. 
I keep Spotify around simply for podcasts and to easily send music to friends as they all have Spotify and don’t listen or care about Hi-Res. The two packages cost me £23 per month, that’s less than a Tidal subscription, for a better catalogue of ahi-Res and good customer support. I think I have to agree that for one months error this seems like a huge overreaction and possibly is the reason your customer support agent wasn’t pleasant, perhaps your approach matched this reaction here. 
I’d take a moment, put this into perspective, then try with them again.

“Among those complaining of Qobuz SQ, nobody reveals what streamers they are using”
@hickamore

That’s so true. Very few realize here that UI like Roon, Audirvana and hardware both impacts the final rendering (sound). Conductor app is one of the best UI that doesn’t temper or should I say molest the bitstream like Roon or Audirvana. One of the reason. I still prefer Conductor app and Aurender over Roon any other hardware supporting Roon.

I prefer Qobuz over any otter streaming service! 

I have done a Qobuz trial twice because of all the praise here. Both times I cancelled before the trial end and received an email confirmation saying thank you and that I can continue using it until the full trial time is over…. No issues here.
During my trials, I used Qobuz on a Bricasti M5, iFi Stream and Macbook pro. I tried it with Roon, Audirvana, Amarra and direct with the Ap. Both times I came to the conclusion Tidal just sounds better to me on my system. I don’t have opinions good or bad on MQA. Sounds fine to me. I have settled in on Room with Tidal Hi Res billed $120 annually and not looking back.

so their operating hours is from 10AM GMT to 5PM GMT. That's it. 7 hours. They don't respond outside that. Which, on the West Coast is absolutely useless. 

Amazing. I thought I have seen the worst customer service.

I agree Qobuz selection/library is boring, entry level catalogue, nothing deep. I quit for that reason.

With Roon I prefer Qobuz over Tidal. 

Among those complaining of Qobuz SQ, nobody reveals what streamers they are using. I am using Aurender N200 for only one week, all other variables constant, and only now am finding the "bass bloat" reported by others above. Hmmm. Could be need to try a different DAC. Maybe just a bad couple nights on Ethernet. 
As for Qobuz itself, I hate (loathe, detest, cannot bear) MQA, so no more Tidal, ever. Remains to be determined what SQ is being lost with Apple Music, but ease of use is worth a certain degree of loss in all but the most critical listening circumstances. Jury is out here and need more evidence from there. 
Time for an updated 2023 session on Best Streaming Services And Why.

@ltmandella I was 13 days away from the renewal date. Which is why it's so annoying.

I had a different dissatisfaction with QOBUZ which caused me to cancel.  The cancellation worked fine for me.

I wonder, could you have been close in time to the start of a new month's subscription, and there is some time difference issue considering QOBUZ is an international organization?

thanks @lalitk 

@grislybutter

Try this email, support-help@qobuz.com

If you don’t get a response, try these steps to permanently delete your account.

https://intercom-help.eu/qobuz/en/articles/10174-how-do-i-delete-my-account

@lalitk 

how do you contact them, via email or chat?