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Qobuz vs Tidal

Just sharing my recent experience.  I'll be brief.  I've been a dedicated music streamer for the past 4 years and have enjoyed it immensely.  I always had both Tidal and Qobuz at my disposal, but because Tidal had a more extensive music catalog, sound quality comparable to Qobuz, and seemed more user friendly, I decided to make Tidal my Roon default (most all of my music library was Tidal).  All was well and sounding great.  Yes, I was fully aware of the fact that Qobuz was widely recognized as the "audiophile's" choice over Tidal, but when I occasionally did "brief" comparisons between the two, I thought the differences in sound quality were negligible, so I left things as they were.  Well, after all this time, just the other day, while watching high end audio show video footage on youtube, I noticed that all of the exhibitors who were streaming their music were using Qobuz, as opposed to Tidal.  This observation prompted me to really want go back, take my time, and see for myself which streaming service really did sound best to my ears.  After hours of back and forth comparisons, I have to say, Qobuz came out on top.  What I noticed was that Qobuz sounded slightly more focused, more refined, more natural and real-to-life.  I was convinced!!!  I believe that switching to Qobuz from Tidal actually succeeded in elevating the overall sound quality of my listening experience a notch.  I immediately began the process of converting my entire music library from Tidal over to Qobuz.  Happy listening.                                    

kennymacc
mswale
187 posts
 

Have both, on my system, they are about the same. As said, some sound better on Tidal, some sound better on Qobuz. 

This IMHO is a tie

App, Tidal is so much better here, but lacking compared to Spotify.

Winner Tidal

Catalog, Tidal

TV apps, Tidal canceled it's TV app.

Winner Qobuz

Monthly rate

Tidal gives me a veteran discount I pay $5 a month 

Winner Tidal

On the move, Qobuz drops less then Tidal, also buffers better on my iPhone.

In the house, they are the same

Winner Qobuz

Tidal 4 Qobuz 3

Winner Tidal!

kennymacc OP
494 posts
 

@ronboco 

 Roon manages all my music albums/files/library under one roof, including Tidal, Qobuz, and all my ripped CDs.  When I choose a particular album to play, I can also look to see a list of all the "versions" of that album that are available to choose from, which will  include all of the above.  My Roon default is Tidal, which means, until I change that, every time I add an album to my library, it is automatically added as a Tidal album.  All I had to do to convert all my Tidal albums to Qobuz was to simply: choose an album, go down the list of "versions" options,  choose the Qobuz version as my  primary album, and it will automatically replace the Tidal version in my library.  I can switch back and forth anytime I please.  I hope this helps.  Happy listening      

ronboco
875 posts
 

@kennymacc 

Sounds like a great way to handle that! I don’t have roon so I wasn’t sure what the best way to go about it is. I have tidal and Qobuz but only use Qobuz now so I was wondering if there is an easier way than writing all the songs in tidal down then pulling them up on Qobuz one at a time to find the version I like. 

jastralfu's avatar
jastralfu
470 posts
 

@ronboco i was able to export/import my Tidal playlists, artists, and songs into Qobuz using Soundiiz.  At least I think that was the software.  It was really easy to do.

ronboco
875 posts
 

@jastralfu 

thank you. I will try that 

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