Qobuz vs Tidal

re: Streaming Wars - 

In January & March this year, Qobuz seemed to fix a number of bugs and addressed service complaints, dropped pricing some, which allowed them to pull ahead some with audiophiles re/joining. 

Can't imagine Amazon will sit idle with evolution, and Spotify needs to get it in gear with Lossless and offer what they tried in Beta in 2017. Still think Spotify has the best UI and learning engine. If Amazon bought Spotify, they'd be capable of putting Tidal and Qobuz out of business.  

Three years from now, we'll look back about what "was" in 2020.  

@edcyn
Qobuz has a slightly warmer, more lifelike tonal balance and slightly better imaging.

Similar observations with Qobuz. Back and forth multiple times again recently between Tidal and Qobuz (FLAC 16/44.1) using my 16-bit R2R ladder DAC. Hearing more layering and midrange clarity with Qobuz, was not expecting this. It does sound different.

While Tidal says the Hi-Fi service is true FLAC lossless, for some reason I hear a slight bass bump and the ultra highs are slightly compressed, less air, rounded off a tad compared to Qobuz. I thought I read somewhere someone shared Tidal’s software engine does something to mess with the flac files, tracks, but  can't prove that. Don't recall the source dissuasion.   

Finding several references indicating Qobuz has more albums in Hi-Res Audio quality. I don't use hi-rez MQA and only need the service with the most Lossless FLAC (CD Redbook) quality files, offering the most "remastered" albums, even better.

Not a Tidal or Qobuz fanboy, could care less about brands, only care about the provider who offers the best FLAC service and ease of use, access, to quality content. If Spotify offered FLAC/Lossless, it would be game over, but they do not - not yet. Maybe some year! 

SOUND:  
Still confused why I'm hearing a notable difference between Tidal vs. Qobuz for simple CD 16-bit/44.1 FLAC tracks   ???

1. Why Qobuz sounds closer to real CD, more accurate, layered, with better instrument separation ??? (on my all-tube system).

2. Is Tidal doing something to alter or bass-boost their FLAC tracks?

3. Has anyone found Amazon Music HD (FLAC/Lossless) to sound more rolled off or more compressed (856k average) comparatively?

@dannad
For just regular HD (CD quality), I don't think there is any difference. 

dannad, 
Nope, not talking MQA. Don't use MQA, prefer not to. Yes, hearing a difference for sure. Yes, specifically talking "regular HD CD quality" - FLAC Lossless only and yes, hearing a worthy difference.  

re: Tidal vs. Qobuz sound with CD quality tracks (16/44.1) only;  

Update:
Checked with a few critical-listener colleagues today who are using my exact same MHDT DAC (16-bit R2R Ladder tube design) and (both with similar type all-tube audio systems) hear a distinguishable difference at CD quality level with Qobuz vs. Tidal. Both report it's not the same to them either.  In fact, one switched from Tidal to Qobuz today as a result sampling 3 well regarded albums.  He indicated "instantly hearing a quality improvement with Qobuz over Tidal with regular CD bit/transfer rate". And, he too is a long term Tidal consumer like me.  We are now of the belief Tidal is doing something during digital transfer to alter even CD tracks, somehow. Will need to read up more on Tidal's software engine.   

Listening now:
Just sampled several tracks I've played for the past year with Tidal Hi-Fi. With Qobuz there is this a notable naturalness to strings and voices - more similar to CD through my same DAC with a tad more enjoyable tone and texture there. I use string/eectric guitar and piano keys as a reference too. My ear is particularly tuned to these instruments, fwiw.  


TIN PAN ALLEY - Stevie Ray Vaughan:
>>Listen to this track on Spotify Premium, then Tidal Hi-Fi, then Qobuz Studio Premier and compare<<.  Qobuz is simply more natural to me. 

LANDSLIDE - Fleetwood Mac (2017 Remastered):
>>Listen to the tone of the strings and texture of her voice and compare<<. High strings offer a very nice tone and timbre on Qobuz. 

Qobuz Studio Premier is nice.  It also could be our MHDT DACs are helping to realize the difference in 16-bit FLAC. It’s not smeared with Qobuz CD-FLAC quality, at all.  I don’t know what it is, but really like it.  Tried Amazon, will revisit quarterly. Thought for sure Amazon would dominate soon, not yet IMO. 

Glad to see the competition with streaming services heating back up!  

dannad,
Thank you for the suggestions. Tidal keeps bombarding me with 4 months for free, so maybe I will sign up and try those tracks. Never been a fan of Spotify sound though, and I think that is beyond just u

In addition to sound differences, spent the entire weekend on Qobuz comparing the back-end application functionality, catalog, and playlists featured. IF you are are daily streamer, its worth researching more.

Qobuz is different from Tidal, in more ways than I had originally thought. I’d recommend looking at both on trial and give yourself time to figure out which one offers what you want for services, access, sound, content, and extended features.

I canceled Spotify Premium and Tidal HiFi today and subscribed to Qobuz to try it for a while primarily for the sound and differences in how content is arranged and presented, and see it more as a "preference" decision.