STREAMING - QOBUZ VS TIDAL AND ROON'S PREFERENCES


I am 100% digital using Roon.  I play from my extensive hard drive, Qobuz and Tidal.  I love to find new music using Roon Radio or Roon suggestions.  Here is my issue:  I generally find Qobuz to sound better on my system.  I do not have final unfold of MQA on my Tambaqui DAC; yet ROON always defaults to a Tidal version.

So I will search 'versions' and select the highest resolution of a Qobuz version.

Can Roon be set to default to Qobuz vs defaulting to a Tidal version?

Do others agree that Qobuz sounds better?

fastfreight

Showing 1 response by jbroitzman

I have been using Tidal HiFi ($19.99 plan) for years now and recently got a new 2 channel system and wanted to try something different because I wasn't blown away by the sound with Tidal.  I now have a Prima Luna Evo 400 integrated amp and GoldenEar Triton One.R speakers.  My source is a Bluesound Node streaming over WiFi and then through Music Fidelity MX-DAC (lovely sounding and affordable btw).  I have always been suspicious of MQA because I could never hear a difference with it on or off and don't understand the unfolding process.  I am blown away by the difference Qobuz makes ($12.99 plan).  The soundstage opened up and the mid-bass and bass is much stronger.  I had to dial back the subwoofer sections of my tower speakers because the bottom end was so much stronger.  I think the sound is more balanced now and it sounds stunning.  As far as the interface I think they both leave something to be desired.  I would love to see more options for sorting songs within favorites and playlists.  Also I found that all of my music library was licensed to stream with Qobuz when many songs no longer were with Tidal.  

My 2 cents.  Thanks, James.