Tidal FLAC vs. Qobuz


Does the recent change by Tidal, from MQA to FLAC make Tidal the better choice for streaming?  Or, since Tidal only seems to offer FLAC on its own app and not the BluOS defeat the purpose since you need to transmit by Bluetooth instead of ethernet?  

Currently, I stream from Tidal over direct ethernet cable to a Bluesound Vault streamer, to a McIntosh amp and Revel speakers.  I have a trial membership to  Qobuz but I find Tidal has a much better catalog.  Since Tidal added Flac I thought it would be the obvious choice moving forward, but isn't the point of FLAC defeated since you need to send wirelessly from the Tidal app over Bluetooth?

mojo771

Showing 1 response by audphile1

@mojo771 if you are streaming via Bluetooth then really it doesn’t matter what streaming service you use. You’re sending lossy audio to your streamer. That’s a waste of money so might as well cancel your tidal and just use free Spotify or the cheaper Apple Music or Amazon music. 
As to the catalog, I find albums and artists on Tidal that don’t exist in Qobuz.
I listen to rock, jazz and classical. One example is a band I discovered thanks to Roon radio feature…The Stimulators. Only exists on Tidal. They have several tracks that are really good and all of their albums are recorders well. 
There are more examples. However, Qobuz has a larger selection of high res music. If you only care about library selection, I would stick with Tidal.