Tidal vs Quobuz

I have been a Tidal user for a few years, with an MQA capable Mytek Brooklyn Dac+. For the holidays I decided to try the trial version of Qobuz, and compare the two services through Roon. Each service has its pros and cons but the most important factor for me was SQ. And on it Tidal MQA was better and more dynamic in my system. Qobuz sounded rather flat compared to Tidal. Again, this is based on the listening experience in my system and I understand it'll be different for others based on their setup. Thank god for free trials. 

I subscribe to both Tidal and Qobuz.  At the time I added Qobuz, my system only supported first level MQA unfold.  I found I generally, but not always, preferred Qobuz high-res to to Tidal.  However, I recently added a DAC (the dCS Bartok) which has excellent MQA support.  With that, I was somewhat surprised to find my preference reversed.  Generally, I now find the Tidal MQA version of a track equal to or superior the high-res Qobuz version.  However, I plan on keeping both services, as there is still a lot of music that I am looking for that is only present on one of the services.

@decooney   Since using Amazon HD, have you by chance gone back and compared "sound quality", and sound stage depth with something like Tidal Connect? I have not, yet. I’m listening for any degradation with AirPlay2.

It has been a few years since I have looked at this so I gladly stand corrected if any of the below information is wrong.

In short the Airplay protocol transcodes all audio to 16/44.1 ALAC. So trying to play a file at a higher bit rate than that is useless if quality is a concern.

I would avoid using Airplay or Airplay2 at all unless the source file is encoded in 16/44.1 ALAC to begin with or you are not overly concerned about quality loss.

I have been a long time user of the original Airport Express 1st gen and also the 2nd gen as well. I have these hooked up for my garage, kitchen, and basement stereo. My family and most friends have iPhones so the convenience factor outweighs any quality degradation. In my mind this is still one the best wireless audio solutions available even though it does have limitations.  

When using optical out and a good DAC it is very hard to beat the combined value of audio quality and convenience that Airplay on an Airport Express provides. However, if you do not need the convenience of wireless audio then a wired connection is ALWAYS better when playing High Res tracks!

I will say that the way the 2nd gen Airport Express handles the transcoding of High Res FLAC files is beyond horrible. I have noticed a lot of distortion on the 2nd Gen, even when using optical out. When playing the same tracks using optical out on 1st Gen Airport Express, the distortion is not noticeable unless you are using higher quality equipment, and then you should not be using Airplay in the first place JMHO...

But alas the 1gen Airport express does not support multi-room audio and is now a bit of a pain to configure so keep this in mind when purchasing. They can be had for as low as $10 off eBay though.

Since most Tidal files are 16/44.1 FLAC I doubt you will notice any audio quality issues when using Airplay. It was when I was playing 24/192 FLAC off of Amazon HD over Airplay2 that things started sounding really bad.

When it comes to how Tidal Connect functions, or how various AVR's handle Airplay2 I honestly do not know. I have had a Denon AVR-X3700H for a month now but have simply not had the time to see how Airplay2 or any wireless functionality works on it. I would still assume that all Airplay Audio is transcoded to 16/44.1 ALAC and so would avoid using it for High Res FLAC playback.

To me Airplay does have its place and still beats bluetooth when it comes to sound quality. But in short, whenever trying to get the best listening experience possible I would avoid using any form of a wireless audio connections.

@highpeakrider

I use Qobuz in my (not new) cars with Bluetooth. Don’t have to sign in ever. Car controls let me skip/repeat a track. Easy peasy.

Don’t know if “apple play” sound is better? Don’t know how it could be?

Add “Tunein” and you have radio with Qobuz. It’s that simple.

Radio does not appear on phone app so no radio link for car but does on iPad for home use.

@highpeakrider I use Qobuz in my (not new) cars with Bluetooth. Don’t have to sign in ever. Car controls let me skip/repeat a track. Easy peasy.

Don’t know if “apple play” sound is better? Don’t know how it could be?

A wired Apple Carplay connection would let you play files at a higher bit rate than Bluetooth. A Bluetooth connection will always be lossy. There are a few exclusions to this rule but in general whenever you use Bluetooth for streaming you may as well be playing a lossy MP3 file.