Qobuz Discussion Thread

[Ruffter]

20 hours ago, Tobes said:

Can't help with your issue, hopefully someone with Chromecast chips in, but shouldn't be your internet connection.

My hobbled FTTN service only manages about 30Mb/s (thanks Liberal party), but I haven't had any buffering since some brief initial issues when the Hi-res titles came online. 

There are sometimes issues with how ISP's prioritise different content - ie streaming services should be given a guaranteed minimum bandwidth to maintain proper service. I remember teething issues with Netflix etc. 

Do you have any problems streaming Hi-res to non-Chromecast ethernet connected end points? 

Hi Tobes,

I don't have a PC where my set-up is and no other systems in my house, I will have to drag a laptop over and give it a burl at some stage. Interestingly enough, it is intermittent and I listened to some songs yesterday without issue, whereas others I changed due to constant drop-outs. I should've taken note, I wonder if it is from songs that would be on 'high rotation' amongst the streaming world. The issue did also go away when on CD quality as opposed to 96/24 (limited by the optical on the CCA), which makes me wonder further about not my internet connection, but the server at the other end?

 

Cheers,

Andrew

18 hours ago, RockandorRoll said:

No hiccups in streaming dropouts. I did have a problem using the inbuilt streamer from Edge, its seems to reduce output to 48khz.

 

Im trying the 192 playlist but am only getting 96khz output streaming from my S6 tablet. Not sure if thats a CCA thing thats dropping the rate.

Hi @RockandorRoll,

I think CCA's are limited to 96 over optical.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[cheekyboy]

2 hours ago, RyanA80 said:

I've been on Tidal for 6 months and signed up to Qobuz to compare and I have to say I played about 10 songs and a number of them sounded considerably better on Tidal than Qobuz.  Clarity and bass on particular songs was significantly better on Tidal.  

 

Good luck comparing.

 

Cheers Ryan

 

1 hour ago, El Tel said:

 

Out of interest, what songs/genres did you use to come to this decision. It could have a bearing on your preference, so am genuinely interested to know.

 

Also, were the better tracks MQA or FLAC? And furthermore, what was the playback chain incl player, DAC, headphone/speaker and connection type etc?

 

 

Hello Terry, I was thinking much the same and I also thought the sample comparison was rather small, finding a number out of 10 sounding better. I'm on around day five comparing the two platforms now and I would say I've compared at least 40+ albums on both Tidal and Qobuz and also a handful that I compared to the same albums on vinyl. I too found that some songs I played on Tidal sounded quite good and some sounded better on Tidal compared with what I was hearing on Qobuz, but these were definitely in the minority, with Qobuz overall clearly better SQ wise than Tidal on the bulk of what I played. Neither platform bettered the vinyl on any albums I played.

 

I was comparing MQA on Tidal with Hi Res on Qobuz and FLAC on both platforms. My source for both platforms is the Bel Canto Design e.One Stream and GSP Audio Majestic DAC.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Edited April 21, 2021 by cheekyboy

[NonPlayableCharacter]

16 minutes ago, cheekyboy said:

 

Hello Terry, I was thinking much the same and I also thought the sample comparison was rather small, finding a number out of 10 sounding better. I'm on around day five comparing the two platforms now and I would say I've compared at least 40+ albums on both Tidal and Qobuz and also a handful that I compared to the same albums on vinyl. I too found that some songs I played on Tidal sounded quite good and some sounded better on Tidal compared what I was hearing on Qobuz, but these were definitely in the minority, with Qobuz overall clearly better SQ wise than Tidal on the bulk of what I played. Neither platform bettered the vinyl on any albums I played.

 

I was comparing MQA on Tidal with Hi Res on Qobuz and FLAC on both platforms. My source for both platforms is the Bel Canto Design e.One Stream and GSP Audio Majestic DAC.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

Don't know if you read the post I made from yesterday about testing various DACs and sources (Tidal MQA and FLAC as well as Qobuz/local std and hires FLAC)?

 

We listened across a number of genres. Mostly rock/blues/folk, 80s New Wave and pop, a bit of mainstream jazz, but also some rap and hip hop too. Pretty varied.

 

The findings (unscientific) were based on majority assessment and were not universal. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by El Tel
Spelling. Again.

[cheekyboy]

2 minutes ago, El Tel said:

 

Don't know if you read the post I mad from yesterday about testing various DACs and sources (Tidal MQA and FLAC as well as Qobuz/local std and hires FLAC)?

 

We listened across a number of genres. Mostly rock/blues/folk, 80s New Wave and pop, a bit of mainstream jazz, but also some rap and hip hop too. Pretty varied.

 

The findings (unscientific) were based on majority assessment and were not universal. 

 

Can't say that I did................who was testing/comparing the different platforms?

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[NonPlayableCharacter]

2 minutes ago, cheekyboy said:

 

Can't say that I did................who was testing/comparing the different platforms?

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

Just me and a mate at his place. As I said, not scientific, just a few hours of subjective listening ending with a beer or two.

[Gambit 1870]

Qobuz not available in SONOS app and also not able to connect over WiFi like Spotify. 

Can cast to Google audio though. 

 

I contacted support, as just about every streaming service known to man is listed in the app except qobuz, apparently it's a geographical thing since qobuz wasn't in their list of locations. 

 

Seems they haven't caught up with the Australian release. 

 

Hurry up and wait!!

[NonPlayableCharacter]

2 minutes ago, Gambit 1870 said:

Qobuz not available in SONOS app and also not able to connect over WiFi like Spotify. 

Can cast to Google audio though. 

 

I contacted support, as just about every streaming service known to man is listed in the app except qobuz, apparently it's a geographical thing since qobuz wasn't in their list of locations. 

 

Seems they haven't caught up with the Australian release. 

 

Hurry up and wait!!

 

I put a support ticket in with Sonos last week, they said it was Qobuz legal team that needed to act. I took that and wrote to Qobuz and after a short period of confusion on their part, they then confirmed that the ball is in their court. Time-frame to fix was stated as "late April".

 

t 

[cheekyboy]

16 minutes ago, El Tel said:

 

Just me and a mate at his place. As I said, not scientific, just a few hours of subjective listening ending with a beer or two.

Yeah, sorry, I had a read of it after my post back to you. This subjective listening over a couple of beers sounds like a tough gig, but someone has to do it I guess!

[Ryan Ayers]

2 hours ago, El Tel said:

 

Out of interest, what songs/genres did you use to come to this decision. It could have a bearing on your preference, so am genuinely interested to know.

 

Also, were the better tracks MQA or FLAC? And furthermore, what was the playback chain incl player, DAC, headphone/speaker and connection type etc?

 

 

I'm running everything through a Linn streamer so MQA isn't supported for a like for like comparison.  The Amp is a McIntosh MA352 and B & W 803 D3 speakers and I like music loud so the difference is actually noticeably significant.  I mainly play pop/rock but the track that really showcased the difference was Jon Secada - Just another day.  On Tidal the bass just sounded incredible, shook the house while through Qobuz it sounded flat & had half as much punch.  

 

Apologies for upsetting any apple carts, just my opinion

[NonPlayableCharacter]

23 minutes ago, RyanA80 said:

I'm running everything through a Linn streamer so MQA isn't supported for a like for like comparison.  The Amp is a McIntosh MA352 and B & W 803 D3 speakers and I like music loud so the difference is actually noticeably significant.  I mainly play pop/rock but the track that really showcased the difference was Jon Secada - Just another day.  On Tidal the bass just sounded incredible, shook the house while through Qobuz it sounded flat & had half as much punch.  

 

Apologies for upsetting any apple carts, just my opinion

 

What *you* hear is what *you* hear.

 

Are you able to see any of Led Zeppelin's catalogue and play it? Reason I ask is that in Tidal Oz this was the first casualty I found that flushed all FLAC and only had MQA versions available. If you can play this content in Oz from an Oz Tidal account, you're playing MQA content.

 

It's entirely possible that you may be hearing a first software unfold of MQA from the streaming service plug-in software on your player, and no subsequent MQA processing if your DAC doesn't support it. That would not be the first instance I have come across where MQA sounds ok when not fully processed. In fact, the best MQA I have heard was from a DAC that is not MQA compliant. I understand (although don't have detail), that the manufacturer in question uses its own filters on content which has been software unfolded to improve the output in lieu of any proprietary MQA processing.

 

It may be leveling that made you hear the differences too. Anecdotally, people are commenting that Tidal is louder than Qobuz and that level-matching would provide a more consistent comparison.

 

t

Edited April 21, 2021 by El Tel
Spelling: fast fingers, slow brain.

[Ryan Ayers]

1 hour ago, El Tel said:

 

What *you* hear is what *you* hear.

 

Are you able to see any of Led Zeppelin's catalogue and play it? Reason I ask is that in Tidal Oz this was the first casualty I found that flushed all FLAC and only had MQA versions available. If you can play this content in Oz from an Oz Tidal account, you're playing MQA content.

 

It's entirely possible that you may be hearing a first software unfold of MQA from the streaming service plug-in software on your player, and no subsequent MQA processing if your DAC doesn't support it. That would not be the first instance I have come across where MQA sounds ok when not fully processed. In fact, the best MQA I have heard was from a DAC that is not MQA compliant. I understand (although don't have detail), that the manufacturer in question uses its own filters on content which has been software unfolded to improve the output in lieu of any proprietary MQA processing.

 

It may be leveling that made you hear the differences too. Anecdotally, people are commenting that Tidal is louder than Qobuz and that level-matching would provide a more consistent comparison.

 

t

Yes I see all the Tidal Led Zeppelin content is master, I've played a couple of their songs through both and no noticeable difference between either.

[NonPlayableCharacter]

1 minute ago, RyanA80 said:

Yes I see all the Tidal Led Zeppelin content is master, I've played a couple of their songs through both and no noticeable difference between either.

 

Led Zeppelin on Qobuz is mostly 96/24 with a couple of 48/24.

 

OK - was the Jon Secada a "master" on Tidal? Because it is only 44.1/16 on Qobuz.

[Ryan Ayers]

23 minutes ago, El Tel said:

 

Led Zeppelin on Qobuz is mostly 96/24 with a couple of 48/24.

 

OK - was the Jon Secada a "master" on Tidal? Because it is only 44.1/16 on Qobuz.

Same on Tidal, 44.1/16

[NonPlayableCharacter]

1 minute ago, RyanA80 said:

Same on Tidal, 44.1/16

Possibly leveling then.

[lenticularis]

On 16/04/2021 at 1:35 PM, lenticularis said:

I agree on Tidal's frustrating proliferation of same-named albums.

 

My Soundiiz 'transfer' of multiple playlists and followed artists has had zero success in the day since actioning. I've registered a support enquiry.

 

Seems like my Soundiiz problems were due to having a Qobuz(US) account. The Soundiiz support was excellent from Thomas ("co-founder"), and it showed that indeed a transferred playlist could be seen within my Qobuz(US) account when viewed from within Soundiiz, however:

 

No such playlists showed when using Qobuz as a standalone app, or within Auralic's Lightning DS streaming app.

 

So, today I took advantage of Audirvana's three-month Qobuz free trial and opened up another Qobuz Australia account to replace the US one. Soundiiz transfers all worked seamlessly this time.

 

My Tidal account expired on 21st so luckily I had already used Soundiiz to transfer all of my Tidal stuff back into a dormant Spotify account, then used that as the basis for the transfer to the new Qobuz(Aus) account.

 

Don't forget too that Qobuz recently had a code with which Soundiiz users can transfer multiple details from one streaming account to another (details posted somewhere in this thread), something that usually requires a US$4.50/mth Soundiiz Premium subscription. I had already signed up to that before Qobuz released the voucher, however there is no ongoing commitment required, so for the sake of about $6 I have transferred everything once and for all.

Edited April 23, 2021 by lenticularis

[Tobes]

On 20/04/2021 at 2:23 PM, Winno said:

I'm still very much liking Tidal and may end up staying for the radio and other convenience and discovery functionality. Time will tell...

You may be better off dropping Tidal and waiting for them to email a discounted offer.

Since cancelling Tidal I've received a number of offers, $17.99/mo for 12 months and 40% discount for 6 months (= $14.40/mo by my calculation, 1st deal was better).

On principle I don't think I could go back - don't want to support the proliferation of MQA and their lower artist payments are also questionable. 

[captain starlight]

5 minutes ago, Tobes said:

You may be better off dropping Tidal and waiting for them to email a discounted offer.

Since cancelling Tidal I've received a number of offers, $17.99/mo for 12 months and 40% discount for 6 months (= $14.40/mo by my calculation, 1st deal was better).

On principle I don't think I could go back - don't want to support the proliferation of MQA and their lower artist payments are also questionable. 

I’m actually thinking of dropping Tidal, keeping qobuz (which I am enjoying) - but picking up a premium Spotify account instead of tidal.

 

sure spotify doesn’t “plug into” roon but it has the better discovery option and it also allows me to easily ad new songs to my favourites when driving.  Then use soundiiz to regularly sync both accounts.

[Bunno77]

Enjoying Qobuz after a few days

 

The apps are a bit more prone to crashing and issues but not terrible or unusable. Tracks seem to take longer to change but they do buffer more of the track faster so easier to skip within the track.

 

Library seems pretty good and the SQ is very good.

[hammerharry]

Am enjoying Qobuz to now via Auralic Aries Lightening DS app. Sounds better than direct from Qobuz app which also suffers more buffering than I would like.

Have surrendered my Tidal account.

[anandpkumar]

On 24/04/2021 at 1:14 PM, Tobes said:

You may be better off dropping Tidal and waiting for them to email a discounted offer.

Since cancelling Tidal I've received a number of offers, $17.99/mo for 12 months and 40% discount for 6 months (= $14.40/mo by my calculation, 1st deal was better).

On principle I don't think I could go back - don't want to support the proliferation of MQA and their lower artist payments are also questionable. 

 

Same here.......have got offers for anything upto 40% off (for 6 months) to 25% off (for 1 year) after I discontinued with Tidal

[Guest]

Sticking with Tidal, far superior phone app and better music selection. 

[Citroen]

Almost a fortnight now with Qobuz and more often than not I'm finding it sounding better than Tidal.

 

Had a couple of glitches when first downloading offline content, but no problems since. And yes, the phone app is horrible. 

[noddyc43]

Just gave up my tidal account. Will sign up for a monthly qobuz until I am confident of the content and then go for a annual sub. Have also taken up on the 3month free Deezer as well and am finding the Deezer app better than the qobuz app with layout and usability.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by noddyc43

[Steever]

I’m finding some of my aTidal favourites are only samples in Qobuz. Rather annoying but hopefully this changes. 

[lordvader82]

Anyone know how to get Qobuz working on corporate networks that use proxies?

At work, hoping to play some tunes, and I get a lot of "Proxies and VPNs not allowed" errors. Which sucks.

 

Don't want to go back to Tidal