• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

QOBUZ IN AMERICA

tmitchmd

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
10
Likes
20
I am currently in the Qoboz beta and to my ears, it sounds pretty terrific. I am streaming from a Pixel 3 via the Qoboz app, Android shared to BubbleUPnP and delivered by ethernet to the Oppo BDP-105D. There are occasional dropouts and connection drops but it reconnects pretty quickly.
The major advantage vs Tidal is the far larger Hi-Rez catalog and the excellent Roon-like GUI.
 
OP
svart-hvitt

svart-hvitt

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 31, 2017
Messages
2,375
Likes
1,253
I am currently in the Qoboz beta and to my ears, it sounds pretty terrific. I am streaming from a Pixel 3 via the Qoboz app, Android shared to BubbleUPnP and delivered by ethernet to the Oppo BDP-105D. There are occasional dropouts and connection drops but it reconnects pretty quickly.
The major advantage vs Tidal is the far larger Hi-Rez catalog and the excellent Roon-like GUI.

And the curation of music is very different in Qobuz compared to Tidal. Tidal has focus on rap and highly compressed music. Qobuz is more geared towards the audio and music interested.
 

Samoyed

Active Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
205
Likes
136
Careful, you are near the red line of subjectivity, God forbid.
 
OP
svart-hvitt

svart-hvitt

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 31, 2017
Messages
2,375
Likes
1,253
Careful, you are near the red line of subjectivity, God forbid.

I get subjective all the time. How should we live without it?

On a serious note: Qobuz has something called «Qobuzzisimme», with focus on good recordings. Those are probably - if Qobuz is to be believed - not of the most compressed type.
 

Samoyed

Active Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
205
Likes
136
That was Socratic irony, since I got spanked for this offense.
 

graz_lag

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
1,296
Likes
1,583
Location
Le Mans, France
...On a serious note: Qobuz has something called «Qobuzzisimme», with focus on good recordings. Those are probably - if Qobuz is to be believed - not of the most compressed type.

In France, the Qobuzissime reward is given to the 1st or 2nd album of an artist, selected among thousands available in the industry, so the recording quality is a parameter that is taken into account for sure among many others.
 
Last edited:
OP
svart-hvitt

svart-hvitt

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 31, 2017
Messages
2,375
Likes
1,253
Qobuz is finally integrated into Roon. Version 1.6 of Roon is out today.

I see this as a natural part of their growth strategy where America plays a significant role.

Playing hi-res Qobuz in Roon is as if angels come out of the speakers. No more veils ;)

The first album I played in Qobuz hi-res via Roon is a tribute to our beloved king @amirm ;)

;)


BA3B7D88-66EE-4869-91BF-B6DEB7AC13FD.jpeg
 

Purité Audio

Master Contributor
Industry Insider
Barrowmaster
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
9,050
Likes
12,148
Location
London
I have both!
Integration seems perfect, I might keep both!
Keith
 

GoMrPickles

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
170
Likes
182
I'd be interested in trying Qobuz out, if anyone has invites to spare. I tried Roon/Tidal and gave up on both.
 

Theo

Active Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2018
Messages
288
Likes
180
Are you satisfied after the trial period?
 

Webninja

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 8, 2018
Messages
419
Likes
468
Location
Los Angeles
I didn't test out the Roon integration as I ended the trial before Roon 1.6 came out. Overall it wasn't enough to make me leave Tidal+Roon.

Interface was good, selection good, not enough playlists and more focused on jazz and classical.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,068
Likes
16,598
Location
Central Fl
Finally received a invite to the US beta test.
What method of retrieval are our Linux guys using?

I find the UI a bit confusing but then I'm so accustomed to Spotify anything else will take a bit of getting used to.
Also find the catalog a bit thin, a couple of the popular albums I've already looked for are missing. Maybe the situation will improve when the beta is over?
Signed up for the high definition feed and after I get my OS paths straight I'll do some direct audible SQ comparisons between Spotify's 320 mbps and 16/44 and higher streams from Qobuz. Curious to see if any differences pop out but initially looks to be difficult to closely level match the two different feeds? SQ difference will have to be pretty obvious for me to justify spending over twice as much for the monthly service, well see.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,425
Likes
3,980
Location
SoCal
Signed up for the high definition feed and after I get my OS paths straight I'll do some direct audible SQ comparisons between Spotify's 320 mbps and 16/44 and higher streams from Qobuz. Curious to see if any differences pop out but initially looks to be difficult to closely level match the two different feeds? SQ difference will have to be pretty obvious for me to justify spending over twice as much for the monthly service, well see.

How do you stream Spotify?
 

Hugo9000

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
574
Likes
1,749
Location
U.S.A. | Слава Україні
Finally received a invite to the US beta test.
What method of retrieval are our Linux guys using?

I find the UI a bit confusing but then I'm so accustomed to Spotify anything else will take a bit of getting used to.
Also find the catalog a bit thin, a couple of the popular albums I've already looked for are missing. Maybe the situation will improve when the beta is over?
Signed up for the high definition feed and after I get my OS paths straight I'll do some direct audible SQ comparisons between Spotify's 320 mbps and 16/44 and higher streams from Qobuz. Curious to see if any differences pop out but initially looks to be difficult to closely level match the two different feeds? SQ difference will have to be pretty obvious for me to justify spending over twice as much for the monthly service, well see.
Qobuz does have a 320kbps lossy stream option for the same price as Spotify (cheaper than Spotify if you do a year subscription rather than monthly), so you might compare that as well to see if it is worthwhile to switch to that if the CD quality and above tiers aren't justifiable for you. Regarding the catalogue, they have been saying that a lot more will be added before the beta is complete, so I guess we will see. I'm using Windows 10 and the Qobuz desktop app for my trial, so I can't help with the Linux question, unfortunately.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,068
Likes
16,598
Location
Central Fl
How do you stream Spotify?
In Linux?
We have a build of the Spotify desktop client in the PCLinuxOS repository.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,425
Likes
3,980
Location
SoCal
In Linux?
We have a build of the Spotify desktop client in the PCLinuxOS repository.

I see. I don't know much about it but Windows Spotify Client works through the Windows audio stack with less than stellar results. Can you make it bypass Linux mixer? I did use a a librespot based solution on Linux for some time. From my experience using accessible Spotify clients the best SQ I could get with Spotify is through the ChromeCast audio device optical output to a DAC, but I don't have any objective data to back that up :)
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,068
Likes
16,598
Location
Central Fl
Can you make it bypass Linux mixer?
I can minimize it, bypassing the Pulse monstrosity, but still has the Alsa tools in the stream.

Qobuz does have a 320kbps lossy stream option for the same price as Spotify (cheaper than Spotify if you do a year subscription rather than monthly), so you might compare that as well to see if it is worthwhile to switch to that if the CD quality and above tiers aren't justifiable for you. Regarding the catalogue, they have been saying that a lot more will be added before the beta is complete, so I guess we will see. I'm using Windows 10 and the Qobuz desktop app for my trial, so I can't help with the Linux question, unfortunately.

Time will tell. I know that the HiRez tier is pretty much a con, never compared a Redbook with anything higher that I could hear a difference in as long as it's the same master. But hey, the first month of HR was free so what the hell. Looks like you can play a HR file and instantly switch between it and 16/44 or 320 so they must be just downsampling the best available file to the requested data rate from the same master. If I could hear a difference between RB and HR I would highly suspect something fishy going on.

Don't know much about data paths in Windoz10, but with Qubuz app if I set the app's output to Speaker USB>Wasapi (Exclusive Mode) the data rate on DAC readout reflects the speed claimed for the source. 44-96- etc. Sounds pretty good in any case. In all I take 60 days to get used to things and make up my mind
 

JJB70

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 17, 2018
Messages
2,905
Likes
6,148
Location
Singapore
I honestly think MP3 has had a bad rap, I find it very difficult to differentiate between high quality MP3 and FLAC or CDs. To spot the differences I really have to concentrate on listening for the differences which isn't enjoyable and its not how I listen to music. For normal listening where I just want to enjoy the music I find good MP3 files perfectly fine.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,425
Likes
3,980
Location
SoCal
Don't know much about data paths in Windoz10, but with Qubuz app if I set the app's output to Speaker USB>Wasapi (Exclusive Mode) the data rate on DAC readout reflects the speed claimed for the source. 44-96- etc. Sounds pretty good in any case. In all I take 60 days to get used to things and make up my mind

Wasapi Exclusive is all you need. Unfortunately can't do the same in the Spotify Windows app. There is Fidelify however which supposedly fills that gap, but it has been in Beta forever and I don't think it can really replace the native client, I have not tried it.
 
Top Bottom