A surprise on Qobuz...

[Galliardist]

What is High-Resolution Audio? | Qobuz MAGAZINE

Music played in high resolution by an audio system recreates, as close as possible, the original recording experience; accentuating the most minute audible detail, pushing the fidelity as far as possible. High-Resolution audio is the next logical step in the progression of vinyl, cassettes, and...

www.qobuz.com

On its own, this is enough to make me reconsider my use of Qobuz. I suppose "high resolution audio" is one of its selling points, but the step diagram... really?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

What is High-Resolution Audio? | Qobuz MAGAZINE

Music played in high resolution by an audio system recreates, as close as possible, the original recording experience; accentuating the most minute audible detail, pushing the fidelity as far as possible. High-Resolution audio is the next logical step in the progression of vinyl, cassettes, and...

www.qobuz.com

On its own, this is enough to make me reconsider my use of Qobuz. I suppose "high resolution audio" is one of its selling points, but the step diagram... really?

Popular science at its lowest.

I tend to ignore such nonsense but of course that contributes to manifesting a wrong belief and then we have new members coming here fighting us over that nonsense.

 

[Haskil]

The only original merit of Qobuz is to have been the first to offer recordings in uncompressed PCM format for streaming and sale... and to have banned MP3 and AAC.

Its great merit is also to provide the PDF of the record booklets and not just the cover photo... when the publisher provides it...

its other merit is to have refused the MQA from the start... But its big flaw is to only offer very very very few multichannel recordings even when they are available from the publisher...

 

[voodooless]

but the step diagram... really?

If you see those, you know your being hoodwinked. It’s like the flat-earther showing you a pancake rendition of the earth

 

[Jimbob54]

Qobuz' biggest challenge is cornering the audiophile crowd (it is one of only 2 services to integrate into Roon after all- the audiophile player of choice)

Its second biggest challenge, and possibly its biggest risk, is that its existing subs will realise there is no mileage in greater than redbook. At which point its in a race to the bottom with Tidal. Which neither can win as Amazon scooped that prize ages ago.

 

[LouB]

Qobuz' biggest challenge is cornering the audiophile crowd (it is one of only 2 services to integrate into Roon after all- the audiophile player of choice)

Its second biggest challenge, and possibly its biggest risk, is that its existing subs will realise there is no mileage in greater than redbook. At which point its in a race to the bottom with Tidal. Which neither can win as Amazon scooped that prize ages ago.

That may be one way to see it. But I don't think Qobuz is out to corner anything they are competing & are not naive enough to try overtake Amazon. For myself & a lot of other Qobuz customers it was about not using Amazon, good pricing, good user interface & great content. Just an FYI the "High Resolution" sounds just like the rest of there content but everybody here probably already knows this.

 

[Jimbob54]

But I don't think Qobuz is out to corner anything they are competing & are not naive enough to try overtake Amazon

Pretty sure that isnt what I said regarding Amazon .

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

What is High-Resolution Audio? | Qobuz MAGAZINE

Music played in high resolution by an audio system recreates, as close as possible, the original recording experience; accentuating the most minute audible detail, pushing the fidelity as far as possible. High-Resolution audio is the next logical step in the progression of vinyl, cassettes, and...

www.qobuz.com

On its own, this is enough to make me reconsider my use of Qobuz. I suppose "high resolution audio" is one of its selling points, but the step diagram... really?

I read the magazine, once. That was enough. Don't read the gear reviews. I'm nearing the end of my trial period and I think I'm going to stick with it. It's a little more expensive than Amazon but has more of the music I'm interested in--classical, jazz, pre-WWII blues and jazz--and a better search.

 

[ahofer]

Dear Qobuz: Just stop it. Who is the member from Qobuz again?

 

[JustJones]

Maybe Qobuz hasn't seen this 10 year old Monty show and tell.

 

[amper42]

Amazon's app sucked when I tested it and music was continuously disappearing. Qobuz annual subscription is very close in price and offers more stability. Qobuz works with Audirvana while Amazon does not. Audirvana has so many cool ways to integrate my ripped music with my on-line listening - ALL from one screen. I can't imagine not using the Audirvana Qobuz combination for my main listening. I have a Wiim and its app supports Amazon but the control and integration doesn't come close to Audirvana. Audirvana can control the Wiim puck without its app which works well too. Either using a MBP with Audirvana straight to the RME ADI-2 or thru a Wiim mini optical out to DAC using Audirvana and Qobuz offers the feature set I want. I tried playing my music with other apps but always missed the control and ease of use Audirvana offers.

 

[IAtaman]

View attachment 347066

Dear Qobuz: Just stop it. Who is the member from Qobuz again?

Same image is also there when you click on "Discover Plans" button on the main page. Looks like Qobuz is one of those companies who would not shy away from misleading people with false information in a feebable attempt to create differentiation. Good to know.

 

[bluefuzz]

Dear Qobuz: Just stop it.

So can anyone suggest a simple graphic that conveys the difference between low sample rate / low bit depth and high sample rate / high bit depth together with lossy/lossless compression that is both scientifically accurate and can be grokked at a glance by a non-technical (and possibly indifferent) viewer?

 

[jcarys]

This is just pretty generic marketing material, very similar to what the Hires association produces. It's fine for casual listeners who haven't studied the concepts at all.

I have just tried (again) a free month of Qobuz to see if anything has changed since the last time. Played back on my computer it's fantastic. In fact, I prefer it to Tidal because of the better information and metadata on classical releases. Unfortunately there is still no app for Android TV, and that's where I would prefer to play music in my home theater. My experience with Amazon was similar to amper42. It's great on a Fire stick, but is degraded just about everywhere else. So for me the streaming decision comes down to user friendly apps and availability, once the sound quality is of equal quality.

 

[voodooless]

It's fine for casual listeners who haven't studied the concepts at all.

No it’s not, because it’s a load of nonsense.

 

[Timcognito]

@Pierre Qobuz are you reading this. Love using Qobuz for its music selection and integration with Roon so stop this tomfoolery. Wish I could get podcasts.

 

[Apesbrain]

So can anyone suggest a simple graphic that conveys the difference between low sample rate / low bit depth and high sample rate / high bit depth together with lossy/lossless compression that is both scientifically accurate and can be grokked at a glance by a non-technical (and possibly indifferent) viewer?

Sure, how's this?

 

[ahofer]

It's fine for casual listeners who haven't studied the concepts at all.

It’s deceptive marketing. Not “fine”

 

[DVDdoug]

The image of the (unfiltered) MP3 is not correct. It's showing a lower sample rate than the CD which is possible but not required. Almost all MP3s that were ripped from CD have the original 44.1kHz sample rate, no matter the bitrate.

MP3 is of course lossy and it doesn't store individual samples, but the sample rate can go up to 48kHz (that's the maximum for MP3). It uses floating point so it has more than 16-bits of dynamic range. Dynamic range is not one of it's limitations. MP3 is also very good with pure sine waves so it should look virtually identical to the CD-quality version.



...I've mentioned this here before, but once I hooked-up an oscilloscope to a soundcard and I was SHOCKED to see an unfiltered stair-stepped waveform (from this particular soundcard). I'd never heard anything wrong, but then I realized that the harmonics are above the audible range.

 

[danadam]

So can anyone suggest a simple graphic that conveys the difference between low sample rate / low bit depth and high sample rate / high bit depth together with lossy/lossless compression that is both scientifically accurate and can be grokked at a glance by a non-technical (and possibly indifferent) viewer?