Leaving Roon, Qobuz and Tidal

[MarkS]

But it requires one to buy into the Apple ecosystem, something I'm not inclined to do.

I'm already in the Apple ecosystem, so for me it's fine. I was advised that Qobuz was good for classical music, but my limited engagement with it did not support that (even setting aside Airplay issues).

 

[MaxBuck]

I'm already in the Apple ecosystem, so for me it's fine. I was advised that Qobuz was good for classical music, but my limited engagement with it did not support that (even setting aside Airplay issues).

Got it. That's the big reason I've added Idagio to my preview list. Great selection, and although it's not as seamless an experience with the Bluesound Node as Tidal and Qobuz are, it's not terrible. (Idagio essentially requires a two-step process in which one first "downloads" tunes -- songs and/or albums -- to one's "collection" before the titles show up in the Bluesound app. You can't browse the Idagio catalog directly in the Bluesound app.)

 

[rkbates]

8 days left in my free Roon trial to make a decision. So far the DSP has been excellent (this was the main driver to look at Roon, easy customized DSP across multiple endpoints), the common interface with different endpoints is excellent, but the unexpected bonus was integration with Qobuz so now my library is a one stop shop. Discovering new music is easier and more fruitful. A library unexpectedly disappearing will be a big disappointment - maybe it will be a month by month transaction until I'm confident my library won't vanish.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

To play local files, I had Audirvana but it had problems with gapless playback which never got fixed, and when they got greedy and went subscription, I bailed. I use JRiver now which works OK, even though it has a few quirks which might not bother other users.

For streaming, I use Amazon HD and have been very happy with it. Yes, some titles seem to come and go but from what I've heard, that is a problem with the other services as well. I'm already in the Amazon ecosystem so the cost is practically nothing.

 

[audio2design]

A quick note : Amazon also changes albums without notice and they just dissapear or become weirdly fragmented or go dark and won't play.
It's always a more modern "remaster" replacment , so worse genrally. Happened with brothers in arms recently and the interstellar ost.

Ugghhh and often no metadata to even know what you are playing and the pedigree. It's BRUTAL

 

[audio2design]

You’ve taken part in some of my tribulations Jimbob, distilled I’m giving up on streaming simply because it’s not actually the best audio available despite the marketing. Compressio, conversion, folding, unfolding, transport etc all have a noticeable effect on the actual reproduction. Streaming doesn’t actually sound better than CD in many cases (partially due to many albums being mastered for cd) and the best that you can get is the .wav from the likes of Bandcamp as those are often the direct files from the desk uncompressed (this has been confirmed to me by a couple of friends of mine in rather well known bands).

as for EQ/DSP I tend to avoid that stuff. That goes against the entire point of music reproduction in my opinion.

now there are those that’ll claim I’m wrong, but most of those folk are listening to kit on MidFi systems if that’s what makes them happy that’s cool, but if you’re looking for HiFi reproduction then it’s CD/SACD or WAV or signal degradation.

Except where I could establish the streaming pedigree I have compared to the CD and they are exactly the same. Not close, the same. Your post hence sounds like sour grapes or lack of knowledge.

 

[ahofer]

now there are those that’ll claim I’m wrong, but most of those folk are listening to kit on MidFi systems if that’s what makes them happy that’s cool, but if you’re looking for HiFi reproduction then it’s CD/SACD or WAV or signal degradation.

Until you show controlled testing results we can safely assume you are fooling yourself, and that your condescension about “MidFi” is just some decoration on your insecurity about that.

 

[Kevbaz]

I sign up to Qobuz once every 3-6 months and use it to find new albums I want t listen to. I then find what is a good/respected CD mastering of the albums and order them.
Then for next 3-6 months only listen to CD collection

 

[amper42]

Qobuz is now $10.83 per month. I haven't found any other service with as many high resolution audio files. And the music selection is huge. I have been exposed to many different artists, from Jazz to classical to pop. As I find music I enjoy, I add it to my Audirvana 3.5.5 playlists. After 8 months I have 363 albums in my "Best of Qobuz" playlist and it's an amazing go to resource for playing my favorite music.

Luckily, I bought Audirvana before the change to a monthly $6 fee so the only monthly fee I have is $10.83 monthly or $129.99 annually for Qobuz. Never lost any of my library selections with this setup, plus Audirvana offers EQ support via Audio Unit VST plug in's.

I'm very happy with Qobuz/Audirvana combination. I would really miss all the songs I have saved to playlists if I left Qobuz. I would need to save them to a separate list and input them all again if I went to a new service with less high res choices. I did that once before with Tidal and it was a waste of time as the consistency of quality wasn't as good as Qobuz in my AB tests.

 

[audio2design]

There is a service called Soundiiz that can export and import music data from online services. What is can do is limited by some services but on others full featured.

 

[Rottmannash]

Qobuz is now $10.83 per month. I haven't found any other service with as many high resolution audio files. And the music selection is huge. I have been exposed to many different artists, from Jazz to classical to pop. As I find music I enjoy, I add it to my Audirvana 3.5.5 playlists. After 8 months I have 363 albums in my "Best of Qobuz" playlist and it's an amazing go to resource for playing my favorite music.

Luckily, I bought Audirvana before the change to a monthly $6 fee so the only monthly fee I have is $10.83 monthly or $129.99 annually for Qobuz. Never lost any of my library selections with this setup, plus Audirvana offers EQ support via Audio Unit VST plug in's.

I'm very happy with Qobuz/Audirvana combination. I would really miss all the songs I have saved to playlists if I left Qobuz. I would need to save them to a separate list and input them all again if I went to a new service with less high res choices. I did that once before with Tidal and it was a waste of time as the consistency of quality wasn't as good as Qobuz in my AB tests.

Agreed. A bit off topic but what EQ plug in are you using with Audirvana?

 

[amper42]

Agreed. A bit off topic but what EQ plug in are you using with Audirvana?

I use Audirvana on MacBook Pro. With Mac OS X Audirvana automatically loads a bunch of VST plug-in's. The one I have used is "Apple AUNBandEQ" which is pre-loaded. it has an unlimited number of filters. Or at least, I have not reached the parametric EQ limit.

You access the Audio Units menu under "Audirvana: Audio Settings" menu. Then, it offers the ability to setup a custom EQ setting. I use REW to discover where my room modes are and usually limit most EQ to that area. But, with speakers like the B&W 606 I tried to address the upper midrange as well. You can create a setting and save it. I have one for the Revel M105, BMR Monitors, cheap $10 Sony MDR-AZ110 headphones and one with a simple elevated bass boost.

It's easy to switch between settings and decide which one you prefer. I still find myself listening without EQ in many situations. But it's nice to have the feature built into Audirvana when you want it. There is a VST plug for Dirac Live 3 if you happen to own it and a lot of other free to expensive VST EQ choices too. In addition, my RPi4 Moode application has parametric EQ options built in and I have an RPi4 with Moode installed on each stereo setup. If I wanted to leave Audirvana with a flat response and setup the Moode EQ for each speaker configuration that's a free option too. It seems EQ is available from several different sources these days. If you can use REW, you can get a good idea where to apply it.

 

[Rottmannash]

I use Audirvana on MacBook Pro. With Mac OS X Audirvana automatically loads a bunch of VST plug-in's. The one I have used is "Apple AUNBandEQ" which is pre-loaded. it has an unlimited number of filters. Or at least, I have not reached the parametric EQ limit.

View attachment 165373

You access the Audio Units menu under "Audirvana: Audio Settings" menu. Then, it offers the ability to setup a custom EQ setting. I use REW to discover where my room modes are and usually limit most EQ to that area. But, with speakers like the B&W 606 I tried to address the upper midrange as well. You can create a setting and save it. I have one for the Revel M105, BMR Monitors, cheap $10 Sony MDR-AZ110 headphones and one with a simple elevated bass boost.

View attachment 165374

It's easy to switch between settings and decide which one you prefer. I still find myself listening without EQ in many situations. But it's nice to have the feature built into Audirvana when you want it. There is a VST plug for Dirac Live 3 if you happen to own it and a lot of other free to expensive VST EQ choices too. In addition, my RPi4 Moode application has parametric EQ options built in and I have an RPi4 with Moode installed on each stereo setup. If I wanted to leave Audirvana with a flat response and setup the Moode EQ for each speaker configuration that's a free option too. It seems EQ is available from several different sources these days. If you can use REW, you can get a good idea where to apply it.

I have a PC running Win10 and typically listen on HPs so would prefer PEQ.

 

[Jimbob54]

I gave Qobuz another try now its £10 a month (well, its £13 if you pay monthly)

Still a woeful interface, still doesnt integrate well with UAPP on Android , still has the 1000 track playlist limit, still wont allow any form of shuffle all of albums. A shame really, its a good service ruined by poor implementation.

 

[ahofer]

I gave Qobuz another try now its £10 a month (well, its £13 if you pay monthly)

Still a woeful interface, still doesnt integrate well with UAPP on Android , still has the 1000 track playlist limit, still wont allow any form of shuffle all of albums. A shame really, its a good service ruined by poor implementation.

I find a lot of the albums/tracks I select in Roon subsequently “unavailable”- I think it screws up the US vs European rights. They told me on Twitter about a year ago they were “aware and working on it”, but it still happens.

 

[Jimbob54]

I find a lot of the albums/tracks I select in Roon subsequently “unavailable”- I think it screws up the US vs European rights. They told me on Twitter about a year ago they were “aware and working on it”, but it still happens.

I had that back when I last used. There one day, gone the next. With no warning apart from it skipping a track on shuffle.

 

[amper42]

I gave Qobuz another try now its £10 a month (well, its £13 if you pay monthly)

Still a woeful interface, still doesnt integrate well with UAPP on Android , still has the 1000 track playlist limit, still wont allow any form of shuffle all of albums. A shame really, its a good service ruined by poor implementation.

I don't use the Qobuz app. Audirvana has none of those issues so I use it with Qobuz. I love the Qobuz content but to be honest I'm spoiled by the Audirvana interface. I couldn't imagine ever using the Qobuz or Tidal apps. I just use their content. You would probably feel the same about Roon or any of the UPnP interfaces you might be accustomed to. ALL of the streaming apps suck compared to a great player. Just use the content and abandon the company provided app. That's my motto.

 

[Jimbob54]

I don't use the Qobuz app. Audirvana has none of those issues so I use it with Qobuz. I love the Qobuz content but to be honest I'm spoiled by the Audirvana interface. I couldn't imagine ever using the Qobuz or Tidal apps. I just use their content. You would probably feel the same about Roon or any of the UPnP interfaces you might be accustomed to. ALL of the streaming apps suck compared to a great player. Just use the content and abandon the company provided app. That's my motto.

See my post #1 as to why that became an issue.

 

[mrbungle]

See my post #1 as to why that became an issue.

FWIW, I had the same Qobuz/Roon issues back when you posted #1, but haven‘t experienced anything like that in a long time. Had some annoying WiFi issues with Ropieee, but recent updates here seem to have fixed it. Both Roon and Qobuz keep to be my best audio purchase this year, by far.

 

[acbarn]

See my post #1 as to why that became an issue.

I’ve recently been experimenting again with both Qobuz and Tidal in Roon. I’m now finding Tidal more stable and reliable than Qobuz. Adding new albums is snappy and zero music has gone missing. Qobuz on the other hand is still as buggy and unstable as ever (simply adding an album to my library is an adventure). That’s my two cents on the current state of affairs, others may be having different experiences.