Qobuz or Tidal?

[Hoeksel]

I prefer Tidal simply because of the library. I enjoy underground metal and Qobuz is too short on that genre. Sound quality wise, I am not able to detect a structural difference so Tidal it is for me.

 

[shlabotnik]

For classical music you can use a service like https://www.idagio.com/

Idagio does not have a Roon implementation. It doesn’t matter, because I don’t have this problem with Qobuz. My issue is with Amazon and Amazon only.

 

[shlabotnik]

I haven't seen Qobuz doing this (maybe they do but I just haven't seen it). When Qobuz has multiple versions of an album, say the CD version decades old and a new high-def remastered one, each appears as a separate album and you decide which to listen to.

And my issue with Amazon is not that they are giving you the “highest quality version,“ but I have found instances when they are giving you a completely different version or mix of the song. The Dylan example I cited replaces live tracks with completely different performances.

 

[shlabotnik]

It's unique to Qobuz in my experience (which isn't definitive). Also tracks will be available, then unavailable. Very annoying

I had this problem with Tidal. Then I saw the light.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I tried Amazon too. The reason I stuck with Qobuz is I listen on a Linux desktop, and Qobuz is the only service that streams lossless native bit rates to any browser. All the other services only give you bit-perfect with their own proprietary players - if you connect with a browser they resample or compress it.

Also, Qobuz opens their API so people can write their own apps. USB Audio Player Pro plays Qobuz bit-perfect, so if you have an Android device it can become a bit-perfect source to feed into your DAC.

That is true.
Amazon on a browser is limited to CD.

 

[ErVikingo]

I added Qobuz today (I use Amazon HD) have not found anything I listen to in higher rate than what I had on Amazon. Still experimenting but seems that the recommendations are not as good as Amazon.

I have not seen the light.

 

[luft262]

I tried both. I prefer Qobuz. The sound quality on both is great, but MQA is bullshit and I also prefer the human made playlists and articles of Qobuz over the algorithms of Tidal.

 

[ErVikingo]

I tried both. I prefer Qobuz. The sound quality on both is great, but MQA is bullshit and I also prefer the human made playlists and articles of Qobuz over the algorithms of Tidal.

MQA sounds like BS to me also, why additional processing/filtering? My DAC does MQA decoding (unfolding) but I don't think I'll ever use it.

I tried various tracks I know very well on the following chain:

- CD (MOFI) Theta Transport to Theta Gen V Pro DAC
- CD (MOFI) to Sony ES moded CD inboard DAC
- CD (MOFI) to Sony ES moded CD as transport to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC, to Lexicon onboard DAC
- CD (MOFI) to Sony ES SACD (DVD DVD A player) as transport to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC, to Lexicon onboard DAC
- Amazon HD to Wiim Pro to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC to Lexicon DAC
- Qobuz HD to Wiim Pro to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC to Lexicon DAC

Not surprised that the Topping is better than my old Theta. Amazon HD does not sound as good as using my transports and physical media. However, Qobuz is superior to all.

Is it that they have more modern mixes? It does have higher sampling rate.

So far I think Qobuz its worth it; however the recommendations from Amazon (IMHO) are more complete.

It would help if Qobuz would allow for searching by sub-genre. In my case, i like Prog and I have to sift through all Rock to find prog.

 

[jae]

I noticed Qobuz was finally available in Canada as of a few months ago. Aside from the price, am I better off signing up from Canada or Australia? I remember hearing that in general for most of these services, the Canadian catalogues tend to be wider than the US ones.

 

[Joramun]

I have Deezer premium (hi res) and it's been pretty good for me.

 

[Sal1950]

Being a multich enthusiast myself, Apple leads the way by far.
Even taking into account IMO their user interface stinks. LOL

 

[Graham849]

Archimago has some thoughts

Qobuz now in Canada. Finally, Roon integration and a taste of lossless multichannel streaming. Thoughts on the future of audio streaming.

A blog for audiophiles about more objective topics. Measurements of audio gear. Reasonable, realistic, no snakeoil assessment of sound, and equipment.

archimago.blogspot.com

 

[MRC01]

Archimago has some thoughts

Qobuz now in Canada. Finally, Roon integration and a taste of lossless multichannel streaming. Thoughts on the future of audio streaming.

A blog for audiophiles about more objective topics. Measurements of audio gear. Reasonable, realistic, no snakeoil assessment of sound, and equipment.

archimago.blogspot.com

Well written as always. One thing I will add is that Qobuz does have some binaural recordings. One I found recently is Tallis' Spem in Aulium:

Qobuz

Listen to your music in high quality

play.qobuz.com

 

[d6jg]

I tried Tidal and Deezer but Qobuz is receiving my monthly payment instead of Spotify and has done for probably two to three years now. I’m an LMS user and the Qobuz integration is pretty good these days so my use of the Qobuz app itself is limited to a weekly visit on Fridays to look at new releases.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Is Tidal still using MQA?

 

[Turambar]

Yes, there are still plenty of MQA tracks.

Tidal has created two tiers: HIGH, that means CD resolution, and MAX.

Inside MAX, there are again two tiers: FLAC where there are all tracks that are 24 bits, and MQA, where we have the remaining MQA tracks.

 

[Sal1950]

Is Tidal still using MQA

MQA's last gasp. LOL