Qobuz or Tidal?

[MRC01]

Are you serious ? I simply like Tidal more. For me it has more natural sound and MQA has even more closer. Qobuz has an artificial sound with exaggerated highs. That's what I hear.

OK, but now you know that Tidal is reprocessing the music and Qobuz isn't. So Tidal is less faithful to the source, but they've modified it in a way that you prefer.
PS: I sympathize with this view - most modern music is recorded / processed to sound overly bright, crunchy and artificial. Taming the treble a bit often does make it sound better. Yet I prefer to listen to have a faithful bit perfect version of the source and if it needs any changes, apply them myself.

 

[ahofer]

Are you serious ? I simply like Tidal more. For me it has more natural sound and MQA has even more closer. Qobuz has an artificial sound with exaggerated highs. That's what I hear.

But it likely has nothing to do with the streaming service, so it is likely misleading. If there is an audible difference, Tidal is audibly distorted.

 

[Sal1950]

When listening to an album that is only available in CD-quality (oddly called HD) they will replace individual tracks with high definition versions if available on other albums. On my first go-around two years ago, I found five or six instances where they had replaced a track with an incorrect version of the song.

If I understand you right, I think you will find the same situation with most streamers.
If your sign up for their highest quality sound, they will mix & match songs within an album to
give you the "best quality" available in that album.
I use Apple and when songs are available in Atmos they will punch them in with other non-Atmos songs
on the same album.
I'm not supporting the practice, just stating that it's just the way it is.

 

[MRC01]

If I understand you right, I think you will find the same situation with most streamers.
If your sign up for their highest quality sound, they will mix & match songs within an album to
give you the "best quality" available in that album.
I use Apple and when songs are available in Atmos they will punch them in with other non-Atmos songs
on the same album.
I'm not supporting the practice, just stating that it's just the way it is.

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.

 

[Turambar]

Take for instance in Qobuz the album by Buffalo Springfield, "Last Time Around". It's offered in CD resolution, but the second song, 'It's so Hard to Wait" it's in 24 bits / 88.2 kHz...

 

[MRC01]

Take for instance in Qobuz the album by Buffalo Springfield, "Last Time Around". It's offered in CD resolution, but the second song, 'It's so Hard to Wait" it's in 24 bits / 88.2 kHz...

I just checked and you're right! First time I've seen that.

 

[lowgain]

I listen to a lot of classical music. How can I be sure that I am listening to the conductor or the soloist that I have selected? .

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

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

Take for instance in Qobuz the album by Buffalo Springfield, "Last Time Around". It's offered in CD resolution, but the second song, 'It's so Hard to Wait" it's in 24 bits / 88.2 kHz...

Is it offered in CD resolution? when I look at the album info it says this:

 

[Ken Tajalli]

This is my problem too. No one service to rule them all. If they all opened up APIs to 3rd party software I would probably go for amazon as the highest value proposition but not the best experience.

I use Amazon too.
I had Qubuz, but left them.
Amazon has the largest inventory, there has not been any album that I couldn't find on Amazon with at least CD quality. The inventory even includes a lot of Persian classical music (important to me), that I could not find elsewhere. Sound quality is very good, has its own equaliser.
Best thing about the Windows app or browser play, is the fact that output can be routed through Jriver media player in exclusive mode.
This means I can use Jriver DSP engine.

Qubuz app had no EQ, and it would not work with Jriver in exclusive mode.
So my answer to the title question is:
Neither! Amazon.

 

[MRC01]

I used to use Idagio (and Primephonic). Idagio is a good service, but reasons I switched to Qobuz:

1. Idagio is lossless, but it resamples everything to 44-16.
2. Qobuz had everything I could find on Idagio (though it can be harder to find on Qobuz), and more since Idagio is classical only.

Regarding (1), I don't care much whether music is high-def, but I do care if they're resampled or otherwise processed it. So it's not that I think 96-24 (for example) is "better" than 44-16, but while the process of resampling/converting it should be transparent, all methods aren't created equal and some are not transparent. Since bandwidth and space isn't a concern, it's simpler and cleaner to stream whatever the studio provides without changing it.

One thing I did like better about Idagio is their metadata. It's customized for classical music, FAR superior giving better searchability and discoverability.

 

[Mr. Widget]

I just checked and you're right! First time I've seen that.

Yep... odd. I checked and Tidal is straight 44.1 16 bit.

Roon does provide a heads up. "Mixed Formats"

 

[MRC01]

I use Amazon too.
I had Qubuz, but left them.
...
Qubuz app had no EQ, and it would not work with Jriver in exclusive mode.
So my answer to the title question is:
Neither! Amazon.

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.

 

[lowgain]

I used to use Idagio (and Primephonic). Idagio is a good service, but reasons I switched to Qobuz:

1. Idagio is lossless, but it resamples everything to 44-16.
2. Qobuz had everything I could find on Idagio (though it can be harder to find on Qobuz), and more since Idagio is classical only.

Regarding (1), I don't care much whether music is high-def, but I do care if they're resampled or otherwise processed it. So it's not that I think 96-24 (for example) is "better" than 44-16, but while the process of resampling/converting it should be transparent, all methods aren't created equal and some are not transparent. Since bandwidth and space isn't a concern, it's simpler and cleaner to stream whatever the studio provides without changing it.

One thing I did like better about Idagio is their metadata. It's customized for classical music, FAR superior giving better searchability and discoverability.

Interestingly, I'm convinced most high quality lossy is transparant to me, I always choose that since I don't like wasting energy on bandwidth and processing power however small. So I don't even use lossless on Idagio.

But as you mention, it's all about the search functionality! I do have Spotify to have access to a larger collection of music.

Many different opinions and listeners here

 

[ahofer]

1. s everything to 44-16.
2. Qobuz had everything I could find on Idagio (though it can be harder to find on Qobuz)

I have Idagio too. Don't mind the 44 sampling rate. I'm a classical buff and it's *much* easier to find what I want on Idagio. Also their suggestions/'radio' selections are just waaaaaaay better than anyone else. Wish it was available within Roon (except then it would be Roon radio...).

 

[Sal1950]

I tried them all for a bit but ended up with Apple.
I hate the user interface, but they offer by far the largest catalog of 5.1, Atmos, surround titles out there.

 

[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.