Qobuz or Tidal ?

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

for the streaming quality, I have no doubt that they give the same result then.
Thank you. I will subscribe to Qobuz.

 

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

Qobuz has a weekly discovery magazine sorted by different genres

Great, thank you

 

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

Amazing, almost to cheap to help our musician artists !
Qobuz was 20€ five years ago, today it is 12.49€.
That is the price for one CD !

 

[Redacted]

Country of origin is not the thing; just history....

Some are not happy about who owns streaming companies and where corporate taxes get paid for locations where they operate (or don't pay) and what is the system/price for paying the artists (or realistically, often the labels that own the artists). It's a minefield - get clued up and tread carefully if you pretend to GAF.

 

[dtaylo1066]

I am happy with Tidal and sharing it with family members. And my streamers have Tidal Connect.

 

[dfuller]

Qobuz for me. Used to use Tidal but the Qobuz app is way more polished in a lot of ways.

Their hard stance against AI generated music-resembling sound is also something I'm a fan of.

 

[Brian Hall]

I've tried them all and canceled everything except Spotify and Youtube Music (which is free with Youtube Premium). Spotify has the best app and Spotify Connect works with every device I have. Spotify has lossless CD quality now so Tidal, Qobuz and Amazon Music HD have no advantages, but all have worse apps.

 

[BetweenThePeaks]

This is entirely my personal opinion based on my own ears and equipment. I have both subscriptions.
To my ears, Qobuz was the clear winner.When listening to Qobuz, the music transmitted significantly more clarity and emotion. It brought back true enjoyment and actually gave me genuine goosebumps.
Tidal’s sound seems flatter to me.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Tidal has a native app that works on all three of my platforms (NVidia Shield, Android phone, Windows Desktop), and Tidal has Atmos offerings. OTOH, Qobuz would not load on my shield. I think sound quality and offerings are about the same. I liked Qobuz's interface a little better, but the best ability is availability, and Tidal is available to play on everything I own.

 

[Matias]

Tidal family plan is a great value, that was the decisive factor for me.

But also I read Tidal pays more per listen to the artists than the others so there is this added bonus.

 

[kemmler3D]

I moved to Tidal because it pays artists more, but I have a terrible time with streams just stopping or dropping out. Am I the only one? It seems like I can't even listen to a full album without the stream crapping out somehow. I have perfectly good internet connections, and the problem persists on home or wireless connections. I did not have this problem with Spotify.

I am thinking of bailing and going to Apple Music instead. Any advice?

 

[goat76]

This is entirely my personal opinion based on my own ears and equipment. I have both subscriptions.
To my ears, Qobuz was the clear winner.When listening to Qobuz, the music transmitted significantly more clarity and emotion. It brought back true enjoyment and actually gave me genuine goosebumps.
Tidal’s sound seems flatter to me.

The sound difference you heard between Qobuz and Tidal was most likely a difference in loudness or the tracks came from different masters.

I have compared a track from Tidal to a CD rip, which I know was the same mastered version, and the two tracks were exactly the same with complete silence in a null test.

Qobuz is probably not doing anything special to the tracks either, and I expect them to sound the same as the CD version just like Tidal does, granted that the same master is used for the comparison.

 

[Mikig]

qobuz: I use a MacBook connected to a DAC and can easily use the app on my phone to control my computer. I find it really convenient, without having to get up.

 

[Grimoire]

I moved to Tidal because it pays artists more, but I have a terrible time with streams just stopping or dropping out. Am I the only one? It seems like I can't even listen to a full album without the stream crapping out somehow. I have perfectly good internet connections, and the problem persists on home or wireless connections. I did not have this problem with Spotify.

I am thinking of bailing and going to Apple Music instead. Any advice?

I use Tidal and have zero such problems. Perhaps your problem lies elsewhere.

 

[amper42]

I moved to Tidal because it pays artists more, but I have a terrible time with streams just stopping or dropping out. Am I the only one? It seems like I can't even listen to a full album without the stream crapping out somehow. I have perfectly good internet connections, and the problem persists on home or wireless connections. I did not have this problem with Spotify.

I am thinking of bailing and going to Apple Music instead. Any advice?

Apple Music is OK if you use an Apple device for playback. But Qobuz seems to be the real deal.

My Apple Music subscription would always downshift to a lower bitrate when out for a walk. Meanwhile, Qobuz would still send the 192kHz music files. You can tell as the phone may work a little harder with Qobuz. If you have not changed the settings, Apple Music may not be streaming at its highest possible quality (Lossless or Hi-Res Lossless). Apple Music tends to default to a lower AAC 256kbps bitrate. You won't experience that with Qobuz.

Personally, I prefer to own the music I really like. There is something about playing music off the USB drive on the RPi5 with Moode with no wifi or cellular connection that's one step up in clarity from standard streaming with Apple Music or Qobuz. Don't get me wrong streaming is great for finding the tunes I really like but once I find an album that fits my taste I prefer a local source. Maybe you don't notice a difference? But on my RPi5/Moode/Samsung Fit Plus setup to RME ADI-2 DAC FS to Purifi amp to Revel F328Be it is noticeable. I never thought it would be until I spent time to AB the two configurations.

 

[Chrispy]

I have been a long time spotify user, and built up a good library of preferences there. I did try a trial of Tidal at the height of their MQA nonsense, and wasn't impressed plus wading thru Jz's crap was annoying to get to something useful... I tried Qobuz during that Tidal trial and found the content somewhat lacking, altho format a bit better as well as for purchases, but not particularly great. I stuck with Spotify as the sound quality issues were pretty much nonexistent, and the format/algorithm for recommendations worked very well. Never saw the need to experiment after that. YMMV.

 

[goat76]

Personally, I prefer to own my own music that I really like. There is something about playing music off the USB drive on the RPi5 with Moode with no wifi or cellular connection that's one step up in clarity from standard streaming with Apple Music or Qobuz.

What would be the technical explanation for the lack of clarity when streaming digital music files from Apple Music or Qobuz?

 

[markstein]

I am new to streaming, difficult to choose between Tidal or Qobuz after reading about these two, I read more about problems than which is the best one.

Would the choice of streamer be a factor ?
My futur Lyngdorf TDAI 1120 have a preference ?

I listen to mostly classical music, jazz, blues and any good creative music but no hard rock anymore at my 68 years

Streaming.

Thank you.

I am using Tidal because Qobuz lacks loudness normalization. The Qobuz guys are stubborn and believe this feature would degrade sound quality, so they do not want to implement it.
Otherwise I like Qobuz more than Tidal because Tidal does not lead me to hearing new music but keeps me in my own little bubble of tracks I listened to in the past.

 

[Redacted]

What would be the technical explanation for the lack of clarity when streaming digital music files from Apple Music or Qobuz?

Indeed. Bits are bits whether they get to a DAC via a USB stick or over WiFi LAN.

The only time you are likely to hear a difference is volume match differences (LUFs set by the platform etc), or recording quality (such MP3 v. FLAC), or different mixes or masters of the source material.

 

[Saponetto]

During years I was used to practice some months listening from Tidal and some from Qobuz.
A sort of detoxing, you know.

Tidal always shown some critical bugs on its Windows app and, have to say, Qobuz app actually shines if compared.
Another major Qobuz plus is of course its informative support about music and artists that, have to say, Tidal slowly reduced during years.

If any positive still lies in Tidal is that it still offers just a few tracks I love that I cannot find on Qobuz.

It is just a matter of taste, music targets and, if used on PCs or Macs, of software reliability.