Qobuz may be one of the best sounding streaming services out there, but that doesn't mean it is the best option for all.
Qobuz : Read more
Qobuz : Read more
Same here.I must be doing something wrong, I'm only paying $15 a month for Qobuz, I don't have a MQA DAC, as such I think Qobuz sounds better than Tidal, I dropped my Tidal subscription and picked up Qobuz, my only concern is sometimes it's slow to respond, I'm using their app on a PC, using a Schiit multibit DAC and the sound is great,
What the review fails to mention is that you need a MQA DAC to fully unfold Tidal's Master files. Without one all you can get is the first unfold ie if using the app on PC. Having listened to both Tidal Master (fist unfold only on PC outputted via USB into the CXN V2 streamer) and Qobuz Hi Res via a CA CXN V2 streamer I couldn't discern any difference. Ultimately, native streaming Qobuz via the CXN gave me a much neater solution. It's a pity Tidal don't offer their Masters in PCM format also.Qobuz may be one of the best sounding streaming services out there, but that doesn't mean it is the best option for all.
Qobuz : Read more
I've been using Qobuz (USA) very heavily for about 6 weeks now, more than I normally would due to being home from work awaiting COVID-19 to pass. Coming from CD's as a source for my system, I am really enjoying the increased realism permitted by the higher resolution files. As for music offerings, I have spent many hours trying to find albums which I own in CD format that are not available on Qobuz with virtually no "success." Far from discovering missing albums, I am instead excited to learn through this search how much more music not already in my physical collection is available from favorite artists.
I have scoured Qobuz's available offerings in most all genres, but admittedly very little modern pop/hip-hop (but don't worry, Dua Lipa's catchy new album is on there!). The word on the street seems to be that Qobuz is only for you if you listen to just classical or jazz. But the collection of music available in Rock, alternative, indie, world, etc. is flawless from my humble (but demanding) perspective. Grateful Dead, Foo fighters, Nirvana, Wilco, Wax Tailor, Bassnectar, Daft Punk, Tiesto, are a few of the artists I have been exploring through qobuz and have found all the albums I own plus all the others I already knew of but don't own plus many other albums that I didn't already know of. AND many of these albums are available in much higher resolution formats than CD quality. Even within the above-mentioned non-classical groups, probably at least 1/4 of their offerings are "hi-res"--higher than CD. If you have a decent system to send these files to, you are going to enjoy the improved sound of these higher than CD tracks. (for reference, my chain: Denafrips Ares II DAC>bottlehead crack amp with quality vintage tubes>Sennheiser 800S).
I'm thinking of boxing my CD transport and putting it in storage now that I have qobuz. It's that overwhelming. Furthermore, the qobuz iphone app is great and now that I can listen to any albums I was listening to before on the go (parties, boat, more popular music when hanging with friends, etc.) but now in CD quality, I have canceled my Apple Music account.
For the cost of a CD or two per month, and minus the cost of apple music, I am truly pleased with Qobuz and would have to give a nearly unqualified recommendation to any and all. Nearly because the computer based software is not flawless. I sometimes have to close qobuz and reopen when it suddenly malfunctions. Sometimes, a track plays in a very "damaged" way -- something equivalent to a scratched cd. Or, a track will display as playing, but no sound is coming out of the speakers. To be fair, this might be in part due to the computer, not the streaming software. But closing and reopening usually fixes this. I would have to use a quality macintosh computer as the streaming source for awhile to know if it is just my often glitchy albeit nearly new Dell computer that is causing these problems.
Also, I emailed the qobuz technical team email address a simple one paragraph question about a network streamer without onboard DAC's that they would recommend/partner with 2 weeks ago and have yet to receive a response. I did have better luck with a different question which I posted to their facebook page, but even that took a week to respond (they did apologize for the delay, but still...)
I should also mention that qobuz is very good at helping me to discover new music through its music suggestions and its "discover" category.
I can't compare to the obvious competitor Tidal, but as I am a cellist and love classical music, all indicators are that Tidal's current meager classical offerings would severely disappoint me...even though their technology that is supposed to remove the ubiquitous ringing recording artifact intrigues me.
In conclusion, once the hi-fi consumer market discovers how great Qobuz is now, I expect it to really dominate. I am thrilled with it thus far and plan to design an audio system for my livingroom with Qobuz as my primary music source.
I've been using Qobuz (USA) very heavily for about 6 weeks now, more than I normally would due to being home from work awaiting COVID-19 to pass. Coming from CD's as a source for my system, I am really enjoying the increased realism permitted by the higher resolution files. As for music offerings, I have spent many hours trying to find albums which I own in CD format that are not available on Qobuz with virtually no "success." Far from discovering missing albums, I am instead excited to learn through this search how much more music not already in my physical collection is available from favorite artists.
I have scoured Qobuz's available offerings in most all genres, but admittedly very little modern pop/hip-hop (but don't worry, Dua Lipa's catchy new album is on there!). The word on the street seems to be that Qobuz is only for you if you listen to just classical or jazz. But the collection of music available in Rock, alternative, indie, world, etc. is flawless from my humble (but demanding) perspective. Grateful Dead, Foo fighters, Nirvana, Wilco, Wax Tailor, Bassnectar, Daft Punk, Tiesto, are a few of the artists I have been exploring through qobuz and have found all the albums I own plus all the others I already knew of but don't own plus many other albums that I didn't already know of. AND many of these albums are available in much higher resolution formats than CD quality. Even within the above-mentioned non-classical groups, probably at least 1/4 of their offerings are "hi-res"--higher than CD. If you have a decent system to send these files to, you are going to enjoy the improved sound of these higher than CD tracks. (for reference, my chain: Denafrips Ares II DAC>bottlehead crack amp with quality vintage tubes>Sennheiser 800S).
I'm thinking of boxing my CD transport and putting it in storage now that I have qobuz. It's that overwhelming. Furthermore, the qobuz iphone app is great and now that I can listen to any albums I was listening to before on the go (parties, boat, more popular music when hanging with friends, etc.) but now in CD quality, I have canceled my Apple Music account.
For the cost of a CD or two per month, and minus the cost of apple music, I am truly pleased with Qobuz and would have to give a nearly unqualified recommendation to any and all. Nearly because the computer based software is not flawless. I sometimes have to close qobuz and reopen when it suddenly malfunctions. Sometimes, a track plays in a very "damaged" way -- something equivalent to a scratched cd. Or, a track will display as playing, but no sound is coming out of the speakers. To be fair, this might be in part due to the computer, not the streaming software. But closing and reopening usually fixes this. I would have to use a quality macintosh computer as the streaming source for awhile to know if it is just my often glitchy albeit nearly new Dell computer that is causing these problems.
Also, I emailed the qobuz technical team email address a simple one paragraph question about a network streamer without onboard DAC's that they would recommend/partner with 2 weeks ago and have yet to receive a response. I did have better luck with a different question which I posted to their facebook page, but even that took a week to respond (they did apologize for the delay, but still...)
I should also mention that qobuz is very good at helping me to discover new music through its music suggestions and its "discover" category.
I can't compare to the obvious competitor Tidal, but as I am a cellist and love classical music, all indicators are that Tidal's current meager classical offerings would severely disappoint me...even though their technology that is supposed to remove the ubiquitous ringing recording artifact intrigues me.
In conclusion, once the hi-fi consumer market discovers how great Qobuz is now, I expect it to really dominate. I am thrilled with it thus far and plan to design an audio system for my livingroom with Qobuz as my primary music source.
I also have to disagree with the conclusions of the article, to my ears Qobuz beats Tidal at both CD quality and higher. I've subscribed to both at least 3 times in the past and done A/B testing with headphones and on my main system, and every time Qobuz is the clear winner. This is both good and bad as I do agree that Tidal has somewhat of a better catalogue selection for certain genres, but at the same time its not a dealbreaker for me.
Like others, I subscribe to other services like Spotify and Google music to have complete access to any missing recordings. I'll gladly take better quality 95% of the time vs worse quality with 100% catalogue availability.
To my ears, Tidal actually has more "detail", but I would call it more artificial and grainy detail, which is not pleasant. Music sounds a bit more artificial, and bass response is not as clear and somewhat recessed. Qobuz is just easier on the ears and much easier to enjoy.
I also have no interest in artificially limiting my DAC selections to those which are comparable with MQA, which is a proprietary and, honestly, still somewhat controversial format and process.
I'm also a bit confused at the overall conclusion of the article, like this quote for example, "Its CD-quality streams, meanwhile, are greater sticklers for detail than Tidal’s, although such discrepancies are hardly discernible when we listen through budget headphones plugged straight into a laptop."
How is that helpful? What is the point of even mentioning this? Overall the article feels like it was written to fit a predetermined conclusion and wasn't very well researched.
I must be doing something wrong, I'm only paying $15 a month for Qobuz, I don't have a MQA DAC, as such I think Qobuz sounds better than Tidal, I dropped my Tidal subscription and picked up Qobuz, my only concern is sometimes it's slow to respond, I'm using their app on a PC, using a Schiit multibit DAC and the sound is great,
Same here.
To all who read Whathifi’s Qobuz review, I encourage you to give it a chance, sign up for the free trial period and compare it for yourself to your preferred hi-res streaming service.
I was a TIDAL subscriber for 4 years, joined Qobuz when it cut its price to $15/month, and spent a month comparing the two.
On my system (Cambridge CXNv2 streamer, Moon 340i integrated, KEF R3s), Qobuz hi-res sounds better than TIDAL masters, and Qobuz CD-quality sounds better than TIDAL CD-quality streams.
Qobuz‘s library is missing some of my favorite titles from TIDAL’s library, but the reverse is true, as well.
TIDAL’s iPhone app is a bit more polished than Qobuz, but not significantly so IMHO.
I’ve used Qobuz tech support only twice in the three months or so I’ve been a member, but each time they responded promptly and it was clear they read my questions carefully and had good answers.
I ended up quitting TIDAL, but I’m happy it still exists. The more choices in hi-res subscription services, the better for consumers.
I'm also a bit confused at the overall conclusion of the article, like this quote for example, "Its CD-quality streams, meanwhile, are greater sticklers for detail than Tidal’s, although such discrepancies are hardly discernible when we listen through budget headphones plugged straight into a laptop."