What is your take so far on Qobuz vs Tidal?

[Jose Sifontes]

I opened a trial account with Qobuz to check out their HD music service vs. Tidal. My initial impressions are that the sound quality is very good as you would expect, probably on a par with MQA on Tidal, and in some cases better than that. The user interface is (for me) better than Tidal - clean and Roon-like - I often found myself fighting with the Tidal UX to find what I wanted to listen to. For example, I can select a genre and see everything in the library for that classification easily with one mouse movement. Not having to search for masters in MQA feels good (then being disappointed by what little is there). I imagine the overall selection of songs is better in Tidal, but have not investigated that. Any other takes out there on the Roon vs Tidal question?

 

[Sonnie Parker]

What is the price difference Jose?

 

[Jack]

Interesting. I have Tidal and it seems kind of straight forward but then I am neither a power user nor have I run across something else to compare it to. I will look to see how this thread plays out.

 

[Grayson Dere]

Hi Jose,

I was using Qobuz + Audirvana Plus for a good 2 months (no Tidal experience, sorry). It was pretty fantastic sounding with the 24-bit hi-res option. I do not subscribe to anything anymore since for some reason I've found my CDs and LPs sound better still. I apologize if that's not the advice you were looking for.

 

[Jose Sifontes]

What is the price difference Jose?

The Studio quality tier (goes up to 192/24 HD) is $24.99/month, which is $5 more than Tidal, but you can pay annually - 249.99, which gets it down to about $20.80/month - very close to Tidal's price.

 

[Jose Sifontes]

Interesting. I have Tidal and it seems kind of straight forward but then I am neither a power user nor have I run across something else to compare it to. I will look to see how this thread plays out.

Can you organize music by albums in Tidal? I don't remember, I know tracks can be added to playlists. It is easy in Qobuz.

 

[Jose Sifontes]

Hi Jose,

I was using Qobuz + Audirvana Plus for a good 2 months (no Tidal experience, sorry). It was pretty fantastic sounding with the 24-bit hi-res option. I do not subscribe to anything anymore since for some reason I've found my CDs and LPs sound better still. I apologize if that's not the advice you were looking for.

Don't apologize, that is helpful context. I keep a large collection of LPs, Digital HD files and CDs, and listen to all. I have canceled Tidal twice to go back to that pile of media, and to Spotify streaming, for which I have a family plan. Are you using a standard CD player or something more exotic?

 

[Jack]

I have to agree here, I find Tidal to be really good but not at good as my physical media or even my server. The differences are not huge but apparent.
Tidal really allows me to explore so much ,ore music than I won.

I was using Qobuz + Audirvana Plus for a good 2 months (no Tidal experience, sorry). It was pretty fantastic sounding with the 24-bit hi-res option. I do not subscribe to anything anymore since for some reason I've found my CDs and LPs sound better still. I apologize if that's not the advice you were looking for.

 

[tesseract]

Can you organize music by albums in Tidal? I don't remember, I know tracks can be added to playlists. It is easy in Qobuz.

Hit the menu icon and it will drop down with different options.

 

[tesseract]

I want to try Qobuz. Can I just stream it from my laptop via HDMI to my XMC-1 pre/pro? That is how I stream Tidal, but haven't bothered to accommodate MQA.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I have to agree here, I find Tidal to be really good but not at good as my physical media or even my server. The differences are not huge but apparent.
Tidal really allows me to explore so much ,ore music than I won.

I think I’ve heard that difference too, Jack. I *think*. Not quite sure I can pinpoint the difference... I need to sit down and do some A/B comparisons, take notes, and put it down in writing!

 

[GFOviedo]

If, I was single, without 4 kids, 1 dog, mortgage, car, credit cards and college loans, I would try Quboz. Too bad they don't have student discount like Spotify. I get Spotify Premium, Hulu and Showtime for $4.99. You can't beat that!

 

[tesseract]

I recently gave this a whirl, preferring Qobuz.

Smartphone/earphones



Level-matched 2.0

 

[Grayson Dere]

I recently gave this a whirl, preferring Qobuz.

Smartphone/earphones

View attachment 14249 View attachment 14250

Level-matched 2.0

View attachment 14251 View attachment 14252

Did Qobuz sound more dynamic to you? or did you like it more because it sounded less compressed?

 

[tesseract]

Qobuz sounded like it has clearer highs, less distortion so that extreme stands out a bit more.

 

[Jose Sifontes]

Qobuz sounded like it has clearer highs, less distortion so that extreme stands out a bit more.

Will give those two services another try...

 

[tesseract]

Will give those two services another try...

I prefer Qobuz for audio quality, Tidal for quantity of choice and the HD videos.

 

[Jose Sifontes]

Agree - those HD videos impact the final decision. Nowadays almost everything is available in youtube though (but not in HD in all cases).

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Been giving qobuz a trial... really liking it and how it's laid out. They've also got the price down to $15 per month or $150 annually, which saves you $2.50 per month. If you want discounted downloads you can pay another $100. Not sure it would be worth it.

Anyone else hearing much of a difference between qobuz, Tidal and Amazon HD?

I switched back and forth between my USB and qobuz thru Roon and can't hear a drop of difference... both sounding really good.

 

[Grayson Dere]

I'm a recent Tidal to Qobuz convert. I haven't done an A/B comparison of the two but in the end it was the price that got me. $15/month for Hi-Res music is fantastic! The Qobuz sound quality is great with both 16/44.1 and Hi-Res tracks; I'm still tapping my feet and emotionally involved with the music : )

 

[Todd Anderson]

I moved over from Tidal to Qobuz, too. The user interface is exponentially better, IMO. In terms of sound quality, I can’t hear a difference.

I do wish that Qobuz was integrated into HEOS. I know it’s coming, but would be nice to have it now!

 

[ddude003]

I have tried Tidal and Qobuz... Qobuz Studio Premier seems to have a slightly better SQ... Never really liked the idea of MQA slicing up small signals... MQA seems like a solution looking into the past of 300 / 1200 baud barbed wire dial up networks... And Tidal seems more focused on the Jay-Z world of RAP and Gangster music and I am an old rocker...

Anyway, I dropped Tidal and have stuck with QoBuz Studio Premier...

 

[JStewart]

5 for 5 for Qobuz. Made the switch from Tidal about 20 months ago before the price came down. Got annoyed by songs in playlists that would become unavailable for play.

Anyone else hearing much of a difference between qobuz, Tidal and Amazon HD?

Mrs JStewart uses amazon hd so I have access. No discernible SQ difference but I did not like the UI through BluOS at all. And finding things seemed a chore.

Through BluOS, Tidal and Qobuz were equivalent so far as I could tell.

I like the Qobuz player better than Tidal’s and use it at work and in the home office from time to time. Qobuz is also what I use on the iPhone. Like Tidal you can download to the phone for offline play which is handy for traveling.

 

[JStewart]

I do wish that Qobuz was integrated into HEOS. I know it’s coming, but would be nice to have it now!

That’s surprising. Do you have a Denon? Maybe Roon is an option.

Denon - Roon Labs

roonlabs.com

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Right now I am connected back to my NAD M17 processor with BluOS... which works nicely with Roon and qobuz. I'm liking the combination. And I also thought that Surface Duo looked pretty cool when I saw the commercial... unbelievable that it can be $1500 for 256GB... ouch. Nope... not going to a tabby... ain't gonna do it.