Qobuz and Tidal

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bluegrassphile

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Are Qobuz and Tidal still the choice of audiophiles when it comes to music streaming? Or, have Spotify Connect and Amazon HD moved into their territory?

Part of why I'm asking is I will be purchasing a new NAIM Uniti Atom Headphone Edition amp for my headphones and it presents with several options for streaming that I don't currently have. The changes in streaming have come so fast over the last couple of years that the answer to those questions posed above may have changed. That's why I'm asking them again. So, has anything changed? I'm especially interested in Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon HD and Spotify Connect. I haven't heard as much about Qobuz as a year or two ago. Tidal seems to be coming on strong along with Spotify Connect. Is Qobuz starting to fade from the picture?
 
Don't know where things are heading so it will be interesting to get some feedback from others on this.
I have both Qobuz and Tidal as I find some titles on one and some on the other. Happy with both though.
 
i have been a qobuz subscriber ever since it became available in the US which was about about 2 years ago. over that time the only two notable things to have changed are:

1) their library has filled out significantly -- now it is pretty rare that something i am interested in not available. also, new releases for pretty much everything show up on the artist's release date.

2) hi-res (resolutions over 16/44) files are available for pretty much every title for which they have been released (i.e. a title where a hi-res version is listed in the discogs database).

absolutely no performance / availability issues ...and, i like that qobuz offers subscribers the ability to purchase files in any available resolution.

very happy subscriber ...and to be honest, without qobuz (and roon) digital would be much more of a PINTA -- YMMV
 
Amazon HD is not a choice as Naim is not on their list of preferred providers which has not changed at all. You would have to use Airplay. Spotify is the best for discovery but wait until it goes to at least FLAC resolution for it to be your primary choice. I have subscribed to Tidal and Qobuz for five years and almost always use Qobuz as it just sounds better. I keep the Tidal active for now as our daughter uses it. Tidal is on another new ownership so who knows where it will ultimately end. Depending on how it actually sounds and performs higher resolution Spotify will be hard to ignore with competitive prices.
 
Qobuz by a mile.

I had Tidal. Every time I turned around they were advertising and suggesting rap. Unfortunately, they don’t pay attention to people’s ages or take a real profile of what their subscribers may really enjoy.

I dropped Tidal and went to Qobuz. The sound quality IMO is better than Tidal across the board. Tidal has a couple of songs that sound a little better because of MQA, but across the board Qobuz is the best - IMO. Couldn’t be happier.
 
bluegrassphile said:
Are Qobuz and Tidal still the choice of audiophiles when it comes to music streaming? Or, have Spotify Connect and Amazon HD moved into their territory?

Part of why I'm asking is I will be purchasing a new NAIM Uniti Atom Headphone Edition amp for my headphones and it presents with several options for streaming that I don't currently have. The changes in streaming have come so fast over the last couple of years that the answer to those questions posed above may have changed. That's why I'm asking them again. So, has anything changed? I'm especially interested in Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon HD and Spotify Connect. I haven't heard as much about Qobuz as a year or two ago. Tidal seems to be coming on strong along with Spotify Connect. Is Qobuz starting to fade from the picture?
Click to expand...

There is a lot of change in the works in music streaming. Apple now offers high-end audio. Spotify announced a couple of months ago that it will start offering lossless CD-quality streaming soon. Amazon is already offering high definition but it only works with a small number of brands.

I used to subscribe to Tidal. I switched to Qobuz because I was not interested or needed MQA plus Qobuz was cheaper. Not interested in Tidal anymore

I have a lifetime subscription to Roon. I also subscribe to Qobuz and Spotify now. Qobuz works with Roon but Spotify does not. Once Spotify offers lossless CD quality streaming I might reconsider if I want to keep Qobuz or not. I would still keep Roon for my local library.

The NAIM Uniti Atom Headphone Edition amp that you are looking at seems to work with Roon, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, and Apple (AirPlay). I do not think that it works with Amazon HD unless you add some additional equipment. It seems that you can listen to Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify or Apple (AirPlay) separately and would only require a subscription to whichever service(s) you choose. Roon allows you to listen to your own library plus Tidal and Qobuz (requires separate subscriptions to each).

For sharing music with others and finding new music, Spotify wins by 100 miles. No contest.
 
We had both Tidal and Qobuz and we dropped Tidal because Qobuz sounded so much better. It was and is clear. Seems they are doing something with algorithms that is quite secret.
 
I was pretty late to the party, signing up for Qobuz in October 2021. Really glad I did. Now when I read about some music I'm curious to hear, I just find it on Qobuz and there we go. No more handwringing about 'should I buy it' or trying to find a listenable version for free. And unlike Roon I can use it wherever I am.

It doesn't replace Roon of course and in fact I use Roon to access Qobuz to listen at home. They mesh very well and I can add Qobuz music to my Roon library, which is very convenient.

And I think Qobuz sounds very good. (I tried lossless Tidal a couple of years ago and thought it did not sound nearly as good as same resolution files streamed from my home server.)
 
Qobuz is really good. The sound quality is very good.
Probably the closest to local HD file playback on my setup.

Tidal is noticeably inferior in sound quality. Not even close.




.
 
I disagree with part of the article (one sentence) that stated that Tidal edged out Qobuz. As Nikhil above stated, "Tidal is noticeably inferior in sound quality. Not even close."
 
bluegrassphile said:
Is Qobuz starting to fade from the picture?
Click to expand...

Not hardly. Far from it.

Tidal on the other hand might just be fading away as subscribers are constantly dropping it left and right, me being one of them. As others have mentioned, Qobuz sounds tons better, caters to the subscribers' profiles better, and certainly doesn't push rap on everyone.

Heck, I just read that Tidal just cut their "CD quality" pricing in half to try and keep and/or attract more subscribers. Just the type of strategy for a hurting company.
 
I had Tidal, before Qobuz was available in the US. The pushing of rap, and frankly the lewd album covers, we’re not appropriate for me.

Qobuz is great now, and like others, it’s rare that something my wife, or son, want to hear are not available. They listen to a lot of the newer stuff.

Roon + Qobuz are still doing it for me, in my room.

Sonos + Qobuz + her Spotify for the rest of the house.
 
I had Tidal, then tried Qobuz when they first started in the US. I was dissatisfied with Qobuz library at that time (too limited) and remained with Tidal for maybe another year.

I tried Qobuz again and by then their library was comparable to Tidal’s or better.
I quit Tidal and I am very happy with Qobuz.

I don’t know what folks are talking about Tidal and rap music. Perhaps that’s an issue for folks that use only Tidal’s app.

I connect to Tidal and Qobuz through Roon. That means that I only see whatever I am looking for and none of them can push any music on me.

Those folks complaining about Tidal should look into using it in combination with Roon.
 
Thanks everyone for the info-- the consensus seems to favor Qobuz.
I have Tidal now, and I'm not dissatisfied with it-- but then; I haven't tried anything else. Based on the reports here; I think I will give Qobuz a listen!
 
Alkyogre said:
Because Deezer has only cd quality at max.
Click to expand...

&... that's not what I asked.... I have redbook quality cd's in my collection that are absolutely as good as any HD files I have listened to, care to rephrase with hindsight?
 
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