[flvtch]

Really enjoying Qobuz and Apple Music; Qobuz sounds better but Apple Music has a nicer UI (besides their weird queue system).

I’m a big electronic music nut and Spotify probably edges them in terms of sheer volume of niche new artists but I find myself listening less and less to Spotify.

Tidal was ok but cancelled my subscription.

Amazon music just doesn’t sit right and sounds pants.

 

[Nick24JJ]

I voted Amazon Music HD because I have an annual subscription for 2 years now and Qobuz because, after reading a bit this thread, you've convinced me, so I got a monthly trial, yesterday.

So, I've been listening to Qobuz for a few hours now. I'm listening through my phone, the POCO F2 Pro, UTWS5, 7Hz Timeless with SpinFit CP100+ eartips. It is very early to judge, but Qobuz appears to have a brighter, vivid, more lively and detailed sound. I was very happy to discover that some artists from Electronica can be found in Qobuz, whereas I could not find them on Amazon, thus I was obliged to use YouTube. Really happy about this!

Sometimes, I am using my Qudelix-5K with the TRI I3. I'd like to ask, what is the best practice/optimum streaming settings for Qobuz? Currently, I have it set on 24 bit Hi-Res/up to 192 kHz, for both Mobile Network and Wi-Fi. In Qudelix, I have all the sample rates, selected. So, 44.1 kHz, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz. Is this the best practice?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

You can check Qudelix thread. LDAC can do up to 24/96 but it starts lossy compressing when it exceeds 16/44.1 and even with 16/44.1 while there is no loss of data, by default it upsamples to 24/96, so it's not bit perfect. Qudelix should have 16/44.1 LDAC settings which technically can provide bit perfect output for Redbook material, and save phone battery along the way as it bypasses upsampling.

 

[Nick24JJ]

You can check Qudelix thread. LDAC can do up to 24/96 but it starts lossy compressing when it exceeds 16/44.1 and even with 16/44.1 while there is no loss of data by default it upsamples to 24/96, so it's not bit perfect. Qudelix should have 16/44.1 LDAC settings which technically can provide bit perfect output for Redbook material, and save phone battery along the way as it bypasses upsampling.

Aha, I see! Okay, thank you, I will ask there

 

[onebaduce]

Was using tidal until Apple 's lossless update. since I'm already in the Apple Music Family plan for my family and the lossless ticks all my boxes. Strictly for my portable rig. I canceled Tidal.

 

[Daffie]

Just took annual payment on Qobuz. 2 months for free, so it's worth it. And the search / sorting should be fixed soon so that's also a big bonus.

 

[pk4425]

Just took annual payment on Qobuz. 2 months for free, so it's worth it. And the search / sorting should be fixed soon so that's also a big bonus.

I listened to Spotify last night after about three straight weeks of Qobuz.

Maybe it's placebo, but I've become so accustomed to the rich, full, detailed sound of Qobuz that 320 kbps Spotify sounded like music being played in a tin can or on an old Victrola. Quite thin in comparison -- that must be the lossy compression at work.

 

[Jmop]

Glad to find this thread and that it's recent, I appreciate the responses. I just got a Tanchjim Stargate dongle for iOS and am really digging it on my iPhone 7. Am thinking about going lossless streaming for convenience and Apple Music seems like the obvious choice, I just don't wanna degrade too much in quality from my wav downloads and CD rips. Hopefully the test that was done on speakers ranking Tidal as higher quality won't be as relevant in my niche portable use with IEMs.

 

[Calvinyjj]

My atom stack isn't mqa compatible, but for what it's worth. Tidal sounded pretty garbo to me. Clarity aside, you can tell they tamper with the sound. Nearly everything I listened to sounded bassier than the same track from a CD or Deezer, qobuz. I guess that's a decent way of getting the average listener on board because most people believe good audio=forward bass.

YES! I am curious too as to why there are differences in the sound output between tidal dan apple music when i listen to the same track at 16bit44k cd quality, i find too that the tidal is bassier, sibilant prone, forward and lesser soundstage compared to the Apple Music, holycow

 

[Krekmate]

After moving from Spotify, I've tried Tidal and Amazon Music but both apps performed worse than (Amazon especially). Something I found particularly annoying was how if I was scrolled in the middle of a playlist and jumped to an album, when I just used the button for going back so I could return to the playlist my sort and position and the playlist would be lost. Does Qobuz perform better/not have those issues?

 

[skeeb23]

I loved Qobuz for the time I had with it. Currently I'm with Amazon hd simply because my whole family can share in it for a great cost. The only reason I didn't stick with Qobuz, other then price, was I didn't really care for how it setup recommendations for you. Very much seemed more of a service to use to find a the tracks you want as opposed to browsing around. Amazon is a bit better on that front for me.

 

[Nick24JJ]

I appreciated Qobuz for the 90-days free trial subscription the purchase of my Mojo 2 offered me. I appreciated the bit perfect sound quality I could get, especially while using it through UAPP. I have cancelled my subscription a couple of days ago, simply because with Qobuz you [literally] have to search each song one by one and create playlists. The Discovery function never understood what I'm really looking forward to listen to. My weekly Q (Tailored for you) had me wondering to whom are they referring to?! Certainly not me since their suggestions had very little or nothing to do with my music.

Amazon Music Unlimited knows me and understands me much better.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Completely agree on Qobuz non functional "discovery". The only thing Amazon is missing to become number one player in the field is bit-perfect output, and unfortunately it's not a small one.

Any updated on Spotify lossless, did they ditch it altogether?

 

[Powermankw]

I have used Amazon and now Tidal and Qobuz for a while. As far as some saying Qobuz has better SQ... I can't tell. I do think tidal is less than trasperant, and I am bothered by concerns raised about MQA... The problem is, tidal is the better service... For me. They have more stuff I listen to. And yes, if Spotify ever gets their hi-res launched, I will give them a try... Even though I have never used them. If they are better than tidal, tidal is gone.

 

[iamoneagain]

Qobuz has improved a lot in the last few years as far as expanding their catalog and improving their interface. They still lag far behind in custom discover, only offering a weekly playlist that’s all over the place. The recommended albums and playlists for different genres is nice overview but isn’t related to your own listening habits. I also don’t like that they don’t have lyrics of any kind displayed yet. Qobuz is really only worth it when combined with roon. That brings the missing pieces but still only works when you’re at home.

I’m still looking to switch to Apple Music if it comes out with lossless over Airplay 2 this year or if Spotify ever decides to release their hifi offering. Wasn’t too happy with Amazon’s app the last time I used it. I actually liked Deezer but they only have like 1000 album favorite limit which makes its useless for me.