[animeismylife]

That s a good heads-up , thank you. I wish they d offer a monthly subscription for the highest tier package, but with 3 months free I think it is enough time to see which one is worth the ££, this or Tidal.

Hey, I'm sure you'll love Qobuz! Also, I agree that they should offer those who only want to stream 24 bit an option to subscribe on a monthly basis, but I think they can't offer that due to their contracts with the record labels...

 

[Nik74]

I ve subscribed. Couldn't find the 3 months free offer but I think 30 days will still do. I m interested in seeing a) if the sound quality is a match or superior to Tidal and b) how extensive is their catalog in the music genres I listen to, again in comparison to Tidal which so far I m reasonably happy with. For sure I wouldn't keep both subscriptions as that's pushing it for me in terms of ££

 

[animeismylife]

I ve subscribed. Couldn't find the 3 months free offer but I think 30 days will still do. I m interested in seeing a) if the sound quality is a match or superior to Tidal and b) how extensive is their catalog in the music genres I listen to, again in comparison to Tidal which so far I m reasonably happy with. For sure I wouldn't keep both subscriptions as that's pushing it for me in terms of ££

You'll find that the sound quality is better than tidal (hopefully). I can't really describe it in audiophile terms, but qobuz tracks are more “precise" if that makes any sense lol. As far as the music catalog is concerned, I don't think there'll be a song that's on tidal that you won't find on Qobuz. The only way that could happen is if you were into Romanian music (I am). In fact, if you're into classical music, there are likely albums and tracks on Qobuz that you won't find on tidal lol. Also, I don't understand how you weren't able to get 3 months, I subscribed and it went through just fine


Anyway, please keep us posted on your experience using Qobuz

 

[Nik74]

Hmm, perhaps that offer isn’t available in the UK ...

 

[voxie]

That is a great "carrot" from Qobuz. Hope it pushes more subs. Its a streaming service insofar what I can observe that hasn't got traction on this site. It isn't all things to all people but what Is. Its not showy like other Hi-Res on-line services which suits me perfectly especially the SQ. Just my pennies worth.

 

[animeismylife]

Hmm, perhaps that offer isn’t available in the UK ...

I subscribed on Qobuz UK as well. But, I think I know what happened: You created a new account and Qobuz gave you the standard 30 days trial offer.




If you had created your account and clicked on the the link I mentioned in my post, you would've got the 3 months

 

[Nik74]

Bummer ...

Maybe it’s worth emailing their support team and seeing if it can be reverted

I like the UI as a very first impression and the two artists I ve had time to check have indeed a much more extensive available discography

 

[Steve Wilcox]

That s a good heads-up , thank you. I wish they d offer a monthly subscription for the highest tier package, but with 3 months free I think it is enough time to see which one is worth the ££, this or Tidal.

Bummer ...

Maybe it’s worth emailing their support team and seeing if it can be reverted

I like the UI as a very first impression and the two artists I ve had time to check have indeed a much more extensive available discography

 

[Steve Wilcox]

I'd like to be able to trial the Sublime+ service before shelling out for an annual subscription. I'd like the re-assurance that my home broadband can cope without drop-outs. It's fine with Tidal HiFi and MQA but Qobuz hi resolution files involve substantially more data .

 

[Nik74]

Some very quick impressions from the couple of hours on it today : the classical music library is vast and incomparably better than Tidal, also navigating through titles and artists seems easier
For the music I listen to there also seems to be a wider selection of titles. There are gaps in availability in both tidal and Qobuz but the latter seems to me to still offer more titles
The draw back so far for me : Sound ...for sure of similar quality to tidal but - through my ears , in my rig , on this particular day- less extended in the lower end and noticeably brighter somewhere in the kHz region, also a less black background than tidal. I m surprised they can be so different - so much for bits being just bits.
I think I prefer the sound of tidal but it might be just that I m used to it .
Away from my rig next week so will have to wait longer to find out what weighs up.

 

[animeismylife]

I'd like to be able to trial the Sublime+ service before shelling out for an annual subscription. I'd like the re-assurance that my home broadband can cope without drop-outs. It's fine with Tidal HiFi and MQA but Qobuz hi resolution files involve substantially more data .

Hey, even though Qobuz doesn't offer a trial for Sublime+, there are two ways you can still check whether your broadband is good enough or not:

1. Qobuz has a hi-res playlist that even non-subscribers can stream: http://open.qobuz.com/album/2018012900000

But, since all the tracks on that playlist are 44.10 kHz and don't exceed 70 MB, it's not a very good test. Hence, we move on to way 2.

2. Create a Qobuz account, but don't subscribe to any plan. Buy a few 24 bit 192 kHz tracks from their downloads page and install the Qobuz app. The Qobuz app lets you stream your purchases so you can perfectly determine whether your broadband is good enough for Sublime+. Hope this helps. I'm tagging you @Nik74 because you liked Steve's post ^__^

 

[animeismylife]

Some very quick impressions from the couple of hours on it today : the classical music library is vast and incomparably better than Tidal, also navigating through titles and artists seems easier
For the music I listen to there also seems to be a wider selection of titles. There are gaps in availability in both tidal and Qobuz but the latter seems to me to still offer more titles
The draw back so far for me : Sound ...for sure of similar quality to tidal but - through my ears , in my rig , on this particular day- less extended in the lower end and noticeably brighter somewhere in the kHz region, also a less black background than tidal. I m surprised they can be so different - so much for bits being just bits.
I think I prefer the sound of tidal but it might be just that I m used to it .
Away from my rig next week so will have to wait longer to find out what weighs up.

Give it time, I went from Apple Music (atrocious) to Qobuz to Tidal. I'm not an audiophile, but after using Qobuz for a while, Tidal tracks did seem “fuller" initially. However, after extensively going back and forth between them, there came a point that I could no longer use tidal, that “fuller" sound had started sounding “bloated". That's why I mentioned Qobuz sounds “precise" in my first reply to you on this thread. Your opinion may vary though ^__^

 

[Steve Wilcox]

Hey, even though Qobuz doesn't offer a trial for Sublime+, there are two ways you can still check whether your broadband is good enough or not:

1. Qobuz has a hi-res playlist that even non-subscribers can stream: http://open.qobuz.com/album/2018012900000

But, since all the tracks on that playlist are 44.10 kHz and don't exceed 70 MB, it's not a very good test. Hence, we move on to way 2.

2. Create a Qobuz account, but don't subscribe to any plan. Buy a few 24 bit 192 kHz tracks from their downloads page and install the Qobuz app. The Qobuz app lets you stream your purchases so you can perfectly determine whether your broadband is good enough for Sublime+. Hope this helps. I'm tagging you @Nik74 because you liked Steve's post ^__^

Thank you for this. Good suggestions and much appreciated. I'm also very interested to hear your views on Qobuz sound v Tidal. I migrated from Qobuz to Tidal quite a few years back mainly because Qobuz was too French orientated. I can't say I noticed any significant change to sound at the time. I'm now considering going back, partly because Tidal is too black urban centred in its presentation. Most of what I want is there but it would be nice to be greeted by a home page that speaks to me.

 

[deanorthk]

I'm going to try this 3 months test, while I'm testing audirvana, it seems the right time, as one can integrate quobuz hifi in audirvana, going to try this

 

[animeismylife]

Thank you for this. Good suggestions and much appreciated. I'm also very interested to hear your views on Qobuz sound v Tidal. I migrated from Qobuz to Tidal quite a few years back mainly because Qobuz was too French orientated. I can't say I noticed any significant change to sound at the time. I'm now considering going back, partly because Tidal is too black urban centred in its presentation. Most of what I want is there but it would be nice to be greeted by a home page that speaks to me.

Hey, that all french Qobuz was a long time ago, every section of Qobuz is now available in english, the app has undergone a complete UI redesign and I see more US/UK artists on the featured page than before. When I subscribed to the 3 month trial and downloaded the app, I was really surprised by how responsive and smooth the app was compared to 6 months back. App updates are now frequent too. I think they're really stepping up their game for the US launch.


As far as Qobuz Vs Tidal is concerned, I honestly wanted to like Tidal. It has HD music videos that look better than the ones on youtube in my opinion. I wanted it to be my all in one music solution. But, upon doing a side by side comparison, vocals and instuments on tidal just don't sound authentic when compared to Qobuz. I made it a point to reach for Tidal when new music was released, but as soon as I heard the same song on Qobuz, on the very first listen I was able to tell Qobuz sounded much more natural and authentic. I really wish I could explain what I heard in audiophile terms, but all I know is that once you hear something better, you can't go back.


I don't know what kind of music you listen to, but one of the tracks on which the difference was startlingly obvious is: Sigala, Ella Eyre - Came Here for Love. Ella Eyre's voice is unique and on Tidal, it sounded like that special quality in her voice was gone. Of course, we all hear differently so the best way would be to take advantage of the 3 month free trial and do your own comparison ^__^