Qobuz Discussion Thread

[andy.c.banks]

Few people posted about Carplay

 

doesn’t work for me properly either

 

1) downloaded tracks are fine

2) streaming only seems to work if triggered from iPhone, after which I can go forward or back from CarPlay but that defeats the point of CarPlay 

 

I was hoping this might have been fixed after the AU launch as I was using UK version before and it didn’t work either 

 

bit disappointed 

[cheekyboy]

25 minutes ago, awayward said:

It will automatically go from trial to full subscription at the end of the trial,  the trial should give you full access.

 

25 minutes ago, 08Boss302 said:

Gday Keith

 

Just as a troubleshooting exercise log out and sign back in?

If you're on the free trial and put in all your details etc it will have sent confirming email I think, if you've got that then you should be all set up.  I'd even just do a modem reset too?

 

 

 

 

15 minutes ago, Tobes said:

What is 'SEEK' - is that some other 3ed party app?

If so, maybe try with the Qobuz app - as mentioned above the trial gives full access, so there should be no issue.

Thanks all, but I suspect the problem was between the chair and the keyboard! Qobuz responded and apparently my credit card details had failed, so I did the transaction thingy again and all good now.

Qobuz is sounding good but I’ve been pissed off with Tidal for sometime and Neil Young pulling his entire catalogue was the last straw for me.

The SEEK app is the interface for my iPad and iPhone to the Bel Canto streamer/network player.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Edited April 16, 2021 by cheekyboy

[taibot]

35 minutes ago, cheekyboy said:

Yep, but everything I play are 30 second samples. Not real clear on their site how to go from the trial to full subscription. 

No, haven’t had a Qobuz account before and not happy with Tidal, so no problem dropping them for Qobuz.

I’ve signed up to Qobuz for first time today. Had the 30s snippet experience after signing up, but resolved once I’d then subscribed for the free trial month.

 

Also have a Tidal account and running through my Naim Atom. Will do some comparison over next couple of weeks, but so far so good. Streaming some Coldplay and Bowie (24/192) and Avalanches (24/48) sounds good to these ears 

[PassionForSound]

4 minutes ago, Tobes said:

Í haven't checked tonight yet, but this morning I was still having issues with Roon not displaying correct rates for Hi-res files. They played fine as Hi-res, but are listed as 16/44 and can't be identified from the standard CD quality file. 

Also my Qobuz favorites disappeared from the album view - only 4 titles showing. They displayed fine in the Qobuz section in Roon, just not in the main album listing. 

The Hi-res files so easy to identify in the Qobuz app with the gold 'Hi-res' badge - I hope Roon implements something like that (Audirvana uses a little 'H' logo for the Qobuz Hi-res files).

 

I'm having that issue too with Roon showing almost all albums as 16/44.1. During playback you can open the signal path and see the correct resolution, but it would be nice to see it on the album listings too.

 

Haven't noticed any albums not showing up though.

 

One other challenge I've found is that adding an album to your library in Roon favourites the album in Qobuz which means I can't rely on the favourites function to sort my favourite albums for when I'm out and about. Qobuz has a 1,000 track playlist limit too so I can't make a favourite albums playlist either

[Tobes]

11 minutes ago, PassionForSound said:

I'm having that issue too with Roon showing almost all albums as 16/44.1. During playback you can open the signal path and see the correct resolution, but it would be nice to see it on the album listings too.

Yeah, some are showing correctly but not all - it seems Roon has to create a whole new DB for the AU catalog and mesh with their metadata(?).

This dependency on the Roon servers is a bit of a drawback for Roon's content rich service. 

No such issue with Audirvana or the Qobuz app - but they lack Roon's features. 

Hopefully in a few more days it's sorted. 

[Tobes]

37 minutes ago, PassionForSound said:

One other challenge I've found is that adding an album to your library in Roon favourites the album in Qobuz

Wouldn't that be normal and desired behavior - as 'favorites' in Qobuz are your selected library?

[PassionForSound]

18 minutes ago, Tobes said:

Wouldn't that be normal and desired behavior - as 'favorites' in Qobuz are your selected library?

 

In some ways yes, but I have some albums that I want in my library for certain favourite tracks, but it doesn't make them a favourite album. It's quite possible Tidal behaved in the exact same way, but the playlists could be larger so I just made a "Favourite Albums" playlist. I guess I'll have to  just download all my faves to my phone and use the offline files to identify my fave albums

[hammerharry]

Initial thoughts at low level listening were impressive via Auralic Aries Femto wifi connected, with direct listening on iOS app, same wifi network, for some reason the tracks at 44.1 and above are continuously buffering and unlistenable.

[Gambit 1870]

I received an email from Qobuz this morning with a code for soundiiz, it allowed me to import all my play lists from Spotify without a 200 song limit

[Telecine]

1 hour ago, Gambit 1870 said:

I received an email from Qobuz this morning with a code for soundiiz, it allowed me to import all my play lists from Spotify without a 200 song limit

 

Yes, I received the same email. It is free. Here is the link:

 

https://soundiiz.com/voucher?code=SWITCH2QOBUZ&utm_source=qobuz&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing-email-eu-soundiizcode

 

[El Tel]

On 15/04/2021 at 8:37 AM, PassionForSound said:

I'm an Android user - sorry. Seems to work well in Android Auto from very limited testing, but they're obviously very different platforms.

 

Speaking of platforms, can anyone else in Aus find Qobuz as a service in their Sonos app? I can't add it for some reason.

 

 

Not sure if this has been answered yet, but I have contacted both Sonos and Qobuz on this issue earlier in the week. Sonos said it was down to Qobuz legal to authorise and push ahead. Initially Qobuz gave me the fluff about "just add Qobuz to your music services in the Sonos app" to which I had to point out that Qobuz was not in the dropdown for available services on the Sonos app(s) in Australia. I pushed Qobuz further and said that Sonos had mentioned Qobuz's legal sign-off. About 24hrs later they sent me this:

 

[Dave's Addiction]

On 13/04/2021 at 10:20 AM, zeffy said:

In my short play with Qobuz yesterday, my conclusions (comparing them to Deezer Hifi):

• Library may not be as extensive as I would have liked
• Comparing similar tracks, it would seem the quality in Deezer is slightly better

I hope my preliminary conclusion is just because the full Qobuz experience is still not enabled for AU. Would be very disappointed if this is it.

As a Deezer user I appreciate your feedback

Edited April 17, 2021 by Dave's Addiction

[Esoterica]

After a few days my impressions are as follows; I like the layout and recommended playlists seem pretty good. I cannot opine on track availability as I haven't done much searching.

 

The biggest and most disappointing issue for me so far, is not being able to stream hires content for most of the time I've had it. I've done a speed test on my 4G broadband which recorded over 30gbps, which is well above the recommended minimum of 10gbps for streaming hires. Too many times when playing any HR tracks, I keep getting long pauses, so have ended up only playing CD quality stuff. If this continues I definitely won't be paying to renew the subscription.

[Kaynin]

14 minutes ago, Esoterica said:

The biggest and most disappointing issue for me so far, is not being able to stream hires content for most of the time I've had it. I've done a speed test on my 4G broadband which recorded over 30gbps, which is well above the recommended minimum of 10gbps for streaming hires. Too many times when playing any HR tracks, I keep getting long pauses

Tidal all over again...

Edited April 17, 2021 by Kaynin

[wolster]

Interesting thread. Qobuz trial subscription started. The comparison with Tidal fun begins

[Kevy]

Also following closely.

 

Have created an account (without subscribing) which allows you to integrate within Roon and search the interface ; albums available. The Hi-Res playlists look promising but beyond that, it is difficult to search for an album by hi-res in ROON

 

Have echoed suggestions that Roon integrate playlists and have allow for user preference re: which source / quality to use. Not sure if it's possible but certainly on a Wishlist.

 

$300 a year isn't 'cheap' and a recurring cost although compared to the audiophile equipment we reach out for, isn't unobtainable. But all adds up if you subscribe to multiple services.

 

Would love a group buy family subscription *edit: although yet to hear how the 'same household' policy works*

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Dr_Kevy

[Tobes]

1 hour ago, Dr_Kevy said:

Have created an account (without subscribing) which allows you to integrate within Roon and search the interface ; albums available. The Hi-Res playlists look promising but beyond that, it is difficult to search for an album by hi-res in ROON

At the moment I'm finding Roon/Qobuz very frustrating to use due to showing many Hi-res titles as 16/44 - so you don't know which version is the the Hi-res until you play it.

My Qobuz favourites are also not appearing in the main album library - only recent additions (but are in the Qobuz section).

I have a lifetime membership to Roon but I'm using the Qobuz desktop app due to Roon issues. 

[hammerharry]

2 hours ago, Esoterica said:

After a few days my impressions are as follows; I like the layout and recommended playlists seem pretty good. I cannot opine on track availability as I haven't done much searching.

 

The biggest and most disappointing issue for me so far, is not being able to stream hires content for most of the time I've had it. I've done a speed test on my 4G broadband which recorded over 30gbps, which is well above the recommended minimum of 10gbps for streaming hires. Too many times when playing any HR tracks, I keep getting long pauses, so have ended up only playing CD quality stuff. If this continues I definitely won't be paying to renew the subscription.

Likewise per the iOS app, but streams fine on same wifi network per Auralic Lightening DS.

[Niktech]

Anyone noticed Quobuz running in Auralic Lightning DS app (on iPad Air 4) doesn't show the Hi Res symbols on the album cover. For example Pink Floyd. Yet if I open Quobuz on Android or IOS app different story. A minor inconvenience I guess, but I didn't really want to have to use two devices concurrently.

[Tobes]

47 minutes ago, Niktech said:

Anyone noticed Quobuz running in Auralic Lightning DS app (on iPad Air 4) doesn't show the Hi Res symbols on the album cover. For example Pink Floyd. Yet if I open Quobuz on Android or IOS app different story. 

I think it's up to the player software to recognise the Hi-res title and have a mechanism to display as such.

The actual 'Hi-res' graphic used by Qobuz is, I believe, a registered trademark of the Japan Audio Society and would need licencing to display(?).

Audirvana for example just use a little 'H' symbol for identification. 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Tobes

[Tobes]

Somewhere above I mentioned that I still use Spotify for casual/portable situations.

Well I was sitting on the back deck this arvo listening to the 1968 CCR album on Qobuz and thought I'd compare to Spotify.

This is on an Android phone with a Meizu Pro dongle and my trusty Koss Ksc75 phones.

The CCR album was 24/96 but I believe Android phones are limited to 24/48(?).

To cut a long story short Spotify sounded like crap compared to Qobuz.

A different mastering no doubt, but I was very surprised at the difference in quality even on the low price set-up.

I'll strike this application off my Spotify usage list.

 

Edit: oh yeah, Spotify was in 'very high' quality mode whatever that means (not much as it turns out).

Edited April 17, 2021 by Tobes

[Tobes]

For those having issues with Roon not showing correct sampling rates, this is a problem in all the new launch European countries as well.

A Roon rep had this to say:

"it could take a week or even two or three for this all to flush out. Qobuz is reprocessing its catalog and even when it’s finished, there is a lag of up to a week for Roon Cores to pull down the new metadata. But we are delivering updates from Qobuz daily."

[Grizaudio]

On 14/04/2021 at 1:41 AM, Tobes said:

Have now cancelled my Tidal subscription and committed to Qobuz. See ya MQA!

 

100%....

I think a 'tidal' wave of users running from MQA will follow! 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Grizaudio

[Kevy]

Had to log out. Then log back into Roon for Qobuz to recognise my subscription (trial)

 

I’ve also noticed quality when it does play Hi Res as opposed to CD quality to be superb. Limited selection for now however. 

[noddyc43]

3 hours ago, Tobes said:

Somewhere above I mentioned that I still use Spotify for casual/portable situations.

Well I was sitting on the back deck this arvo listening to the 1968 CCR album on Qobuz and thought I'd compare to Spotify.

This is on an Android phone with a Meizu Pro dongle and my trusty Koss Ksc75 phones.

The CCR album was 24/96 but I believe Android phones are limited to 24/48(?).

To cut a long story short Spotify sounded like crap compared to Qobuz.

A different mastering no doubt, but I was very surprised at the difference in quality even on the low price set-up.

I'll strike this application off my Spotify usage list.

 

Edit: oh yeah, Spotify was in 'very high' quality mode whatever that means (not much as it turns out).

I did similar today. Compared some tracks on Christine and the queen's "Chris" album on Spotify tidal and qobuz.

I used an android phone out to a qudelix DAC and to my focal clear professional headphones. 

 

I preferred the hi res versions on qobuz so much more than spotify and tidal. 

I will stick with Spotify for "on the go" listening on headphones/car but when at home and on the hifi setup use qobuz I think. Will let tidal go.