Qobuz.

I was offered a month's trial, installed the Qobuz 64 bit Windows app on my quad core I7/16 gig Dell machine, outputting to my DAC via USB.  I also have the Tidal Windows app installed on the same machine.  I have my audio system "hard wired" to my network, with Comcast service with about 200mb down.

I find the Qobuz app is a little flaky.  Sometimes the cursor doesn't appear to select an item, like it's doing something in the background, consuming all the resources...though Windows doesn't show the processor or memory particularly busy.  Not a consistent thing, more of an occasional nuisance.  I do find their selection of classical to be better than Tidal.  And, I do like their search function to be more rewarding.

When I compare music I'm familiar with, Tidal with MQA and regular CD quality, Qobuz either running regular CD or hi-res quality, more times than not Qobuz (to me) sounds a little more "distinct", not a huge difference by any means, but noticeable.  Most of the 96/24 and 192/24 music from Qobuz is just awesome to my ears!

I'm not yet ready to commit to Qobuz, just had it for a few days, but so far I think it's a winner.  I wouldn't give up Tidal for Qobuz.

If I decide to keep Qobuz, I'll set up Roon to stream both.

I've been on the US beta for a couple of weeks, listening through Roon into a PS Audio DSD.

Qobuz hi-res streaming provides the best sound quality I have ever experienced in my listening room, hands down.  We're through the looking glass now.  For $25 a month I have access to 170,000 albums in 24/96 and 24/192 quality.  

I was a big fan of Tidal MQA over normal 16/44 material, and Qobuz hi-res sounds better.  In comparison, MQA sounds a little recessed, a little crispy and brittle.  Hi-res brings all the detail and all the body.

For my musical tastes, Qobuz is missing perhaps 10% of the titles I might enjoy in Tidal.  But I could spend a lot of time exploring those 170,000 hi-res albums before I get around to missing what's not on Qobuz.

I agree with 'cymbop' in that Qobuz, which i have been beta testing for a week,is a better alternative to Tidal in a number of ways..The hi-rez sound is, in my opinion, as good or better than MQA. The availability of so many classical albums makes it a no brainer too. The complete 'Living Stereo' group of albums is there.The site is well structured and the playlists are superb..I will be staying with it after the 1 month is over..

@bander

"Who is using g [sic] Qobuz and how are you finding it?"

1. Qobuz > Tidal

a. audio quality: to my ear Qobuz "Studio" is better than Tidal hifi and Master: broader dynamic/frequency range, better definition, presence, air, blah blah quack quack ... fill in favorite insipid audiophile adjectives.

b. metadata: Qobuz seems to have broader and deeper collateral data on their catalog selections. Sadly the suck UX’s in web player and Mac native app make it hard to get to (see 3a.)

c. classical catalog - though after cursory look only Qobuz marginally better than Tidal.

2. Qobuz < Tidal

a. curation (playlists, "events" etc): Tidal sets a low bar and Qobuz manages to fall under it. See 3c.

3. Qobuz == Tidal

a. both Qobuz and Tidal native Mac apps are crappy. So is Spotify’s. Not quite a race to the bottom but close. Tidal seems to have copied Spotify’s UX - apparently what’s good enough for Sweden is good enough for Norway. Too bad Qobuz chose a "light" theme as background - at least France could learn from Sweden & Norway.

b. both Qobuz and Tidal seem to have hit-n-miss catalogs. Surprised to find certain off-path classical titles in Tidal’s catalog, as well as more recordings than Qobuz from Nikhil Banerjee (greatest 20th century sitar master you’ve never heard of).

c. both have stupid, what-are-they-thinking assemblies of ’multimedia’ (music, bio’s, AV media, reviews, commentary etc). These seem more the whims of self-indulgent editors and hipsters than anything of much value to subscribers. Producing and/or licensing and curating good content is expensive (hiring experts and licensing expert material). Neither Qobuz or Tidal seem to want to spend that money. On the other hand that might price them right out of business.

4. Verdict
Ultimately audio quality wins the day for me - I’ll probly ditch Tidal after my Qobuz beta/free trial ends. French heritage also gives me some vague, grudging alliance to Qobuz. It won’t be without some PIA given the shortfalls noted above. C’est la vie.

Revised verdict:

After a few more days using Qobuz, the slightly-better-than-Tidal audio quality may not be enough to overcome the absolutely sh!tty search UX and catalog indexing. Even if Qobuz has the recordings I've painstakingly assembled in my Tidal library, if one can't find them they might as well not be there at all.  Awful, and a real disappointment.

Also continuing to find holes in the Qobuz catalog compared to Tidal - in classical recordings, of all things.