2. digital
  3. 163097-153838

Tidal vs Quobuz

Yes I realize the Qobuz is misspelled in the title but I can’t figure out how to update it.  Relax.  
I’ve been a die hard advocate of MqA and Tidal for the last few years. All of my source, preamp, and dac purchased had the prerequisite that they must be MqA compatible. Today, I tried Qobuz for the first time and I’m blown away by the selection of 24bit 96khz files compared to Tidal.
Here’s an example: Was very excited that the band Tool FINALLY added their collection to streaming services. All of the albums on Tidal are CD quality. So I was going to purchase them in higher fidelity on HD Tracks, but learned that Qobuz had them at the highest fidelity. Couldn’t believe it. Same with many other artists/albums I love.

Now is there an improvement in sound quality? No not really. Is the Qobux UX any better? No, in fact it’s slower. But do I get the best quality content for the same price? Yes. Will I subscribe to both? Yes.
System:

Lumin D2 -> Parasound P6 -> Elac Navis ARF 51’s. Fully balanced set up (Nordost) with AQ power cables.
helloitsben
toro3's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
toro3
301 posts
 
@electroslacker I see where we’re missing each other.

I was referring to accessing other users’ playlists when completing a search such as “dinner music.” Instead of results only curated by Qobuz, you also receive results from other users’ playlist with similar titles that they’ve created.

But like you said, I wouldn’t be able to access all of my friend’s playlists just by tapping on their username - at least not yet per your conversation with Qobuz earlier in the day.
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
1,999 posts
 
Neither! With all that money you are throwing away each month, you could be building a physical record and cd collection that you can call your own. JMO
electroslacker
375 posts
 
@toro3 
Thanks.  I didn't even know that worked.
blainer55
47 posts
 
As much as we spend on gear, from speakers to cables, a few dollars for one service or the other, or both, really is in the noise level. (pun taken). 
Enjoy them both!
geargrinder's avatar
geargrinder
6 posts
 
I’m sure it all depends on your listening preferences but here is my take. I went from Spotify to Tidal. I had used solely Spotify for 5+ years. Loved the sound quality upgrade of Tidal but hated loosing access to so many tracks. So I kept both. I subscribed to Amazon HD and have never looked back. After two months I have actually canceled my Spotify subscription. Amazon has a much better library than Tidal and has a large selection of High Res albums. No MQA nonsense to fool with. I really recommend giving Amazon HD a trial run if you have not checked it out yet.
More to discover