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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
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,052 posts
 
@dwhess,

You have a very nice system. Your N803 receiver is very capable of letting you discern the uptick in SQ between Spotify and Tidal / Deezer. I would encourage you to do trial run with Tidal or Deezer and see if you hear appreciable uptick in SQ. Spotify being the oldest platform has a very vast library so you may give up on some content by choosing Tidal or Deezer.

Personally if my system is this good, I would choose streaming quality over content. There is a appreciable difference in streaming quality as Spotify max out at 320 kbps vs Tidal / Deezer at 1,411 kbps bit rate.
geargrinder's avatar
geargrinder
6 posts
 
@dwhess,

I’m not overly familiar with Yamaha receivers but I assume you are using an app on a phone or tablet to link the streaming service to the receiver? What device / app do you use to control the N803?

If you are using the Yamaha Music Cast app then Amazon Music HD is probably supported. And as stated above I would really recommend giving it a trial vs any of the other options.
wsrrsw's avatar
wsrrsw
875 posts
 
Tried both and thought SQ on Quohbuzz (Like that misspelling?) was a bit better. Naturally the ultra high res files do sound better.

Still pondering Roon vs Qobuz but that's a "champaign problem".
helloitsben OP
14 posts
 
Quohbuzz haha.  Really good input from everyone, thanks for turning this into a good thread!  
I’m an exclusive streamer because of the convenience and how many new artists/songs/albums I’m able to discover.  Honestly if it weren’t for streaming I would have never gotten into jazz the way I have in the last year.  
The lesson I have learned from my HiFi journey that started only about 2 years ago is that to my ears, the music can only sound as good as the original source (cables, mics, studio acoustics, amps, mix, mastering, etc). I have found that each service from Amazon to Quohbusz (lol) sounds good and the benefit of the high res is hardly noticeable (again only to my ears).  Instead of dropping huge cash on a really expensive ($5k+) streamer Id rather make improvements to the speakers and power amplifiers, that’s where you actually get perceive sound changes.  My option.  
What a fun hobby this is!


decooney
1,895 posts
 
@gearginder,
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.

To: geargrinder,
I’ve followed an identical path very similar to you, Spotify for 4+ years, Tidal Hi-Fi and Qobuz for 1yr, and now Amazon HD since it was released. Using Amazon HD for CD quality, intentionally. No DSD/MQA. Formerly using PlayFi middleware app for my streamer, now back to AirPlay/2 which fully supports Lossless CD quality transfer rate. Amazing catalog with Amazon HD, like Spotify, yet I’m always going back once a year to revalidate sound quality of each of the former Service Providers. And Spotify dragging behind, still not going to Lossless since the 2017 lossless beta test they tried for a short time. Bean counters must be holding back the engineers there.

Connectivity/Middleware:
Curious to know if you have thoroughly compared sound using the different connectivity and protocol methods offered. Clearly Spotify Connect was nice, and now Tidal has something similar with Tidal Connect. Playing with AirPlay/2 enabled streamers, connecting to the native streaming service application which works better now than what I recall a few years ago. AirPlay2 streams Lossless well, as we know. I read something (unconfirmed) that some service providers (may) license AirPlay under the covers for their application connectivity method...I have no proof of that. Others may know better or can confirm. 

Question:
Since using Amazon HD, have you by chance gone back and compared "sound quality", and sound stage depth with something like Tidal Connect? I have not, yet. I’m listening for any degradation with AirPlay2.

Any in-depth testing and sound test companions you can share would be appreciated. Thanks.





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