Qobuz questions

[thedudeabides]

Considering joining. ? in no particular order.

1. Meaningful differences between two subscription options.

2. Automatic development of play lists or recommendations of similar material based on selected material.

3. Library / acess to internet stations.

4. Main software pluses.

5. Main software minuses.

6. User friendly menus / sub menus.

7. Skip movement, individual cuts.

8. Programming options.

9. Search function options. Music type, orchestra, conductor, artist, album, song title, record labels, others.

10. Favorite list(s) creation, storage, retrieval.

11. Other comments to help me determine if I should subscribe or not.

Will use to mostly listen to low key classical music at lowish volumes. Occasional jazz, rock, folk. Will likely buy Cambridge Audio MNX 10 streamer if I decide to subscribe.

Sorry if some of these are dumb questions. Many thanks for any insight you can provide.

Gordon

 

[Audio Addict]

 

[mtemur]

I used both services at the same time and compared them regarding SQ. Qobuz hands down winner with it’s clean, clear and smoother presentation. Less plastic sounding than Tidal or anything else. IMHO Qobuz is the better streaming service in terms of SQ. Qobuz offers excellent, wide collection of classic titles but unfortunately same is not true for jazz.

 

[PYP]

I've only used Qobuz from within Roon. That combination is wonderful for discovering music. Sound quality is excellent in my setup/network.

Also, you can use Roon's Live Radio function to find and listen to internet radio. That works very nicely for background listening.

I realize that means two subscriptions and may not be what you want. You can try Roon for free for 14 days and Qobuz has a month trial period.

 

[bryans]

I use both Qobuz and Tidal. I have found recordings I like better on each platform. In my mind the price of each is very nominal compared to what I have invested in my setup. Sure I can just go with one but in my mind why.

I'm sure you will be happy with Qobuz or whatever you use.

 

[Rumpole]

2. Automatic development of play lists or recommendations of similar material based on selected material.

In my experience the Qobuz selection of similar material is very poor. I had a youtube music subscription that was much better at this. I wish Qobuz would include a "dislike" option so that I could stop them from recommending certain tracks and types of music.

 

[rando]

Considering joining. ? in no particular order.

I see your numbered list was discarded by all replies thus far. Do you understand the reason(s) why this is?

Change.

1. Meaningful differences between two subscription options.

As this is WBF: SQ, catalog, small but potentially meaningful differences integrating with Software/Hardware, social currency/demographics focused User Interface,... Either at top or bottom of this list should be does X service operate in my country.

2. Automatic development of play lists or recommendations of similar material based on selected material.

Nonissue, overabundance. Catalog dependent of course.

3. Library / acess to internet stations.

More likely handled in third party software such as inside potential purchase of streamer or Roon.

Edit: As part of service? Segmentation of favorites by genre etc. is reasonably simple to get into and out of without losing the reset to full list. For purpose of keying a track to begin what some might term a "X artist/track Radio."
URL based digital broadcasts or your personal library on disk are handled in my initial reply.

4. Main software pluses.

5. Main software minuses.

6. User friendly menus / sub menus.

7. Skip movement, individual cuts.

8. Programming options.

9. Search function options. Music type, orchestra, conductor, artist, album, song title, record labels, others.

10. Favorite list(s) creation, storage, retrieval.

Undefined by user. How should we know if something will annoy you using it on a phone as opposed to a tablet, one example. User Interface is a large topic. Software design even larger. Both change in small and large ways over time.

Emphasis on CHANGE. Options you previously selected between at will can move to different locations or be combined into other functions through means that may not be openly apparent to you. Including AI/predictive/et al searching. In a general sense the atmosphere and logic is hardcoded and unlikely to see extreme change. Colors, fonts, artsy stuff will change often in some places.

Ability to change tracks or move to any point within a track using a slider is basic as yet unimproved functionality.

Gapless(!!!) playback should just work. Buffering (downloading and queuing) passes through a lot of hoops and should just work. Robustness of error prevention (stoppage of play) is not always on the level of CD or vinyl.

11. Other comments to help me determine if I should subscribe or not.

Will it disrupt your enjoyment of listening to music in your home with no outside influences - your chosen outside influences at hand - defining the experience? Many cannot hear past the sound characteristics on any hardware or software combination. Resolving this to satisfaction can lie outside your control - critical pieces are not in the room with you.

Any track you begin listening to has a lifespan that should be considered to start and end with that playthrough.
Any track you begin listening to has a relatively large chance of differing from the copies in your library.
Any album you begin listening to can change location, price, or quality.

Put on a lengthy piece of music you physically own. Sit down and begin navigating through the apps of services you are interested in.

 

[thedudeabides]

Thank you for the detailed reply. Intentionally numbered my questions so it would be easy to reference. Oh well.

Bought the budget Cambridge streamer today. Much more music / UI oriented vs gear. Best.

 

[Another Johnson]

You’ve gotten a lot of answers, so I’m going to freewheel a bit here.

I have subscriptions to Qobuz, Amazon Prime, and Roon. I have been running the experiment this year to see which ones are worth keeping.

Roon is especially vulnerable because by itself it adds no specific music selections. I also use Qobuz’s interface, Prime’s interface, Mosaic, BluOS and HEOS in competition with Roon.

Considering the two music services (Qobuz and Amazon Prime), I have found them to have significant overlap, but … frequently I find something on one that I like, and it’s not on the other. Or one will have a file at 16/44, while the other has the same work in 24/96.
Or one will have a new remaster. Or more bonus tracks. So … I have decided to keep both.

Someone commented above that Qobuz does not have a good jazz library. I have not found this to be the case. I’ve been quite pleased with both the chronological breadth and the sub genre depth in the jazz category.

Regarding the control programs, BluOS is the most compatible with most music services. HEOS does not support Qobuz and Mosaic and Roon do not support Amazon Prime. I can feed Amazon Prime into my dCS Rossini Apex by using a HEOS or BluOS compatible streamer and sending the digital output to the dCS DAC.

All in all, if you’re considering a Qobuz subscription, I’d encourage you to jump in. I use Qobuz on my laptop away from my two channel listening room too, and I’ve found the Qobuz user interface to be quite intuitive. It is not hard to construct playlists with any of the services or control programs. They’re all pretty intuitive.

I think it is very hard to understand these things well until you sign up and start playing. The cost to try is quite low. Think of it as tuition.

Regarding the Roon subscription, I’m going to keep that too. In fact I bought a Nucleus. I love the organizational capabilities, and I am often pleasantly surprised by Roon’s ability to suggest things that I might like based on what I’ve already chosen. So even though Roon is not compatible with Prime, I like it with Qobuz well enough to save it from cancellation.

 

[rando]

Thank you for the detailed reply. Intentionally numbered my questions so it would be easy to reference. Oh well.

Bought the budget Cambridge streamer today. Much more music / UI oriented vs gear. Best.

Fully expect you'll get good use of it. As Another Johnson pointed out, some time spent using Qobuz is required.

Good to start out in settings so you know where to flick the right switch. "Remember selected genres for homepage" is a good one to set.

 

[thedudeabides]

Thanks again. I am pretty much all classical. Found "Idagio". Looks like all I might need.