Qobuz vs. Tidal? Which one is better?

[Vicov]

I dropped Tidal (Premium) in favour of Qobuz Sublime after hearing the difference between the two services. As a bonus for me, Qobuz has a much wider selection of my musical preferences, Jazz & Classical.

 

[VLS]

I ...hearing the difference between the two services...

Do you hear a difference when streaming 44/16? Or are you comparing Tidal MQA to Qobuz high res?

I have found Tidal’s 44/16 quality indistinguishable from my own ripped CD playback.

 

[Vicov]

Do you hear a difference when streaming 44/16? Or are you comparing Tidal MQA to Qobuz high res?

I have found Tidal’s 44/16 quality indistinguishable from my own ripped CD playback.

My DAC isn’t MQA compatible so I haven’t done an MQA/QB Hi Res comparison but on most if not all instances on 16/44, Tidal sounded less organic (more Hi Fi?!!!) than the equivalent album via Qobuz. This apparent difference that I perceive may be down to the masters that each streaming service uses or perhaps a less transparent “watermark” being more evident.

 

[VLS]

Interesting. My assumption would be that for the majority of 44/16 music, for the same release from a particular label, both services would be using the same CD masters. But I don't know this for a fact. Do you suspect otherwise?
(Of course. with high res, esp. MQA, all bets are off).

An experiment for some rainy day...

 

[christoph]

But which does sound better to you?
For me it is clearly Qobuz that sounds better than Tidal.

 

[VLS]

But which does sound better to you?
For me it is clearly Qobuz that sounds better than Tidal.

I have not yet tried Qobuz, so these consistent reports of its sonic superiority are enticing.

I was only commenting on my own experience with Tidal vs. CD rip playback.

 

[Vicov]

Interesting. My assumption would be that for the majority of 44/16 music, for the same release from a particular label, both services would be using the same CD masters. But I don't know this for a fact. Do you suspect otherwise?
(Of course. with high res, esp. MQA, all bets are off).

An experiment for some rainy day...

Re CD Masters: I don’t know, I’m guessing.... but I would encourage you to do your own comparisons if that’s feasible. Unless Tidal have upped their game in the last year I’m sure your conclusions will be the same as mine & many others who have jumped ship.

 

[WLVCA]

I ended up having functionality issues with Qobuz as well and uninstalled it. Using Tidal now.....at least it works without headaches.

Seems to me Qobuz would have been better off to get things set up correctly before releasing rather than using us as beta testers.

 

[christoph]

Re CD Masters: I don’t know, I’m guessing.... but I would encourage you to do your own comparisons if that’s feasible. Unless Tidal have upped their game in the last year I’m sure your conclusions will be the same as mine & many others who have jumped ship.

I use both Tidal and Qobuz so it is easy to compare. Just play both versions
My friend M and I often compared both options and in 99% Qobuz sounded better than Tidal.
That is in our systems in our little country in Europe

 

[Mike Lavigne]

as my digital takes steps forward, Qobuz seems to increase it's musical purity over Tidal. this is with 16/44 for sure.

MQA with Tidal is below 16/44 with Qobuz mostly too. and higher rez with Qobuz is another notch up.

OTOH the advantage to my PCIe local files also has increased over Qobuz.

all three sources are certainly above the 'good' level. for now i'm keeping both Tidal and Qobuz, as i enjoy the wide scope of the music. never been a better time to listen to reproduced music without limits.

 

[Legolas]

Many of the Redbook titles in Qobuz are 44.1/24 while most on tidal are 44.1/16. I am wondering if that has a significance?

Tidal Masters sound better than Tidal Redbook.

 

[VLS]

In the spirit of impulse purchases I have take the Qobuz plunge, and have to say my initial impressions align with those giving Qobuz the edge over Tidal.

The difference is particularly noticeable between Tidal's MQA and Qobuz' unadulterated high res. I don't know how much is due to my particular DAC's MQA implementation vs. what's inherent to the encoding, but the difference is quite striking and consistent across albums and genres. (And probably not surprising, given that MQA is not lossless).

It also seems to be the case that Qobuz has high res versions of many of my albums that are only available as CDs (or "AAC") on Tidal.

In terms of coverage the jury is still out: many of my more obscure jazz and classical Tidal albums are not available on Qobuz. I don't know yet if the converse is also true.

In any case, thanks for the recommendation/nudge - this is a nice and unexpected "upgrade".

 

[tmarshl]

I plan to use both Tidal and Qobuz for the next year and then decide which one I want to keep (or both). A lot depends on the quality of the original recording and mastering process. Sometimes I have a great experience with MQA Masters from Tidal, sometimes I don’t hear a huge difference.

When I consider the amount I have invested in my stereo gear over the years, and the amounts I have spent on CDs,SACDs, etc., maintaining subscriptions to both Tidal and Qobuz might be an easy decision. It all depends on which one I use the most. I must admit that having to skip past all of the hip-hop in the opening screens on Tidal to get to my preferred genres of classical and jazz is really annoying, and could end up being the deciding factor.

 

[asiufy]

When I consider the amount I have invested in my stereo gear over the years, and the amounts I have spent on CDs,SACDs, etc., maintaining subscriptions to both Tidal and Qobuz might be an easy decision. It all depends on which one I use the most. I must admit that having to skip past all of the hip-hop in the opening screens on Tidal to get to my preferred genres of classical and jazz is really annoying, and could end up being the deciding factor.

+1
While searching for "the best" is a good part of this hobby, it still makes sense to keep Tidal around, as its catalog is considerably wider than Qobuz.

 

[audioguy]

I must admit that having to skip past all of the hip-hop in the opening screens on Tidal to get to my preferred genres of classical and jazz is really annoying, and could end up being the deciding factor.

Which was one of the two reasons I left Tidal and moved to Qobuz. "Annoying" is being kind. The other was MQA (I refuse to drink the "KoolAid").

That said, the differences in the size of the Library is still quite large. Prior to subscribing to Qobuz, I contacted them about the Library size and they assured me they were adding thousands of titles daily. That has not been my experience. We shall see.

 

[Bachtoven]

I have both. Sonically, I think Qobuz wins, but Tidal often has recordings that Qobuz doesn't carry, even entire labels. So for classical music, both fill voids in each other's offerings. By the way, both have terrible search engines for classical music! I get far different results when searching for a composer as opposed to performers who have recorded music by that composer. Their search engines are clearly aimed at the rock/pop/rap crowd. Eventually, though, I can usually find what I want with enough sleuthing.

 

[nickif]

I have both subscriptions, while Qobuz sounds better with hi-Rez, my home setup can only support Tidal. That’s why I have to keep it. Otherwise would be more than happy with Qobuz alone.

 

[Vicov]

I’ll just throw a curved ball in here & offer a viable alternative. HiResAudio dot com is really good & worth exploring although I have no idea of its availability outside of Europe.
Whilst I use continue to use Qobuz for streaming, I make my purchases from HiResAudio via their download manager which is native on my Melco device.

 

[audiomonkey777]

Not tried Qobuz but I'm aiming to - especially after readying some of the comments on here. Tidal is my go to really and sounds great for me with my iFi nano BL when I;m on the go. I've tried MQA too - mmmmmm - the jury is out on that one as they say.

Tbh - I reckon different people 'hear' different things in music - if that makes sense. What I pick up on, you may not and vice versa.

 

[nickif]

Just curious what’s the best way of streaming Qobuz with best sound quality possible?SGM? MP? anyone?