Qobuz, Tidal, Apple Music… Which one are you using?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by S. Cane, Dec 3, 2022.

  1. S. Cane

    S. Cane Guitarist/Songwriter Thread Starter

    And why exactly do you favor the one you chose?

    I currently use Apple Music, the lossless quality is satisfying but some features (or lack thereof like making lists of fave artists) annoy me.
     
  2. Gavman

    Gavman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Grimsby. UK
    Apple. Largely due to the positive reaction on these forums to many ‘mastered for iTunes’ album versions. Now they’ve gone hi res and Atmos (not that I have suitable Atmos equipment at present) for a mere £10.99; it’s definitively made unwilling to check out the competition.
     
    VinylCountdown and walrus like this.
  3. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Apple. But Im sick of them replacing my versions for theirs but I know it makes it VERY easy to get other things I am not buying and get them right to my phone in minutes.
     
    dom91932 and VinylCountdown like this.
  4. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    Qobuz is my preference. Best sound. Good support for bit perfect streaming and third party apps like Audirvana and USB APP. Everything in lossless 16/44.1 or better resolution. The service's own desktop app is poor, but I almost never use it.

    I'm not an Apple user and I do everything I can to stay entirely outside Apple's walled garden to Apple Music is a non-starter for me. But I've tried Tidal, Amazon, and I still keep subs to Deezer and Spotify in addition to Qobuz.

    I don't care about features like lists -- I just all up a title by searching and play the album or song, I don't make playlists or favorite artists list, I used the favoriting function to tag new albums I want to get around to listening to. So I can't speak to any of those things.

    I hated Amazon, the quality of the material was all over the place. I had problems with a security issue on Tidal that Tidal couldn't resolve, and I didn't need MQA. Also didn't like how the home page force fed me music I wasn't interested it (Qobuz lets you create home pages based on genres of interest, mine being jazz and classical, and also has some decent editorial content to read).

    I keep my Spotify and Deezer accounts, the former primarily because my wife uses it, but in order to have access to some of the music that's not in the Qobuz library.
     
    drumhead, VQR, David67 and 6 others like this.
  5. rrbbkk

    rrbbkk Forum Resident

    I had Spotify for awhile and then Tidal. A friend sang the praises of Qobuz so I switched and I'm saving $8 a month. I like it fine though sometimes the sound is a bit bright. I also like to upload my own artwork for playlists but Qobuz doesn't let you.
     
  6. sharedon

    sharedon Forum Zonophone

    Location:
    Boomer OK
    Qobuz.
     
    Baidur likes this.
  7. RunningWithScissors

    RunningWithScissors Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeastern U.S.
    Qobuz, since it's supported by Roon. I wish Amazon would also be compatible with Roon, but that's another story...
     
  8. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    Tidal until either Spotify launch lossless or Qobuz launches a radio feature, volume levelling and a connect feature
     
  9. UnderTheFloorboards'66

    UnderTheFloorboards'66 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Spotify

    It just works.
     
  10. matt0505

    matt0505 Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Recently switched from Apple Music to Tidal, I like it so far. I think the interface is nice, good audio, and I can actually listen to the Atmos music as Apple doesn’t support any of the other devices I have.
     
    GowG likes this.
  11. sheffandy

    sheffandy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sheffield, UK
    Qobuz via Bluesound Node on a month long free trial. I’m enjoying it, the SQ is excellent. I’ve used Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music in the past. I’ll probably go beyond the free month and subscribe to Qobuz Studio.
     
  12. aphexj

    aphexj Sound mind & body

    Tidal HiFi most of the time, and Amazon Music for immersive/hi-res when I have the capability for it
     
    Rockin' Robby likes this.
  13. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Amazon for me. Still has its irritations, but good enough to try new music out. And that is what I use streaming for. To try things out. "Revolver Remix?" ..ok let me stream...nope..pass..saved me $300.00 for the deluxe. Sudane Archives new album that everyone talks about as far as a hot new album? Streamed it and I love it. So I may go vinyl for that title.

    Thats my mode of operation concerning streaming. A try before buy concept. And that is it.

    Now, if the streaming services will ever put on their big boy pants and have the content selection of Spotify and the sound quality of Qobuz? And stop the disappearing act of "Oh great now that title is gone" Then I will sell my collection of lps and cds.

    Combine the best aspects of Spotify and Qobuz. That will win me completely over.

    But this will never occur. So I am still a lp and cd hobbyist. And will remain so.
     
  14. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Spotify and NYA.

    Covers everyone but Joni, I think.
     
  15. Graham 12" Remix

    Graham 12" Remix Graham Sylvian, Graham Gedge or Graham from Felt

    I have used Qobuz for a year and have only really caught it out once when searching for music - Sun's Signature had just one song for a while. I have had been streaming through a Node for a week and it is good enough.
     
  16. S. Cane

    S. Cane Guitarist/Songwriter Thread Starter

    I hadn’t heard about NYA
     
  17. J. R.

    J. R. Cat Herder

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Qobuz, Tidal and Amazon. All of them together cost WAY less than what I was spending during my CD days. With those three services, I have everything I want. And yes, I use and love MQA.
     
    Jeff Edwards, uffeolby and jbg like this.
  18. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Amazon....but, I periodically get a month of Apple to check in on MFiT+HD releases to see what's new.

    Honestly, the Amazon UI is horrifying to me....but, when I demo'd them all (last year? two years ago?)--Amazon had the most HD content barre none, and what I noticed was that after Apple pulled their shennanigans by streaming all the UHD MFiT they were given to JUST make mp4 to sell in the store--they got fewer NEW HD releases than Amazon. Also given that my studio computer is NOT Apple, they won't allow me to stream HD content there. Add to that not being able to favorite(add to library) without enabling Cloud sync, which has literally wrecked my local library in the past....I just can't make Apple my primary.

    Tidal sounded terrible with it's MQA from CD masters and tangibly higher DB calibration. Missing a LOT of HD.

    Qobuz had no volume management--you can keep your "bit perfect" nonsense all day--for me, I'm not using a service that doesn't calibrate to keep analog voltage in a proper window. I do love they have a store...and that store generally beats HDTracks on price. But, as a streaming service, hard pass.

    But, also keep in mind that I don't use streaming as my primary listening/collection curation...mostly as a way to hear ad hoc recordings I don't own...and new releases. So, all the features like playlisting and library curation and their recommendations and such don't factor in much beyond the basic ability to fave/bookmark/add something so I can be reminded to listen later.
     
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  19. TongueDruid

    TongueDruid The Delectable Dingleberry

    Location:
    Maine, USA
    Same here: Amazon Unlimited to check out new (or just new to me) music @ up to 24/192kHz, plus getting to dive into all of the goodies on new deluxe box sets without having to pony up $hundreds$ for hearing Beatles & Metallica outtakes/demos/live sets/whtvr... That's pretty much the extent of my streaming and I don't think I'll feel the need to expand on that for quite some time. Plus it includes streaming in Atmos for when I finally decide to add that system. All this @ only $7 a month (something like $85/year) as opposed to the $11/month of Qobuz or the $20/month of Tidal.
    I personally simply just don't need or would even utilize whtvr those services may offer over Amazon Unlimited... But I admittedly haven't looked too much into them. The price differences & the fact that I already have more than I need with Amaz is what I'm basing my decision to stay with them around.
     
    ARK, Mr. Bill and mpayan like this.
  20. conjotter

    conjotter Forum Resident

    Tidal HiFi through an iFi streamer.

    Sounds great and love the deep catalogue.

    Would like to try Qobuz, bit it is not available in Canada for some reason.
     
  21. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    Amazon Ultra HD. Check it out.
     
    ARK and Mr. Bill like this.
  22. malco49

    malco49 Forum Resident

    i use Tidal and have the top tier plan where they have "mastered" tracks when available. i also still use Spotify as their library is pretty much top notch and very rarely is the artist and full catalog not available. i play on my macbook with a DAC/headphone amp with top notch headphones so sound is pretty good to me. i also still have thousands of tracks burned onto my iTunes aka apple music so listen there as well. waiting for Spotify to introduce their "hifi" tier but so far it's not happened. i am guessing it's not cost effective given their massive subscription base. i also bought a base subscription to Neil Young's archives ( $20 a year) and with the right DAC etc the files are i guess hi resolution and they said fantastic. i like to say it's the best 2o dollars i spent in 2022.
     
  23. Unranged

    Unranged Enjoyer of Music

    Location:
    California
    I buy from Qobuz and stream from Apple Music
     
  24. Taxman

    Taxman Senior Member

    Location:
    Fayetteville, NY
    I have used Qobuz for about two years and I am very happy with it in general. I have broad tastes and have rarely looked for something I did not find. I like knowing that the emphasis is on SQ. I was shocked when I streamed elements of Tom Petty's catalog and how much better it sounded than my TP CDS. I like the Friday morning "discovery" display of new releases, many many non-mainstream (to me) with jazz, ambient, and classical mixed right in with pop/rock. Because it is based in France, I feel like the selections are less USA-centric, although you can listen with me to as much Grateful Dead as you can absorb.

    I bought Qobuz studio for a year and I recall it was $129 so pricing is competitive. Finally, I like being out of the Amazon/ Apple/ Google universe while I enjoy music.

    Lone negative I can think of is I can't seem to find the download store, period. I would think there would be a link from every title. I actually am not a HD downloader but would like to be tempted.
     
    Crimson Witch and Library Eye like this.
  25. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    My use of streaming is strictly as an investigation or introduction to music both archival and new releases. It is not my primary listening tool. I tried Tidal and thought it a bit clunky and its store to purchase downloads is a mess. I am an Apple guy and tried that but it mess up my personal music files so badly I am scared to go near it again. Plus, they do not sell lossless downloads, which I want, for new releases. I've ended up on Qobuz. It has been satisfactory to me for my purposes but I think it lacks some in organization and ease of use.
     
    black sheriff likes this.

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