I'm not debating any of your well-reasoned points, but, the main purpose for my comment was that, in my experience with the service thus far, at least, a great deal of their high-res offerings aren't discounted at all. The price would be a lot more appealing, IMO, if everything were given a price break.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I noticed you are in NY, I thought Qobuz wasn't available in the US. How are you using it?
Not a stupid question at all. I had a code for three months from RMAF. The site said, "Not available in your country" the first few times I attempted to sign up, yet, somehow, for a reason I can't explain, I refreshed a few more times, and was eventually able to register and enter the code. The service currently associates the UK as my home region. I will be curious to see what happens once the US service launches. Wondering if I will have to re-register, or, if I will just be able to simply adjust some info in my account and carry on.
I read that If you are in the US and sign up via Apple you can’t choose Studio as an option only CD quality. Is this true? I’m in US and am only interested in hi res streaming. Any responses appreciated. I’ve read thru their website & emailed a few times but no response.
Just so you know: Qobuz has a very interesting black week sale. I just bought a bunch of classical music albums in hi-res (24/96 most of them) for, like... 3 euros each. Great albums, not just buying for the sake of it.
There was talk about launching Qobuz in Canada 4 years ago. We're still waiting. It's finally supposed to launch up here a month after it debuts in the U.S. Early next year, I'm guessing.
Bearing in mind I'm in France and not in the US, I've bought plenty of FLACs, in 16 and 24 bits, and have always been happy with my purchases. I've made fantastic deals on boxsets as well (Pentangle's Time Has Come for less than 6 euros, the big Bernard Parmegiani and François Bayle sets for less than 15 euros, etc.). They constantly have discounts on offer as well.
For what it's worth, Jason Stoddard of Schiit nabbed a trial membership and posted the following at Head-fi the other day: "We got some invites at the [RMAF|, and we have been using it in the Schiitr and personally for about a month now. "Here's the basic idea: DROP TIDAL LIKE A NUCLEAR POTATO AND GET QOBUZ NOW! "Qobuz sounds better. Qobuz has quite a decent selection of 24/44 and higher FLAC content. Qobuz embraces open technology, not cryptic black-box lock-it-up schemes. Yes, the UI is even stranger than Tidal, and it doesn't have a dark mode for people who care about such things, but seriously, it took me like 10 seconds to decide to drop Tidal." I too managed to luck into a two-month trial preview of the U.S. service and early impressions (16/44 only so far) are that it does sound *very good*.
Very encouraging, thanks. I too plan on dropping Tidal like a hot potato when Qobuz comes to the US. Hopefully they'll be a quick and painless way to transfer my library/playlists.
I lucked into the trial of Qobuz. At the end of the 2 month US trial, I’ll sign up for a year. I love it. It’s superior to Tidal. I dropped Tidal months ago. It’s been smooth integration, lots of hi res music and gorgeous sound.
ARRRGH!!!! Not cursing you, NYMets41...I'm just a very impatient person. I'm glad it sounds like it's all it's supposed to be.
I used a VPN to sign up for the British service, and it was very good. However I couldn't justify spending the money on it because it was in GBP and the exchange rate to USD would have killed my wallet every month. I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival to the US.
I tried the French version with a VPN. I will not subscribe however as far too many classical albums are missing.
They don't have a family plan yet, so I would have to pay way more. I tried Qobuz, the cd quality version of it, and I didn't notice any difference at all with Tidal in sound quality. I don't know if those who said it's way better meant the Sublime subscription, which includes hi res streaming.
Really hope this launches in Canada. I've been buying from Qobuz for years. Would love to stream and get a discount on downloads.