Tidal VS. Qobuz (US)

I have done an AB with Tidal - totally subjective test though. With an A/B switch. I noticed more top end from Qobuz, some may refer to this as "air". MQA sounds a little scooped to me. It may be in the design. But, I will add so does DSD.

 

I am going back and forth between Tidal, Qobuz and some disc rips. I use Roon to SW unfold the MQA.

Qobuz seems to have a slightly stronger high end than Tidal...one of the web sites call Tidal more "organic" and Qobuz "detailed".

Most of the major label pop/rock I tried seemed on both ...a few more obscure searches were found on Tidal only.

I like having one of them complement my large local library and especially for mobility.

 

This is an interesting listening test. What is odd is the comment that deltas were heard between the cd versions which were thought to be the same.

This reviewer consistently preferred hi Rez qobuz over mqa tidal with several track examples and details listening reasons. Perfect for recreating at home and seeing if you agree.

Tidal MQA vs Qobuz Hi Res

 

That was a good review. Nothing conclusive, but you get the idea. Echos my earlier analysis. Here's the benefit to some: native files. Now, again, if your taste resides mostly with 16/44.1, you know what tier to use. If you enjoy native, 24/96-192 PCM. This service is the first, and I think it will become a major player in the near future.

 

God, Qobuz. Avoid MQA.

 

Tidal just offered me a year of "premium" (this is not lossless, which they call "hifi"), for $5.99 a month. Offer expires tomorrow!

 

I think they're trying to firm up anyone they can and hope you forget to cancel. As most subs do. They offered me a 6 month free service. I mean by all means if its cheap or free.

 

Signed up for Qobuz last night just to use the download store, and had a positive experience. I was not forced into any subscription level, and unlike Tidal, I was able to buy five individual tracks off 16/44.1 albums that have eluded me in recent years at the stores I currently use. Like with streaming, store selection is anemic vs. Tidal, but time may correct that. Right now, I'm not shelling out any subscription fees, so I'm happy to use it as a store.

 

I may come back to Qobuz down the road, but they just don't have the catalog I am looking for yet.
I will keep Tidal using my LG V30, but I am not completely happy with Tidal either.

 

I wouldn't quit them yet. I mean it depends on your gear, if you have legacy PCM gear, Qobuz is def for you. If you fell into the MQA "trap", (hey no judging, I almost did), Tidal is an obvious choice.

 

Well, another reason is that the Qobuz app isn't working with my Chromecast. The Tidal app works fine.

 

Hm - are you using Roon?

Edit: Reboot everything - see if that works. I have never had an issue. I use it with Roon and without.

 

Big fan of Qobuz. A clean and easy experience every time. You can download Hi Res recording considerably cheaply and stream what you like. And you can just tell they are big fans of music, particularly Jazz.

 

I've bought stuff from Tidal in the past without having to commit to any subscription level whatsoever.

I'm team Spotify. I like their apps, I love the playlist/playlist sharing aspect of their site, and I did not have the same experience with Qobuz during my beta.

I do wish Spotify had better cache control, and lossless options. But I can live with Spotify Premium for my streaming needs.

 

Right. I knew that about Tidal. But this was my first go-round with Qobuz.

 

Thought I would post this here as well.. addressing concerns on library gaps.

"It's really very simple.
There are 2 or 3 independent distributors who are not ingested yet.
They handle dozens of labels each, tens of thousands of albums.

The ingestion of the millions of tracks takes weeks of server time!

It is happening starting next week.

It is very unlikely that there will be significant gaps once all this repertoire is online. "

- Dan from Qobuz

 

That's great to know. Bummer is my trial is over and I won't be able to find out unless I pay up. Hope you guys can let us know here if their catalog has grown significantly in the next few weeks.

 

Question for anyone who knows:

If all I am interested in is CD-quality streaming (1411 kbps, 16-bit, 44.1kHz) on my iPhone with a nice pair of Grado headphones, and both Tidal Hifi and Qobuz Hifi cost the same $20 per month, what are the differences in the services? Hi-Res is not on my radar at the moment.

Do these services sound different? Should they sound different? Do either of them do gapless playback?

So far the only difference that’s significant to me is that Godspeed You Black Emperor’s best album (Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven) is currently unavailable on Qobuz. That's a bit of a bummer.

 

Besides the obvious, which is Tidal has MQA, the only differences would be in amount of albums offered. Tidal has some Qobuz does not, and vice versa. But remember, Qobuz is just up and running in the U.S., which I see is where you’re located, and the platform is basically beta right now. For example, The Rolling Stones Abkco albums should all be hi-res on Qobuz, but they’re not as of right now. Some of them are, but a few of the titles aren’t there in any resolution.
Gapless is a biggie for me - I’m able to get it on Tidal’s desktop app, but not on my iPhone. From what I understand, a recent update crippled gapless on the Android side as well.

 

I can get gapless playback on my android phone with Qobuz.

 

AAARGH. Ok so I just went on Tidal. Friday New Release day. And I get slammed with all this teen pop and hip hop and bad r/b. Went to Roon and starting checking versions btwn QB and Tidal and decided that right now there are about 20 albums missing from QB. I decided it's worth searching for the cds for now and ripping them into Roon and keeping QB and losing Tidal. I hate the Tidal UI, I hate hip/hop and modern pop, their playlists suck, and so does their IOS app lately. QB has some bugs and catalog lack but everything else, mostly sound, is better on my system. And my homepage there is already to my liking. Paul Weller over some fake gangsta dude. Yes please. Soooo I just went back to QB and begged forgiveness, or rather, gave them my money. After all this. LoL. Just my story for y'all haha okfinebye

 

My assumption is gap less will be for all 16/44 and higher streams. It is the mp3s that won’t be gapless. At least using Roon.

 

I have yet to start my free trial of Qobuz, but a UI that highlights classical and jazz would be a MOST welcome change from the Tidal UI. I have found myself not enjoying the new releases that are advertised on Tidal... and I have sampled a LOT of them over my free trial period.

 

The Dark Side of the Moon, downloaded onto my iPhone XS Max. Both apps are the most up-to-date versions available:

Tidal HiFi: 100% gapless (mobile as well as streaming through desktop app)
Tidal MP3: short gap (the gap is more prominent on desktop than mobile)
Qobuz HiFi: actually skips the last half second of each song before moving on to the next.

 

I don’t like that one bit. Hopefully Qobuz doesn’t do that when using Roon and an endpoint.