Qobuz: Music & Editorial 4+

I have been a audio fan for many years in fact for 40+ years. Vinyl was the only medium then. So I spent far to much money on speakers amplifiers and phono cartridges. Then in 1982 music cd,s become available and us Hi-Fi enthusiasts got very excited indeed. No more pops and clicks when listening to our music, the sound was higher quality and to cap it all the storage required was a fraction of Vinyl. So when I started to read articles about streaming being offered by companies I was excited but sceptical to say the least. How could it ever sound as good as a CD but after a lot of research I purchased a Cambridge Azur 851N streamer and subscribed to Tidal. My thinking being if Tidal (who uses MQA) was the most expensive it must be the best. However MQA is not lossless and on some albums that were published as Hi Res clearly were not and lacked a truly realistic sound. Being an Audio file I fiddled, changed cables, changed setting on my amp and streamer, moved the position of the speakers.
So my thinking was perhaps what I had read was just snake oil. So I changed my streaming provider to Qobuz and an immediate difference was apparent. The sound quality that had been missing was back again and millions of songs and albums available to listen to. I am now building my playlists and back enjoying music again. For anyone reading this is also sceptical I recommend you give it a try by using there free introduction offer.

When it comes to high-res streaming it can be difficult to have a truly unique selling point, and claims that service x is truly better than service y usually all balances out ( and often in the case of missing tracks on albums is the result of the labyrinth nature of record companies dealings rather than the streaming service itself). Not sure an average persons hearing can really distinguish between hi-res and cd quality but I will take the audiophiles word on it.

Where qobuz really stands out is the wealth of information about artists, albums and even individual tracks that is instantly available at a click... so what you might ask I could do that via Wikipedia.. well yes and that’s what I would have thought until I tried it... it’s amazing listening to an album and being able to put it into context immediately. It’s this (plus the ability to purchase and download material on the desktop version) ... all for well under £20 a month... that’s a couple of cds cost a month for access to a larger catalogue of music than you could listen to in a lifetime, that made me switch my service after a trial. Glad I did and the experience so far excellent.

Edit. Recent update now shows release year and divides between albums and eps/singles in iOS app. Added a star for major improvement- thanks to developers!

Looking to move from Tidal as I don’t need the nastiest commercial hip hop pushed on me against my will and I want to see actual bit rate information more clearly. Qobuz wins on these points, plus the playlists and suggested tracks curation suits me very well. But there are some real annoyances with the interface. First and foremost, it’s slow, sometimes really slow, not just to load songs (which I would accept as they can be big files) but things like loading favorites, or loading the list of an artists albums. The wheel spins and spins, then there are glitches and time out errors. I don’t think this is on my end. My internet connection is reasonably good and besides, if I switch to Tidal there are no delays. Tidal loads playlists instantly, no spinning wheels ever over several months of use. Secondly, discographies do not show album year on iphone and iPad apps. So you have to click the album and then delve into the credits. Annoying. Also, discographies do not distinguish between albums and singles, so you have to open them to see what it is. I want to like Qobuz. The focus on sound quality, tasteful curation and repertoire make it seem like a more serious audio service. But I wish these issues would be fixed. I’ve sent in feedback already and will see how it goes over the course of my trial month..