Computer Audio Asylum

Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

Return to Computer Audio Asylum

Message Sort: Post Order or Asylum Reverse Threaded

Qobuz - my first experiences

62.143.178.97
Posted on April 24, 2015 at 04:02:10
soundchekk
Audiophile

Posts: 2426
Joined: July 11, 2007
 I've been playing around with Qobuz (CD quality @ 44.1/16, flacs) the last two weeks. 15day trial and 199Euro yearly subscription fee.

I really like it.

24.000.000 flacs at your fingertips, wherever you are, is really something you can get used to. You'll find one pearl after another.

Considering the effort to buy CDs, rip them, tag them, to buy the HDDs and run the backups asf, it can be considered a bargain to go for a yearly subscription fee.

Beside that I can run Qobuz via my LogitechMediaServer. There's a plugin. It works quite nice.

I also made use of the iOS and Android apps. As a user interface these apps are preferable over the LMS plugin. You'll just have more options to scan the huge database.

What I also like in conjunction with my Android app and my LG G3 is to use bluetooth apt-x. Of course that requires apt-x enabled receiver devices. More and more DACs offer that. Such a functionality build into a DAC is IMO more useful than e.g. DSD. Beside that, using bluetooth is the easiest way to integrate the family into your audio world.

However. There are IMO some downsides.

The Android app is not that well sounding on the Android device itself. If compared to e.g. Poweramp you'll notice quite a difference on soundquality. Poweramp is much better integrated into the OS.
There's space for improvement.

Also on the LMS there's a small downside. The flac stream will be forwarded AsIs to the client. I e.g. can not convert it to PCM.
Basically it limits some of my "tweaks". It's not such a big deal though.


However. With such a music database at hand the last bit of soundquality becomes more and more irrelevant to me.

For me I see a chance to get away from technology driven audio back to music.

I highly recommend to give it a try.


Cheers

-----------------------------------------------------------------

blog latest >> The Audio Streaming Series - tuning kit pCP

 

Hide full thread outline!
    ...
RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 04:11:53
Mercman
Audiophile

Posts: 6581
Location: So. CA
Joined: October 20, 2002
 I don't think the service is available in the U.S.A. yet. Am I wrong about this?

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 04:22:26
soundchekk
Audiophile

Posts: 2426
Joined: July 11, 2007
 I think it's available.

Your buddy Michael had a look at it too. (I Just googled it)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

blog latest >> The Audio Streaming Series - tuning kit pCP

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 04:43:57
SBGK
Audiophile

Posts: 444
Joined: March 22, 2012
 I tried it for a month a year ago and wasn't convinced by the sound quality. Might as well have spotify for discovering music and buy the cd if it's something worth listening to.
http://mqnplayer.blogspot.co.uk/

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 04:45:36
Mercman
Audiophile

Posts: 6581
Location: So. CA
Joined: October 20, 2002
 When I go to the site, a message comes up saying it is not available in the U.S.A. yet.

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 04:57:44
soundchekk
Audiophile

Posts: 2426
Joined: July 11, 2007
Interesting.

Perhaps you check with Michael. He must have managed somehow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

blog latest >> The Audio Streaming Series - tuning kit pCP

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 07:54:32
Tony Lauck
Audiophile

Posts: 13629
Location: Vermont
Joined: November 12, 2007
 Have you tried playing a track that's already in your collection and capturing the FLAC or decoded FLAC? It would be interesting to compare the resulting audio samples with the original (rip or download) to see if they are bit perfect.

Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 08:32:12
soundchekk
Audiophile

Posts: 2426
Joined: July 11, 2007
No. I havn't captured the stream yet.

I'm also wondering if they dynamically adjust data rates based on bandwidth availability.





-----------------------------------------------------------------

blog latest >> The Audio Streaming Series - tuning kit pCP

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 15:11:16
ahendler
Audiophile

Posts: 5151
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Joined: January 24, 2003
 It is not available and they are having serious money issues which may for the near future keep them out of the US. I use Tidal and am very impressed with the quality. Tidal is also working with Meridian and in the future will have a Hi-Rez streaming service using Meridians new MQA encoding
Alan

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 24, 2015 at 15:12:20
ahendler
Audiophile

Posts: 5151
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Joined: January 24, 2003
 You can give them a European address and get around it somehow
Alan

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 25, 2015 at 12:26:50
Artoa
Audiophile

Posts: 81
Joined: March 12, 2011
 Qobuz is by far the best service out there. The offering is deep, prices competitive, and many songs can be purchased individually.

Something that has not got much press here is the new Sublime service. Terrific! When one subscribe to Qobuz streaming, one also gets a significant discount (40% or so on average), on HD purchases. For someone who subscribes to a streaming service and still buys music, this is a no brainer. The subscription pays for itself very quickly.

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 28, 2015 at 09:21:58
mnilan
Audiophile

Posts: 310
Location: Central New York
Joined: April 18, 2005
 soundchekk:
I have been using Qobuz @ 320 kbps for several months now. My biggest problem is that the streaming quality is very "fragile" (for lack of a better term). I have FIOS at home (25/25 mbps) and work at a research university which has very good Internet service. However, my streaming experience is constantly marred by stutters and dropouts regardless of whether I'm using a desktop computer (iMac) or a laptop (MacBook Air) and regardless of whether I am connected by ethernet cable or wireless. Their customer service has been very prompt and polite but they have not been able to fix my streaming issues. It looks like I will give up the service at the next payment point... I was really looking forward to streaming 44.1/16 but if they I can't even get 320 to work, there is no hope.

I guess I'll try Tidal next although I think their focus on young folks will likely limit their jazz and classical catalog... We'll see...
Mike

 

RE: Qobuz - my first experiences, posted on April 28, 2015 at 23:44:19
soundchekk
Audiophile

Posts: 2426
Joined: July 11, 2007
 Hi.

Never had any issues with Qbuz so far. Not a single stutter.

I'm running wired (LogitechmediaServer plugin) and wireless using the Android app.

I do know that media streaming can get tricky.


I had serious issues with my Amazon Prime HD streaming in the past.
Streaming bandwidth went down to 3Mbit/s. I did all kind of measurements.
I had close to 100% bandwidth (100MBIT/s) on my Lan and around 50MBit/s DSL. The issue as -- explained by Amazon -- turned out to be a problem with my 2011 Sony TV and the Amazon streaming app. However I also read that Amazon had issues with the streaming servers in the past.
If you run into streaming problems, it's not that easy to track them down.
That's what I figured.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

blog latest >> The Audio Streaming Series - tuning kit pCP

 

Page processed in 0.028 seconds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]