Another former Tidal customer who’s now with Qobuz here. Sounds better to me. I guess my first thought was that with Apple Music and others moving to high rez, they felt the need to be more competitive. Streaming was the reason my DirectStream DAC is the most expensive piece of kit in my system. Because I listen to streaming more than LPs and CDs combined.
2 Likes
I just joined the happy subscriber club four minutes ago:
"New Pricing
Qobuz has always been an advocate for high quality sound. Today our prices and offers are evolving to make the Qobuz music listening experience even more accessible.
The cost of your Studio Premier subscription has changed to $12.99/month.
This change will take effect on your next renewal date, September 7, 2021. Your subscription details will be updated simultaneously in your account."
2 Likes
I keep both. If I had to choose one, I like Qobuz better than Tidal.
2 Likes
I also have both since years. I use Roon and select between the two depending on which one has the album I am looking for and/or a 24bit version of it. It varies.
Qobuz is better at providing the album booklet as PDF, which I often highly appreciate.
I follow jazz from the Nordics and often Tidal (maybe because of its Norwegian heritage?) excels over Qobuz in those genres…
1 Like
And, with Sublime, the hi-res downloads I’ve looked at cost a good bit less than the CD download. Truly a case of getting more for less.
1 Like
I had a 3 month trial subscription to Amazon when they started up their HiRes capability. The SQ might have been very slightly worse than Qobuz. The album selection for classical seemed worse than Qobuz, and the integration into the BluOS player was patchy. I cancelled the subscription before the trial expired.
3 Likes
Thank you!. I do not do much if any classical (though I probably should as it’s a new frontier for me) and do not (so far) need BlueOS. However sounds like a trial and/or a year subscription might be worthwhile. Then perhaps drop one of the others. Thanks again for the input…
1 Like
I haven’t even opened Tidal in quite a while (like I said, I’ve been meaning to drop it for some time), so it’s difficult for me to remember specific recordings I was unable to find there. From what I can recall, they were primarily classical. I have the evening to myself tonight, so I may be able to dig a little and provide actual examples.
I’m also about to switch over from my Node 2i to an Aurender streamer, and I don’t know what the sonic effect will be in playing MQA files without the final unfolding. The two services also handle downloads differently, at least according to reports I’ve read. Reviewers have reported that downloads purchased from Tidal require an active Tidal account for offline playback, even though the files reside on your own system. I don’t believe that’s the case with Qobuz files.
To give Tidal their due, I have to add that there are some popular artists they have that I can’t find (or can’t find enough of) on Qobuz. Bruce Cockburn, one of my all-time favorites is a good example. As of this morning, Qobuz shows 10 of his 30 albums (which is an improvement - not long ago there were only 2 or 3), while Tidal lists 26 of them.
2 Likes
I haven’t received any emails about it yet, either, maybe because I’m still 10 months out from renewal. It was just in July that I went from monthly Studio Premier to annual for $149.99. Now that plan’s $129.99. I’m not foolish enough to expect a rebate, but I wonder about my contract, which calls for automatic renewal at the $149.99 price.
1 Like
No email for me, either. 
Jazz from the Nordics you say. Maybe some examples to fill gaps in my understanding of Nordic jazz, or as Mats Gustafsson, or was it Paul Nilssen-Love, once proclaimed at a recent jazz concert, Viking Jazz. The later has a certain panache. When I think of Nordic Jazz the following names come to mind in no particular order:
Jan Gabarek, Terje Rypdal,Jon Rune Strom, Mats Gustafsson, Paul Nilssen-Love, Misha Mengleberg, Ingebrigt Haken Flaten, Frode Gjerstad, Tollef Ostvang, Thomas Johansson, Arve Henricksen, Friends & Neighbors, Fire Orchestra, E.S.T., Esbjorn Svensson, Arild Anderson, Niels-Hening Orsted Pedersen, Bobo Stenson, Edward Vesala, Tord Gustavsen,…
I am sure I have forgotten some. By all means share your specific interests regarding Nordic Creative Music or Jazz. Also, if you care take a dip in the Strictly Jazz Sounds thread and share specificNordic Jazz listening experiences as well.
Having a BlueSound Node2i myself I’d like to think the step up to an Aurender Streamer would be a significant improvement in sound quality. Aurender was on my short list during my server/streamer search. I ended up with the Innuos ZENith MkIII and a Phoenix Re-clocker. I have not done an actual head to head between the Innuos and BlueSound, but a casual comparison gives a strong nod to the Innuos for inner detail and improved upper mids and high frequencies. Not knocking the BlueSound as it does sound very musical to my ears. I
When looking for music I find Tidal can be limiting on certain jazz genres, especially older releases. They can be very good with new releases and re-issues. I have not tried hi-res downloads, mainly because I use streaming services for casual listening and buy hard copies of what I like to directly support the artists. This is contributing to my storage problems at the moment.
1 Like
Drop them a note requesting an adjustment. It can’t hurt.
Show off!
I’d have come up with six of them and thought that was pretty impressive.
1 Like
Good idea, thanks.
Might be of interest here that Qobuz recently added the Linn Records catalog to their streaming service. This includes their high resolution mastered albums which were previously only available via purchase to download from Linn. A search for “Linn Records” (in double quotes) should display the available content.
4 Likes
Listening to ecm, since the mid 70’s certainly had a lot to do with it. That and the list I provided represents a fair number of musicians we actually booked in Madison. 
Yes, their David Solomon announced that on their “Streaming Music Matters” Facebook group the other day. I was very happy to see that. I’ve bought Linn CD and SACD releases from webstores when they’ve been on sale (Berkshire Record Outlet almost always has some), and I’ve never been disappointed with a performance or a recording.
1 Like
