In my view this is a Big Thing. I kind of assumed when I got my AirLens that I would plug it in, connect it to my network, launch the Qobuz App on my Mac, set the AirLens as the audio output device, and play music. Of course, this isn’t happening because the Qobuz App isn’t seeing the AirLens. I phoned Paul, and he suggested I use the M Connect App on my iPad. This actually works, but the Qobuz interface on the M Connect App is so bad as to make Qobuz’s own App look slick and sophisticated. So the whole M Connect thing for me is a big fail.
What I’m hoping to learn, and am still totally in the dark about, is where exactly the problem lies. Is it something that PS Audio has not implemented on the Airlens? Or is it something that Qobuz has not implemented on their own App. Or is it both? Whatever the problem is, I really wish someone would set down for the record, in simple terms, devoid of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms!) why all of this is still a problem.
I can’t explain in technical terms why a desktop app can’t see the AirLens. What is really needed for Qobuz is something similar to Tidal Connect – software that streamer makers can install into their products. Qobuz has been promising this for a long time (2–3 years?).
In another thread, Paul said that Qobuz has released a beta version of this and that PSA is testing it with the AirLens. That’s good news, but given the long history of the thing not being released I wouldn’t hold my breath. Right now your choices are Mconnect (which I use despite the clunky interface) or Roon.
It was exactly this sad state of affairs that made me decide to go the Eversolo route. Their app isn’t as nice as the native Qobuz app but it works quite well. Almost given up on Qobuz connect.
Hey Richard. Qobuz, nearly three years ago, reached out to Stream Unlimited and had them start work on the app. You of all people know how that goes.
The app is finally finished, in Beta, and we’re testing it now. They are planning on launching it at Axpona. AirLenses will get auto updated at that time and then bingo, it just works. We had no control over the process. Been waiting in the wings for them to finish.
I hope the initial launch of Connect will work on various devices and operating systems.
Too many times, we see apps work only on the most recent version of iOS and on only the most recent iPhone (citing the often vague “security” as rationale).
Hi Paul. Thanks for that! It’s what I needed to know, and I can visualize exactly what’s happening. I asked Tim if he thought he knew what the technical issues were that are driving this, and how complicated they are to resolve, but he doesn’t know.
The often-vague “security” issues you mention are almost always requirements handed down from Apple on a sacred tablet, and usually mean that your App won’t work with previous versions of the OS. So “security” issues may be at the root of it, but they are security issues relating to how the App interoperates with the OS, rather than security issues within the App itself.
Now, if you are selling your App via your own web store, you can usually just ignore these Apple directives. But if you submit your App for sale on the App Store, it will be rejected it out of hand by an Apple Bot before it is is even submitted for approval, if it is not compliant.
You’re probably right, but I hope not. I use an old iPad only as my streamer “control”. All other apps are removed or not used. Its only purpose is to connect to the streamer.
Anyway, I’ve been a daily user of TIDAL Connect since it was released. In fact, it dramatically reduced my use of Roon so I’m eager for the Qobuz capability.
Take some solace in recognizing you’re representing the rest of us grumps who wouldn’t have any other use for Roon. This isn’t a knock on the AL. I loved everything else about it except that it, along with plenty of others, doesn’t have native support of the 2 streaming services I use most.
But no device is going to be for everyone. The new to me DMP A8 and BS Vault I’ve had for a few years may not provide the nth degree of SQ but the functionality of both is everything I want and need while sounding pretty damn good to my ears.
Yes I was . And yes it was very promising from the inside too! I used our clunky prototype with its clockwork UI as my preferred music player for a few years, and still miss it enormously.
I would say there were numerous factors that contributed to its demise, but its fate was likely sealed quite early on when high quality streaming sources such as Qobuz and Tidal began to compete with private music collections as the average audiophile’s preferred music source. Octave was going to be quite brilliant with your own music library, but when used with Qobuz/Tidal/etc the user experience (although not the sonic experience) began to look like it would be much less satisfactory by comparison. Trying to fix that looked more and more problematic the closer we looked at it. While from the BitPerfect side I could see certain software approaches that would in principle be able to address these issues, it looked highly unlikely that either Qobuz or Tidal could be persuaded to work with us to make these things happen. I think all of us looked at where we were heading and felt that we had to reluctantly accept that a product that was excellent with a private music library, but sucked with streamed music, was not overall going to be well received.
Maybe Paul will chime in with his own reflections from the PS Audio perspective.
. And yes it was very promising from the inside too! I used our clunky prototype with its clockwork UI as my preferred music player for a few years, and still miss it enormously.