Qobuz sounds better than Tidal Hifi on my set up

[Credoh]

After 3 months of listening to Qobuz vs Tidal vs AM my impressions are:

- Qobuz is the cleanest and most uncolored sound (which is why it gets my vote)
- Tidal is not bad if you can do a full mqa unfold but it still feels smeared and their claims around mqa really are dodgy. It has a slightly better library than Qobuz
- AM - my lease favorite. Everything sounds hyper real and louder. The highs on most tracks feel edged and almost clinical. But has the largest library outside Spotify

Qobuz over Roon sounds every so slightly more linear as if the "timing" of the music is better. Tidal also sounds better over Roon than native.

Just my subjective observations - and again these differences can be easily ignored in less resolving setups or casual listening. #YMMV

 

[GOLLUM]

In my setup its not even close.
Qobuz is noticeably better than TIDAL.

Have stopped my TIDAL subscription after using Qobuz.


.

How do i subscribe to Tidal?

 

[OM_2K19]

How do I subscribe to Tidal?

Unfortunately, we can no longer subscribe to Tidal through Indian cards. Try Tidal Malaysia; it's a hit or miss, though.

 

[ravindrads]

I was curious to find out for myself which streaming service sounded better and so I got a Qobuz subscription a week before the Tidal subscription ended recently so I could listen and discover. As per my brief inter web search Qobuz streams lossless (FLAC mostly, sometimes MP3 @320kbps) Tidal seems to stream less in FLAC.

Sharing a personal preference after listening to a few songs from a few albums by the following artists (same albums/recordings as far as I could tell)

Arooj Aftab- Vulture Prince
Beck - Morning Phase
Dire straits- Brothers in Arms
Ben Harper - Diamonds on the inside
Ry Cooder - Chavez Ravine
Ali Farka Toure - Savane (2019 remaster)
Daniel Lanois - Shine

In my set up I played back around 20 songs from these albums (switching between Tidal and Qobuz was a bit tedious) Qobuz definitely sounded better. Tidal HiFi playback was non MQA. Perceptions may vary in different set ups and my listening choices were limited.

So, I felt the AQ was clearer, deeper and was more dynamic on Qobuz. Just saying….

Disclaimer: I have no financial links with these companies or derive any other benefits….blah blah

My set up: Streamer to Integrated Tube amp to stand mount speakers and a subwoofer; Room - 12’x15’, minimal treatment

Qubuz is definitely better than Tidal. Cost effective in group buy

 

[keith_correa]

How do i subscribe to Tidal?

How to use TIDAL in India?

TIDAL Not Available in India? No worries, here's our guide to using TIDAL and setting up TIDAL in India. Simply Follow our step by step guide to using TIDAL.

www.headphonezone.in

 

[adityasrivastava26]

Btw how apple music compares with the two ?

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Btw how apple music compares with the two ?

In my experience I’ve found both Tidal (to a lesser extent) and Apple Music colour the sound. Both add an unnatural heft/thickness - Tidal more at the low end and AM even in the mids. in comparison I’ve found Qobuz as well as Spotify (lower resolution is a lesser problem than colouration to me) to be truer sounding. Also, among all four top platforms, it’s only AM that doesn’t allow native integration in streamers - the additional interface between your mobile/PC and the streamer (if you use one) certainly leads to some deterioration in quality.

If Qobuz and Tidal were to launch in India, I’d go with the former. Currently I am happy with the compressed Spotify as it sounds best in my system (CXN 2 as a streamer) in comparison to the rest that are officially available. It took me a while to get to tolerating its neon green interface though.

 

[abhi80]

I can second that, Qobuz sounds better then Tidal. The worst is apple music for me.. probably the way it’s implemented.

 

[Rajeshh]

I switched over from Tidal HIFI to Qobuz HighRes and haven’t looked back.
In my system, Qobuz sounds closer to ripped FLACs

 

[Analogous]

This thread is in danger of becoming an echo chamber populated by Qobuz fanboys . So here goes:
A WhatHifi review opines that Tidal HiRes sounds better than Qobuz. …. Also says it’s “less sweeter” than Tidal
As we all know, It’s impossible to verify, prove or disprove subjective likes, preferences and choices.
The review also points out their catalog is limited in comparison too (I agree)

Qobuz review

A good option for hi-res streaming, but not the best choice for all

www.whathifi.com

 

[hifimaddy]

I am using apple music, spotify, tidal and qobuz. qobuz sounds way better in my system and also sounds fantastic in my cheap headphones. I was listening spotify and qobuz viceversa and spotify lacked a lot of details and sounds laid back compared to qobuz.

 

[chander]

Can any of the tidal owners here confirm if Coke Studio videos are available on Tidal?

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Smo]

Can any of the tidal owners here confirm if Coke Studio videos are available on Tidal?

Thank you so much in advance!

No

 

[SaurabhK]

IMO its largely dependant on the implementation of the streaming services by the streamer/dac company. For example dCS has very strong ties with MQA and perhaps does the best MQA implementation. Having said that tidal /qobuz depends on different tracks. some sound better on tidal some on qobuz. I use both. use Roon as well.

 

[chander]

Got Qobuz activated again today & realised immediately how painful finding songs is The UI is still sadly below par when compared to something like Spotify/Tidal. Not commenting on the sound quality yet.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

I guess the difference lies in using the tidal app itself, and it does something or it does something not right. I have tidal and qobuz and on my setup they sound identical. There is no difference I can confidently say. The difference is I am using USAPP on android to stream from both the services not from their own apps. I. This case, both the interfaces are not used. Or may be I need a more revealing setup.

 

[samthomaz]

Got Qobuz activated again today & realised immediately how painful finding songs is The UI is still sadly below par when compared to something like Spotify/Tidal. Not commenting on the sound quality yet.

Can you plz guide how to get started with Qobuz in India. I get " no service in India" message.

 

[Analogous]

Anyone heard Tidal Max audio quality setting? opinions?

This reviewer (linked below) says: “ I had the chance to try out Tidal’s new Max audio quality setting — which integrates hi-res audio FLAC files into the streaming service’s HiFi Plus subscription tier — while it was still in beta. It seemed ham-fisted and poorly executed at best, but betas often can be tweaked before seeing their final release. That’s the point of beta testing. So I held out hope that Tidal would fix the problems before rolling Max out to the world.

Now that Tidal has opened the FLAC floodgates — the feature is live for all — that doesn’t appear to be the case.”

Tidal's FLAC integration is going about as well as expected | Digital Trends

Tidal's hi-res FLAC tracks are now accessible to all HiFi Plus subscribers, but it's still a hot mess.

www.digitaltrends.com