News: Qobuz Hi-Res platform's debut is scheduled for this October. See Qobuz Links below

Thanks for the update.  I'm looking forward to trying Qobuz too.

Thanks for the update, I had a chance to preview some albums on my N10 and please to say their streaming quality is on par with Tidal. I am looking forward to trying the Sublime+ plan which offers FLAC 24-Bit up to 192 KHz. 

This is the future of music distribution ....

Thanks for the research.  I had purchased Audirvana Plus a few weeks ago and it came with a 30 day Quobuz trial.  I didn’t expect it to work, but it did...for 1 day, and then stopped.  Enough to whet my appetite.  It should be the best High Res streaming service for Classical.

Qobuz is very good for classical, it even has a few vintage recordings in hi-res remasters. 

Anyone know if Roon is planning to add support for Qobuz?

Based on my very limited research, it seems that Roon does NOT support Qubuz and some question if the Roon/Qobuz integration will ever happen.   I do not know.  

I believe that Roon support of Qobuz is very important based on the number of Roon users.  I emailed Qobuz about how are Roon users going access Qobuz.  Does any have any additional info about a Roon/Qubuz integration?

Very cool I've been waiting! And Auralic does support Quobuz on it's Lightning DS app so I am all set there! I have to say though I am happy with Tidal and any issues with buffering are in the distant past. I hope there are some catalog differences between the two.

I have an N10 coming and so very pleased to see a second option.

Hope they offer a plan for US Veterans like Tidal.  $11.99 a month for Tidal HiFi is a good deal!

@hgeifman Thank you for your research and info on the upcoming launch of Qobuz.  I am happy with Roon/Tidal now but Qobuz sounds like it would have more Hi-res titles to choose from.  I emailed Roon asking if they plan to integrate with Qobuz and got this response.


"Nothing I can speak to publicly at the moment, sorry! Keep an eye on our community site for updates: https://community.roonlabs.com"

Yes!  Great news.  As much as I love Tidal Hi Fi's sound quality, it's horrible search features, playlists and everything geared toward Hip Hop is annoying.  Come on Qobuz, steal the spotlight.  :)

Qobuz offers 4 different pricing options. They are:

Premium at 320kbps
Hi-Fi at FLAC 16-Bit/ 44.1 Khz
Sublime at CD quality streaming FLAC 16-Bit / 44.1 KHz
Sublime+ at Hi-Res quality streaming FLAC 24-Bit up to 192 KHz

Please see the link below for additional details and the pricing levels:

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/music/streaming/offers

For example, if I purchase Qobuz Sublime, or Sublime+, I order this option on the Qobuz web site and the correct albums, etc will be presented to my music server.  Most likely, I would be interested in the Sublime+ at Hi-Res quality streaming FLAC 24-Bit up to 192 KHz option so these albums will be available on my Aurender Music Server.  Aurender Customer Support confirms that Aurender users will purchase the Qobuz price tier option (one of the above four) they want and the correct album format will be made available to the Aurender.

I suggest you review your music server to confirm it works with Qobuz and review how it handles the Qobuz pricing option you select.   

I have requested QoBuz for any additional information about a possible Roon/Qobuz integration and am waiting for their response.    

$350 LUMP sum payment for what still boils down to a limited amount of 24/192 titles.A ripoff if you ask me.

So, the price for CD 16/44.1 quality is $19.99.
With Tidal you get CD and hires streaming for $19.99.

QoBuz is going to be expensive for hires, about $29.00/mo.

Hopefully they will run an introductory trial so we can try and compare to existing Tidal and Deezer services for ease of use, stability, selection of titles etc.
Personally I have never seen an issue with tidal interface of music selection. However I am rock all the way and I tend to search for what I want or just I use the "genres" tab for rock to see what's new.
Has worked very well for me so Quboz has its work cut out especially if $9 a month more than tidal hifi service.

Any any updates?

Unfortunately, I have heard nothing from Qobuz regarding their USA availability date.  We are going to have to wait until they are ready to announce something.

I am surprised it is taking this long to announce something.  Does anyone have any additional information?

I’m not surprised at all it is taking this long to announce something-what happened to Sony’s participation with MQA? What happened to hd tracks-STREAMING? Both MIA.It’s my guess these services can’t get the content (at least for what they want to pay for it) from the content owners (labels, or artists).

They should just bring back good old FM radio. Get local control of stations back in the hands of, well. locals. Break up the monopoly hold of corporate radio and have stations dedicated to certain musical genres again. 

I remember when L.A. had three classical radio stations and just as many jazz stations (maybe two?). Also, I'm told those old TV towers can easily broadcast internet with minor modifications. All it would take is some enterprising politician(s) to get involved and have at least internet radio beamed across our cities. 

With minimal advertising and some government underwriting, we can have access to music from around the world for everyone to hear. I grew up on free radio and to pay for it over the internet leaves me scratching my balding head.

All the best,
Nonoise

A recent update with some additional information on Qobuz's pending US introduction...

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/qobuz-gets-ready-its-close

I would be willing to try the high resolution 24bit/192kHz streaming for under $21 per month. Let’s hope the high resolution content is good enough for me to make a switch from Tidal.

@lalitk  I am relieved that Qobuz will have Roon integration. That was the big news for me.

That is exciting news thanks David! No hi-rez for me, my DAC doesn't decode it, but excited to see their CD quality catalog and how it differs from Tidal.

Its going to have be very good to compete with Tidal at $19.95 a month.
I know the cataloguing for classical and jazz etc is poor on Tidal but for my needs I find the rock and metal selection nd searching to be excellent.

I will probably let you guys do the "beta" testing...lol

Their catalog is different than Tidal's and will suit some more than others based on which genres and regions of the world music scene folks prefer.

@uberwaltz  I will definitely be beta testing and pitting one service against the other, IF Qobuz / Roon is a viable option for my front end components.

From the Sound and Vision article, it looks like the hi-res streaming option will be $249 per year, which should give Tidal a good "run for the money".  It also looks like they'll have Roon integration worked into the product by the end of the year.  All good!

From what some of my European friends tell me, Qobuz is pretty strong with their classical and jazz libraries.

The iOS app is now available in the US via the Apple Store.  You can sign up, and listen to 320 mp3 samples of the albums, but can not sign up, yet, for any offer (such as the 1 month free trial).  But, to me, that signals that the official US launch must be very, very near.  Maybe later this week??

Any updates on the US release? I have the app and things look good.

Just downloaded the app for android from the playstore
Have to take a good look through it tonight, first glance  seems promising

The android app is already offering a 30 day free trial form mp3 or cd/flac quality.
Away in the sweatshops of Texas again this week so will wait till back home this week to sign up and get the most out of the 30 day trial!

There should be a ton of Ko Buzz by end of the week.

I'd wait another week before deciding to trial.

“There’s a more agreeable balance now, though, with pop and rock living in harmony next to other genres – and that refreshing eclecticism stands Qobuz apart from its more mainstream rivals“.

Let’s hope this holds true....I have been looking forward to a balanced catalog versus Tidal catalog that is now so rap and pop heavy. Not to mention, handful of MQA albums that are just awful. I don’t get the selection criteria for the some of the MQA remasters 😳

I do see an option for Qobuz high resolution streaming now in my Aurender Conductor app but subscription is still not open to US residents. My guess it will be shortly after Qobuz launch at RMAF on Friday.

The latest Aurender Conductor App update includes support for Qobuz Streaming services.  Of course, now we have to wait for its official release in the USA.  

Qobuz will be on display at RMAF and I am hoping more information will be available at the RMAF for someone to post here.  

I am a bit confused I mostly listen to jazz and I find tons of jazz on Tidal sure there is lots of pop and rock but that's not all. And it seems to me when I am searching I see tons of albums designated MQA. For example my last search was for Freddie Hubbard I count 12 MQA recordings listed.

I completely disagree with Tidal being rap and pop heavy, just my opinion.

There is a TON of rock and some pretty obscure rock at that.

Oh rap not rock there is plenty of stuff besides rap if you really look.

I've been using Qobuz for about 5 years, and Qobuz Sublime+ since it started about 2 years ago. 
It does not look to compete with Spotify or Tidal. Why would you try and compete with companies that burn money and make huge losses?
It has been classical and jazz heavy because those listeners tend to be the ones more likely to spend money on a premium subscription and downloads. I read that they get at least 5 times the revenue per customer as anyone else.
About 50% of their revenues are from downloads, so more labels sign up as they make more money on them and that gets them the more expensive Sublime subscriptions, because that gives you big discounts on HD downloads. So the Sublime subscription works two ways - for those who want to stream in HD (which includes an offline library) and those who want downloads at the same or less than 16/44 prices.  
The USA will be getting a mature product with a stunning catalogue, quality control, great editorial, album and artist articles and a fantastic software platform (OSX is the best).
Just make sure when streaming at 24/192 you have a decent ethernet connection, not wifi. I also suspect this will kill off MQA, not a moment too soon.

I just want to know will they have a good search engine where someone with say an iPhone can take a peek exactly what artists/titles are available in hirez for download and stream BEFORE we sign up? 

@ssfas, Thank you for your above post on using Qobuz.   How does 24/192 bit steaming compare to Tidal's MQA steaming option?

Are you talking mayor sound quality differences or slightly improved?  Any additional comments on using 24/192 steaming would be appreciated.   How many 24/192 bit albums does Qobuz have in their catalog?  Thanks again.......

I am looking forward for Qobuz to be available in the USA. 

I’ve never used Tidal as I mostly listen to classical, nor MQA as Ive never used Tidal and MQA it is a fraud anyway. I’ve been using Qobuz since before Tidal existed. Qobuz has been going over 10 years.
Just searched Prince using iOS app. 313 albums. Then searched Purple Rain. They have original LP version in 24/96, the deluxe remaster in 16/44 and 24/96. This is typical, if something was issued on CD they will have the 16/44 CD version, LP masters usually in 24/96 and remasters in whatever formats they were remastered and issued in. So you can choose and compare if you want, there is no upsampling.
There aren’t that many 24/192 albums as it’s not that popular a format. The most common for classical and jazz is 24/96 and pop/rock 24/44.1 or 24/48. 
There are millions of HD tracks. The great majority of new issues are available in HD. In iOS swipe the album cover and there is a second page with the format data. 

BTW,what ever happened to HDtracks-streaming? Did they ever come back and officially say it’s NOT going to happen now or is it just delayed -indefinitely?

So has anybody USA based actually tried the new service yet?
Or do I have to be the guinea pig .... Lol

I have been using it since last August and to my ears the sound  quality is superior.  You may still be able to take advantage of the free three month trial announced at CEDIA.

Just wondering how it compares with Tidal Hifi/MQA.

@uberwaltz,

Just sent you a PM :-)

Got it my friend!

Thank you