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

I have been looking for information on Qobuz for many months and finally was able to get some useful information about its "scheduled" release date, information on who is working at Qobuz, some features and other background information.   I will add additional information as I get it.  Please see:

1) Qobuz Names Music Industry Veteran Dan Mackta Managing Director USA with more Key Executives for U.S. Launch:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qobuz-names-music-industry-veteran-dan-mackta-managing-director-usa-with-more-key-executives-for-us-launch-300681476.html


2) Qobuz Named Official High-Resolution Streaming Service of Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qobuz-named-official-high-resolution-streaming-service-of-rocky-mountain-international-audio-fest-300684982.html


Some Qobuz Features are:
Over 40 million 16/44 tracks and over 2 million high-resolution tracks up to 24/192 bit high resolution.

You can actually off-line any album or track onto your computer, phone and many servers. So if your Internet is not up to full 24/192 streaming, but you need to have a perfect demo, you can download unlimited playlists and albums in high resolution. 

About Qobuz
Founded in 2007, Qobuz is a French commercial online music streaming and download service that addresses the needs of curious and discerning music lovers across the globe. It is currently available in Europeand the UK and Ireland. Complementing its unparalleled expertise in sound quality, Qobuz includes an exceptional range of music genres as well as exclusive editorial content. Qobuz offers subscription to streaming services with CD quality and Hi-Res audio spanning all genres. The service also offers the largest catalogue of 24-bit Hi-Res albums for download. For more information, visit: www.qobuz.com.


My Aurender N10 Music Sever already supports Qobuz streaming and I am anxious to start listening to Qobuz music streaming.  


hgeifman
ssfas
7 posts
 
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.
dusted1's avatar
dusted1
12 posts
 
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? 
hgeifman OP
1,193 posts
 
@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. 
ssfas
7 posts
 
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. 
dusted1's avatar
dusted1
12 posts
 
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?
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