Music Streaming Services

Discussion in 'Computer Audiophile: Software, Configs, Tools' started by rott, Feb 22, 2017.

  1. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    I just restarted Quobuz to do the update and the search function is now 100x better than before.

    A few weeks ago I searched for John Lee Hooker hoping that “The Healer” would pop up in the choices, but it wouldn’t - maybe because it’s a compilation with other artist collaborations. I forgot how I eventually found it but it took quite a bit of searching and it only gave me the title track despite the entire album being in the catalog, with no intuitive way to play the entire record.

    Today I just types in John Lee Hooker and boom....the entire album came up in the choices, as it should.

    The popular track options were either missing before or buried somewhere I couldn’t find them. After the update I typed in “Johnny Cash Accents”, and the the first hit on the track option came up as JCs “Southern Accents” which is what I wanted.

    So my complaints about the Qobuz search function have now been resolved. I think it works as good as Tidal ever did.
     
  2. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Qobuz' catalog is not very impressive so far. It's not like I listen to particularly obscure music, but I still keep seeing incomplete catalogs of particular artists (i.e. Bruce Cockburn-very sparse) while as others have pointed out, searching can be difficult. For instance, a Todd Rundgren search mixes his work in with artists he has produced, which is a shit-ton in his case, and albums by other artists who have covered his music. And it doesn't tell you why an item even appears. Just makes it hard to find something specific. I mean, I am all for completeness (see above), but some kind of sub categorization would be helpful, like "albums recorded while Todd was in the same city" and THEN the list. Just cumbersome. If this is an improved version, I am glad I didn't try it before. Maybe experience will help. I am hoping.
     
  3. allegro

    allegro Friend

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    To compare Qobuz and Tidal properly I think you have to listen to them both on the same player, either Roon or Audirvana. When I had both Tidal and Qobuz on Audirvana I would think sometimes an album would sound slightly better on Tidal, other times on Qobuz but it is hard to make absolutely sure both came from the same master. I doubt either Qobuz or Tidal is doing any EQ or processing just serving the files sent to them by the labels.

    And if you are into vinyl you may think records from the seventies before digital consoles have more dynamic range and sound better than either streaming service. I think it comes down to which service has the catalog you prefer so I use Qobuz. Right now in the US at $14.99 Qobuz Studio Premier is cheaper than Tidal let's see if Tidal drops the price of Tidal HiFi to match Qobuz. And Amazon Music HD still sucks.
     
  4. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Ironically, the more time I spend with Qobuz, the more I like Amazon.
     
  5. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    Yep, I also noticed lots of the music I like missing from the Qobuz library compared to what’s available on Spotify. The closest I could find to Spotify while still being lossless is Deezer Hifi.
     
  6. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    I guess I’m weird. Qobuz has all of the major and indie jazz, soul, funk and hip hop labels I listen to. The iOS app is pretty nice and even has a CarPlay component. I need to listen more but it sounded ultramega OK to me.
     
  7. RobS

    RobS RobS? More like RobDiarrhea.

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    One thing is for sure, Tidal's MQA can potentially be remixes of albums. See Natalie Merchant's "Tigerlily" for the perfect example. Sounds like a remix compared to the original CD.
     
  8. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    The native desktop Tidal app has "Loudness normalization" enabled by default (and if you turn it off, it is re-enabled after an update for example). I never use Qobuz' native desktop app, but it may have something similar. Combine this with end users general confusion around OS sound processing, "bit perfect" and the like, and perhaps this explains why (beyond simple expectation bias) why folks are hearing differences with what should be the same files (assuming the end user has accounted for MQA).

    Using Roon, JRiver and other "neutral" methods there is no difference between them when I am reasonably certain I am playing back the same file (master, etc.).
     
  9. RobS

    RobS RobS? More like RobDiarrhea.

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    Oh snap, just disabled this. Thanks for this, crenca! That might explain the difference I'm hearing then.
     
  10. psuKinger

    psuKinger Facebook Friend

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    This is why I've never really been able to be happy with ANY streaming service that couldn't integrate with my own digital files. It's why I initially gravitated towards Google Play Music over other lossy alternatives, and why I now use Qobuz (and sometimes Tidal too) via Roon. It's absolutely maddening to not be able to play something that I own...

    Qobuz's library is a bit limited compared to others I've used... but the Roon integration allows for that to be overcome, and the service gets a lot of the other *critical* things right IMO.
     
  11. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    Check all of your settings whenever Tidal updates their app. On several updates, it reset the streaming resolution to the lowest (mp3) setting.
     
  12. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    Just imported my Tidal playlists and tracks to Qobuz without much issue. Used Soundiiz to do it. Downloadable report lets you know which tracks/albums couldn't be found on the destination. Out of 5000 some-odd tracks, 187 couldn't be found. I was able to manually search and add about half of those. Soundiiz seems to works very well.

    That is all. Carry on.
     
  13. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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  14. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

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    I did the same this weekend, but first I had to move a bunch of songs from favorite tracks to a playlist. I didn't bother to search for the songs that it couldn't transfer, didn't think about it lol. I also thought Soundiiz worked well.
     
  15. Bloom

    Bloom MOT: Bloom Audio

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    I've been using Qobuz for about 6 months now and love it. Just got an email yesterday saying they've eliminated their lossy plan and lowered their Studio Premier plan to $14.99/mo. This is a solid great deal. It doesn't have as big a library or is as good at discovery as Spotify, but it's undoubtedly the best in sound quality. Anyway, just a head up for those who hadn't heard about this yet.
     
  16. klyrish

    klyrish Facebook Friend

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    Do you by chance use it in Roon? And have you used Tidal as well? If so, how does Qobuz's library compare to Tidal's?
     
  17. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    This is my usual set up. To answer by genre that I pay attention to:

    1) Classical:

    Tidal has much, but Qobuz has significantly more. Rarely do I find an album that Tidal has that Qobuz does not, but I very often find albums that Qobuz have that tidal does not

    2) Jazz:

    Same as classical, though you are more likely to find something unique on Tidal

    3)Electronic/EDM/IDM/Techno etc. etc:

    Tidal in the lead easily. Not sure I ever found something on Qobuz that was not on Tidal, but there is much that Tidal has that Qobuz does not.

    3) Rock/Americana/modern pop (not that I am into "new" very much):

    Tidal again in a significant lead, though I have not been put off by Qobuz' selection as much as others. Some who are into modern rock/pop claim that Qobuz might not even reach the "minimal threshold" here, whatever that is.
     
  18. klyrish

    klyrish Facebook Friend

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    Thanks for your response. I pulled up the Qobuz download store and the Tidal catalog and was doing side-by-side comparisons of rock/metal/hardcore and I'm seeing that Tidal does seem to have a lot more than what Qobuz does. Tidal even has an album in lossless that I cannot find ANYWHERE to buy or even download. That's kind of disappointing because I wasn't thrilled with Tidal's interface when I used it about a year ago but maybe things have improved.
     
  19. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    85% of what I listen to is 70s-90s Punk/New Wave/Alternative. There were a few things that I didn't get with Quobuz that I did with Tidal, but not much. I also picked up a few things on Quobuz that Tidal didn't have. So it's a mixed bag but I wouldn't consider one catalog being clearly superior or deficient compared to the other for this kind of music.

    For no other reason than gut feeling, I feel like Quobuz may try to improve their selections. I don't have that same feeling with Tidal.
     
  20. Bloom

    Bloom MOT: Bloom Audio

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    Yes, I do. Works really well in Roon for me (as did Tidal when I had been a subscriber). crenca's post re: libraries is spot on.
     

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