Paid Subscription To Tidal, Qobuz, Both, or Neither

Roon Software Discussion
101

I recently subscribed to Sublime+ but think I will downgrade next year to the redbook version (no hi-res).

I find Qobuz incredible that with Roon Radio applied it selects the next song based on what I am listening to and I have discovered many a great songs/artists I had either not heard about or thought about listening to.

Really happy with my choice and FWIW Qobuz + Roon is a match made in heaven - beats Apple Music hands down.

102

Apple fanboy here. I was only using Apple Music to “audition “ album’s before buying them on HDTracks etc. I can’t believe how much better Tidal/Quboz is. Despite not being able to get a annual plan for Quboz premier, I’ll probably get the monthly and downgrade the tidal family hifi to premium.

103

Quoting myself here, as I received a reply from Qobuz this afternoon. It is what I expected after my Google search earlier. (This is for US subscription.)

*"Hi Steve, *

Thanks for your email. Qobuz now only has two plans. Qobuz Studio Premier (formally called Qobuz Studio) and Sublime+. The only difference is that Sublime+ provides you with significant discounts on purchased music. We are still cleaning up some of the language on the site and in our billing."

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104

Qobuz sublime +; really satisfied particularly with the hi rez music and selection. I am not buying music so I will drop the sublime and just go to the Studio Premier when my subscription period renewal comes up.

105

I got

Tidal premium
Qobuz sublime+

Apple Music Family

106

As an update to my post 10 days ago, I did begin a trial of Qobuz, so currently have both Tidal & Qobuz. I have now cancelled my Tidal subs but as I had an annual I will be using both until October as I had an annual with Tidal, but will now take a 12 month sub with Qobuz when my trial ends in 2 and a bit weeks. Qobuz had almost everything I already had in my Tidal library, and I prefer the sound of Qobuz over Tidal.

107

Qobuz over Tidal, my middle finger to MQA.

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108

At this rate Qobuz will leave Tidal in the dust. [Removed by moderator]

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109

Got Qobuz Studio and Tidal. I actually enjoy the curation of both platforms, they both allowed me to discover a lot of great music (more mainstream on Tidal vs. more classical/jazz/world on Qobuz).

Qobuz tends to have higher res so I’d say it has my preference.

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112

Tidal certainly seems to get in new releases quicker. My Tidal expires in about a month, and I think I might let it go. Since I purchase downloads from Qobuz, I just go to that option in Roon for streaming because I want to hear what a potential purchase sounds like.

114

I gave up Tidal and moved to Qobuz. Reasons:

  • Sound quality (including “loudness war”).
  • Tidal constantly changed the album IDs, which made me lose albums from the library constantly (every time I had to look for them again).
116

Qobuz Hi Res. Great sound quality. MQA is just a marketing gag. It is lossy and has DRM. Two no-goes.

118

Qobuz.
I’ve been trialing both. At first I thought MQA was the way to go.
But reading and listening tells me I think Qobuz is excellent.
Cancelled Tidal, and will pay Qobuz when the trial ends
I’m in the U.S. If I pay annually, it’s $12.50/month.
Tidal is $20 mo.
I don’t see any reason to spend more $ for Tidal as Qobuz sounds great and their catalog is good and getting better.
Using Roon as my interface, I’m not too concerned about Tidal v. Qobuz UI.
I also have have Apple Music since it started as I’d used iTunes for a long time. Not sure what to do w/ that yet. May drop it, may not.
Roon is the bomb, as long as it stays connected. I have some issues along that line.
Will be looking into perhaps upping my WiFi game in my place.

119

Qobuz

Though there are differences, there is too much overlap in catalog to justify two subscriptions for me.

And I think MQA is just snake oil with a not so nice business model behind. So I stick to the lossless playing of albums on Qobuz

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120

I tried Qobuz but didn’t have all of the pop rock that Tidal did so dropped it.

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121

I moved to Qobuz from Tidal. The classical selection is better.

I lost quite a few pop/rock/indie albums from my library (about 10%) but as I rarely listen to that stuff now it didn’t bother me. Having the sleeve notes in pdf is a big plus too.

122

Same here. Moved to Qobuz fromTidal when they started that MQA fad.

123

I am letting my Tidal subscription expire next month but keeping Qobuz.

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124

For me, streaming is currently just a way to “try” new music, typically by using the “Recommended For You” and “New Releases for You” sections in Roon. I only add content from streaming services to my library temporarily, as sort of a “backlog” of items to go through in detail later-on and eventually acquire local digital copies of.

Therefore, coverage of genres I care the most for (pop / rock / metal) is critical. And that’s why I’ve chosen Tidal in the end, despite liking sound quality of Qobuz more. (I do buy some albums from Qobuz site though, therefore actually supporting both Tidal and Qobuz with my money.)

And I agree with one of the previous posts - way too much overlap to subscribe to both services at once (IMHO).

125

I finally cut the cord with Tidal this morning. I’ve been weaning my self off and switching over to Qobuz which I also had. After I sorted through all my remaining Tidal content, there were only 11 ‘albums’ that weren’t available in Qobuz. Some of those were single remixes or EPs. I’ll buy those individually.
It wasn’t this way a year ago. Qobuz has built up their library enough the gap between the two services is pretty small and not worth an extra $240/year.