Qobuz and Roon 1.6 Integration

Qobuz Booklets - just a thought for the next UI update, its great to have Qobuz Booklets available, but at the moment they are just an anonymous link to a PDF file - I didn’t even notice it for ages. A little booklet icon (there are enough 1990’s big blue buttons don’t you think guys :blush:) would do. Also opening in a browser is a great idea, but like Qobuz this should be an option and the default open the file in an overlapping window within Roon really.

This mirrors my thoughts on Qobuz booklets, but in addition I feel that the best and most logical place for the icon would be alongside the others (lyrics, artist bio etc.) on the now playing screen.

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That behaviour is how roon gets the link to your roon library, for tidal and Qobuz so I don’t see a change there.

I would be very thankful for some clarifying comments because I am not sure if some things are intentional behaviour or “bugs”.

My situation:

  • Up to now I used Qobuz only for purchases. (30-40 albums both Hi-Res and Standard-Res). Those albums were already part of my local library (the majority of them with changed tags).
  • I used the “Favourites” in Qobuz to mark albums which are of interest to me
  • With Roon integration I recently started the free test-period for Qobouz streaming.

What happened so far:

  • After enabling the Qobuz integration in Roon the sync process started.
  • All my purchases have been synced. I some cases my local version (CD Quality) was replaced with the Qobuz Version (Hi-Res Version). Replaced means that I have two versions of the same album with the higher quality version being marked as the “Primary Version”. I assume this is intentional behaviour.
  • The next thing was that my “Favourites” have been synced but only a small amount of the favourites have been added to my library. The rest was not and I had to add the albums manually. I assume this is not intended.
  • As I am using the general setting to only use file tags from my files, the genre information of Qobuz is lost in the very moment I add the album to my library. I read in some other thread that this is normal behaviour and I have to add genres manually by editing the album. So I did.

One additional question:

Is every Qobuz album that I add to my library automatically added to the Qobuz favourites ? Does the syncronisation work in both ways ? (Roon -> Qobuz and Qobuz -> Roon)

All my purchases have been synced. I some cases my local version (CD Quality) was replaced with the Qobuz Version (Hi-Res Version). Replaced means that I have two versions of the same album with the higher quality version being marked as the “Primary Version”. I assume this is intentional behaviour.

Yes - Roon seems to prioritise the hires version but you can alter this if you feel your file is superior

The next thing was that my “Favourites” have been synced but only a small amount of the favourites have been added to my library. The rest was not and I had to add the albums manually. I assume this is not intended.

No I don’t think it is, all my favourites were added to my library, even the track favourites which I would have preferred not to sync! :blush:

Is every Qobuz album that I add to my library automatically added to the Qobuz favourites ? Does the syncronisation work in both ways ? (Roon -> Qobuz and Qobuz -> Roon)

Yes it is and yes it does - once you have Roon library setup how you want it and Qobuz favourites tried up (I would advise this before anyone even sync Roon with Qobuz) anything you favourite in qobuz is added to your Roon library and vice versa.

Edit: For the record I seem to have two versions of the one album I have ever purchased from Qobuz (I was just experimenting as I don’t collect files anymore) one is my download (with full dynamic range info) and the other is obviously the Qobuz streaming version - not sure what to do about that but there is an extensive thread somewhere! :blush:

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That is working as intended. Would you prefer Roon to do something else ?

You may be thinking of this thread.

Thanks for the link I was just busy searching for it! Yes I would have thought it more logical to just add the files, I haven’t favourited the album on Qobuz so surely it shouldn’t be in my Library, only the purchased version as those are actual files in folder on my HDD it doesn’t matter where they came from really.

One thing I noticed yesterday. I am playing an album by a band in my local library. In the upper part of the now playing screen I see the artist image which was added by me.

If I play a different album by the same band streamed from Qobuz I get a different artist image (in this case a bad quality image - that was the reason it was so distracting) in the now playing screen.

The name of the band is spelled identical and if I click on the band name I am getting to the artist bio screen showing the artist image which was added by me.

Anyone else experiencing this behaviour ?

As a longtime Qobuz user (5+ years) I’ve made a lot of use of an offline library on my phone and/or MacBook.

I’ve just started on Roon last week and and have ordered a server.

Is it possible to use Qobuz offline storage via Roon?

Alternatively, is it possible to use the Qobuz app to add to the offline library and play it back via Roon?

I don’t think Roon has fully rolled out the ways Qobuz existing metadata can be enhanced and appended to yet, I’m really looking forward to their continued collaboration - such as access to Qobuz Labels from the Roon interface, panoramas and so on, Qobuz seem keen in their press release :slightly_smiling_face:

I got access to Qobuz beta. A couple observations:

  • Roon doesn’t indicate the explicit icon on Qobuz releases
  • Qobuz results show multiple versions (hi-res and CD), similar to TIDAL

My top criterion for TIDAL vs Qobuz is catalog coverage for my tastes, which Roon has no control over. TIDAL wins right now, Qobuz says their catalog will grow after they’re out of beta so we’ll see.

My second criterion is general experience within Roon – I’d like to minimize the time I spend picking through essentially equivalent versions. Interestingly, Qobuz sends a CD-quality stream regardless of which version I pick (I signed up for CD rather than 24-bit). So it seems like Roon could simplify things by always showing the HiRes version and letting Qobuz stream at whatever level I have access to.

So far my response to Qobuz is lukewarm. It’s catalog falls short of TIDAL, and it doesn’t have any better experience within Roon than TIDAL.

As an example: Teenage Dream by Katy Perry has 12 TIDAL and 11 Qobuz versions (one of the most extreme examples I’ve seen). I’d really like Roon to trim down that list if possible.

People get very picky about versions, very picky…

Yep, I’m picky about versions, which is why I would like the options simplified. If Qobuz sends me the same stream for 16 vs 24 bit (because my account is 16 bit) then there’s no need to show me both.

Or maybe Roon could sort based on my preferences. I want 16-bit (in TIDAL) and explicit. Make the top result the one I’m most likely to choose anyway.

I get what you mean. My point was that there are many who feel the opposite :slight_smile: and who would go ballistic that their choice was being hidden…
Anyway filtering would mean choice which means a switch and we’ve already had the discussion on that - you don’t mind - i would rather not have them :slight_smile:

Just want to say thanks.
I cancelled my Tidal subscription and moved to Qobuz Sublime. Wouldn’t have happened without Roon integration. The Sublime package is more than twice as expensive where I live than Tidal hifi/masters (only $11 a month here); but I figure I’ll make up the difference with discounts on album downloads I would have bought anyway.

I have a Qobuz download account, but no streaming service. If I go to some single in my library, it offers to show me the whole album in Qobuz. That’s great.

I thought I might be able to purchase the album, but “Add to Library” just makes it a favourite and adds it to my library (interestingly, I can even play it although it often cuts out saying it couldn’t load the track).

Is there a way to do a purchase through Roon?

I believe you have to go to the Qobuz app or web site for that.

I added a feature request here: Integrated Qobuz purchase & download.

It’d be great if others could support it…

I am enjoying my trial subscription so far but I have to admit I feel like I’m drowning in new music. On the one side that’s really cool but I think I have to find strategies to deal with the fact that I can access millions of albums at the touch of a button (just a personal OT comment and not really related to the Qobuz-Roon integration :wink: )

The Hi-Res streaming option works great and sounds fantastic. So far there have been no SQ issues, dropouts, etc.

I am looking forward to the integration of some additional Qobuz features (eg. the ones @Tim_Woodward mentioned above).

I also wondered If there is a way to get my Roon playlists into Qobuz ? (for me it seems only the other way around)

One way only