Does anyone have experience using Qobuz in Canada?
I am thinking about switching from Tidal to Qubuz and would appreciate some feedback.
1 Like
Qobuz is not officially available in Canada, but if you use a VPN I think you can get a subscription even using a Canadian credit card. Once you have a subscription it will play in roon without using a VPN. That said, I didn’t find it better or worse than Tidal for listening to jazz.
As @Stan_Jones says Qobuz is not available in Canada. I tried signing up a while ago with a VPN but it would not take my Canadian credit card. I have not tried again more recently - I think they also take PayPal so that may work. I also have a UK-based credit card so that might also work. TBH I’m really happy with Tidal and where we live we can only get internet over the cell phone network so I’m sceptical that there is sufficient bandwidth for streaming Qobuz hi-res files (vs Tidal’s MQA).
It’s not available in Australia either, but many here have had success using a VPN.
However, word of warning:
There have been a number of recent threads relating to billing errors & the grief it has caused trying to get the money back. Usually it was the bank that sorted the mess.
However, I wonder how likely they would be to act if it was found you were using the service beyond their terms of service? I don’t know the answer to this, but banks usually respond well to those operating within the law, rather than trying to circumvent agreements.
I guess I am just wary. Good luck!
My thanks to the community for their commentary regarding Qubuz in Canada. I’m going to take the cautionary route and leave Qubuz alone for the time being. I’ve been using Tidal for the past 5 years however I find the availability hi-res music to be limited. I’m looking for alternatives and welcome any suggestions. Thank you once again and don’t forget to keep smiling.
for payment n Canada, I specially opened CIBC DEBIT Visa account.
AND Got Debit Visa card. It works with Qobuz through VPN
1 Like
Hi, any issues? I’m thinking about doing the same thing.
I understood that after the first payment, Qobuz is no longer looking for the credit card origin. Is that true?
I opened a Qobuz US account using a VPN from Canada. The last step I need to do is making the payment, but my Canadian credit cards are refused because of their origin (I guess…).
Does someone find out how to do it? Do I need to find a gentleman to help me doing the first payment? 
Cheers !
What about using Paypal?
I tried. I created a PayPal US account and I can’t add my Canadian credit cards and I can’t add money to the account unless I have a proof of US residency.
I tried using my Canadian PayPal account, but it looks like it detects that this is a Canadian PayPal…
I really want to try/switch to Qobuz… I believe the next step is to move to US… 
Sorry to hear this. Surely there has to be a way to get it working and maybe someone will chime in here.
I believe @Dusty has Qobuz, which is not available in his country. Maybe he managed a workaround
Are you currently subscribing to Tidal?
Yes. But I don’t want anything related to MQA. I made my test and I don’t need it. And now, even if I selected just HiFI in the Tidal service setting and set everything in my Audio settings to get away from the MQA letters, I still get most of the stream in 44k 16bit MQA. 
I am willing to send money through PayPal to the one who is willing to pay my first month.
MQA is a very sensitive subject on here I have both services and to be honest, can’t hear a difference.
My issues with Qobuz are their catalogue which is not as big as Tidal’s, there is no discovery and an artist’s library does not have releases catalogued by album, EP, compilation, etc. It’s a bit of a pain really. Oh and there is also no connect function.
Really… that is sad… maybe I am taking that MQA thing too personal and I should close my eyes on that MQA letters. But I really don’t like how they advertise the product and how they manage their responses.
1 Like
Have you tried searching online for others who have this problem and found a solution? Surely there are other forums where the same is discussed. It may be worth a google search.
There’s a reddit post that describes the process. Too much like hard work IMHO, so I’ll just wait to see if Qobuz launches here - I’m happy with Tidal (and have absolutely no problem with MQA).
2 Likes
Some MQA recordings don’t sound any better than the non-MQA version but that’s my personal taste. I’m not sure if your issue is with the MQA sound or with the whole MQA idea but you can listen to MQA recordings without using the MQA feature by just simply by turning off the decoding and rendering in your set up.
Keep smiling.
I am stuck at step 6. Revolut is not available in Canada yet, as far as I know. So I only need to be able to pay for a song or a month to unlock the whole thing…
I never found an example of something better on MQA. The only moment that something could have been better, it was another mastering, which remove all the MQA legitimacy.
I never read anywhere : listen to this album (Spotify) against this album (Tidal MQA) from this same mastering and you should have more of this or that with MQA (soundstage, sound resolution, etc). I have all the gear at home to compare : MQA and non-MQA DAC, expensive speakers and amplifiers…
That’s why I want to try Qobuz.
But I am worried about what RBO Raz said about Qobuz and the lack of library management and catalogue size.
Please take the MQA stuff elsewhere. It’s tiresome, and there are so many threads where people who need to whinge about MQA can do that.
1 Like