Hi Simon, I don’t know where you live but currently in my country Tidal Hi-Fi subscription costs 19,99 € * 12 = 239,88 €/year. Qobuz has recently relesed a new plan called Studio with a total annual cost of 249,99 €/year in a single payment or 24,99 € * 12 =299,88 €/year. Studio is fine for Hi-Res streaming users that do not buy music. The point is that the annual cost is not so diferent from Tidal Hi-Fi (239,88 € vs 249,99 €).
I am currently subscribed to Tidal Hi-Fi for Roon integrationa and Qobuz Hi-Fi. I would consider Qobuz Studio if it would integrate with Roon.
That‘s one of Qobuz‘ weak points. Language preference is a shambles. Whichever device I use, l just can‘t get it to set it to my language preferences properly.
It’s £24.99 in the UK for the same, Tidal is 19.99. so I would be paying more for less. As I get hires with MQA in Tidal and more choice of the music I like. Plus most of the hires material on Qobuz for my tastes is only 44.1/24 so hardly worth it I’ve only found a few higher.
OK. Here in Spain, Sublime+ costs 299,99 € / year - a single playment (Hi Res streaming* + discount in downloads) and new plan Studio costs 24,99 € / month or 249,99 € / year - a single payment (Hi Res streaming*). The Hi-Fi plan has a year payment option too: 19,99 € / month or 199,99 € / year.
*Hi Res streaming does not include the whole catalog
You can still use your Node as endpoint, that is what I will be doing. Sometimes it also convienient to have the Node since this is always available. I do not have my roon core running all the time.
Could someone explain to me why Qobuz integration with Roon will eliminate the need for an endpoint like the Aurender or Bluesound ? In my mind I picture Qobuz operating the same way Tidal does now ? Perhaps some people are using those endpoints just to decode MQA and otherwise would go straight from computer to DAC with Qobuz since no MQA decoding necessary ?