I have both for now but not sure if I will keep Qobuz. I get a discount on Tidal which so far offers a deeper catalog so the value is much better for me there. I don’t buy many records so Qobuz Sublime is not a slam dunk like it is for many of you.
That said, I really like that Qobuz offers digital liner notes when available and often I find albums available in high-res that don’t have a corresponding MQA release on Tidal. Also, occasionally I will find releases on Qobuz not available on Tidal so that makes it a decent complement. Hence, why I’m still debating keeping both.
I find that their respective catalogues are different, and some things are only available on one, rather than on the other/both.
Keep both - you know it makes sense!
If I didn’t have a wife and kids, it would be a no-brainer to keep both. But I’m the only one here that appreciates CD-quality streaming, never mind Hi-Res Audio streaming. When I try to get my kids excited about better-quality audio, I get looks from them like I would if I was explaining FORTRAN syntax. My wife just sighs and says, “Do you REALLY need another music service? When will it be enough?”
Added Qobuz Studio 2 months ago. To my ear, sound quality better than Tidal MQA. Plus more hi res content (at least for what I’m searching). As for Playlists, subscribed for 1 day to Soundiiz premium and transferred them all in 20 minutes. Cancelling Tidal.
I also have both. I prefer the Qobuz 192 to the TIDAL MQA, but there are issues with Qobuz and KEF LSX through Roon. You also cannot stream Qobuz to the LSX. I guess the latter two issues will get ironed out in time but if not then I will not extend my Qobuz Studio subscription and stay only with TIDAL.
I should have added that I’m streaming to PSAudio Directstream DAC with Bridge II. Except for occasional ‘static’ when switching between albums (maybe between Tidal and Qobuz — I haven’t spent time to diagnose), Qobuz stream is great.
Did the same. Tidal was for me an imposed deal as it was the only option, but now luckily Qobuz, the service I found best for CD and Hires streaming has been added as second. Would like other options to follow.
And are buying hi-res versions, as there’s no discount for CD quality.
It’s great when you can get something like the Coltrane boxed set coming out this week for $18 at 192, but lousy if you want to fill out your Zappa collection and you’re paying full price. Definitely make sure the music you’ll want to buy is available in hi-res, otherwise it’d stick with Studio, too.
I like to own the music I really like and collect it. I use streaming for discovering new music and find related music to what I have but I don’t need to own all the music I find by streaming, some of it is just nice to have heard once (or once in a while).
Nowadays everything seems to be about streaming, renting, subscriptions for software and now even games but there are still a lot of people who prefer to own their music, movies, software and games instead of renting them. Compare it to a library: why have people ever bought books if you could borrow them from the library?
Also, it may be handy to have music stored offline on your phone or media player so you don’t have data usage to play your music if your mobile internet subscription is limited. In some countries that is even true for home internet.
But for me I simply like to own my stuff and I make sure I have a bunch of backups of it. How many times have I not had that an app I use on my Mac or iPhone isn’t available anymore but I still have it. And the heaps of old games I have you can’t find in any subscription.
In the end subscriptions cost more than owning something which is why I immediately chose Roon lifetime instead of yearly payments for example.
-Yes.
-Yes. But more preparing than planning.
-I can fix wonky tag info and add my own custom tags to important albums.
-Play music anywhere, anytime and on any device.
Pulled the trigger and have ditched Qobuz after a couple of months trying it alongside Tidal. It might have offered an extra 5% of music choices in my genre of preference (contemporary jazz) but was more than doubling my monthly subscription fees. Too much of my music is not in their library. It was making no sense for me.
Cancelled Qobuz here too. Would prefer Qobuz if music catalog was as deep/complete as Tidal- but at present it is not. No assurance that Qobuz coming out of beta will in and of itself close the gap.
Will follow others experience in future months to see if that changes.
I’m keeping both, as I find significant gaps in both services, and the discount through Qobuz to purchase those releases I find irresistible is just too attractive.
I’m old-school, I guess - can’t go 100% to streaming.
