Still new to Roon - a day or so in, but loving the experience!
I have both Qobuz and Tidal subscriptions however want to save some money and only keep one. I’ve been reading around on this, but just wanted to get a final confirmation on my understanding.
All of this is under the note when used with Roon:
There is no sound difference between the 2 services given using lossless FLAC (I know Tidal had all that MQA stuff going on, and still some MQA files lingering around) - but given both lossless FLAC, they should be bitperfect between services, and the rest is how Roon is playing them - therefore I should hear no difference.
There is no difference in the discovery. Again, I’m assuming Roon does all the metadata and discovery/radio smarts.
Thanks.
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
2
If only it was so simple…lol.
If both services offered the exact same version of the album then yes your premise would be solid.
However it’s more than likely there will be numerous versions of masters floating around between the two services and that is where I would then expect you will hear some difference.
Not anything to do with Roon or even the streaming service.
I have both and like both and think it’s worth the extra $11 or $12 per month to keep both. Since one or the other sometimes has issues, and I have no local files, I like the redundancy.
I like MQA so have no problem with the fact that I still have 474 Tidal MQA albums out of 2154 total Tidal albums. I have the same 2154 albums on Qobuz including 825 high resolution.
If I had to drop one or the other, I’m not sure which one it would be. If my DAC’s were not MQA capable, I suppose I would drop Tidal.
But I guess back to my original question, if we were sure that both served the exact same version, and we only used Tidal/Qobuz in Roon - would it be fair to assume, they should be identical with what Roon outputs.
At that point, I’m guessing it simply comes down to price and library/whats in each of their catalogs.
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
6
IMHO yes.
Oh provided also no DSP involved and both replayed at the same natural resolution.
So like 16/44 or 16/48 or whatever as long as both are same.
We are sure that both do not serve the exact same version. Sometimes they probably do, other times not. I don’t hear any SQ difference and the price I pay is within a dollar per month the same.
For me personally Qobuz is my favorite. I’ve just resubscribed for my 6th year. 3 years as Studio and now my 3rd year as Sublime. Tidal has always been an on and off kind of relationship for me.
As I have been buying quite a lot of music the last two years. It is Qobuz Sublime for me. Most music that I like I already owned myself on CD (now ripped on my Roon server as FLAC). And I’ve mostly been filling the gaps with buying the missing albums from Qobuz. I’ve also discovered some other music while streaming and ended up buying some of that as well. I always shop for bargains though. We Dutch are known for that
When it comes to sound quality. I can’t hear a difference. So all in all Qobuz wins out for me.
This is good to know @SandsOfArrakis - the sound difference is none and its whatever catalogue seems to be more full based on whatever one listens to.
For me Tidal seems to be appearing more next to albums in my library. Additionally for artists I listen to I’m finding Tidal consistently more when I click Versions.
Tidal does have a larger library. But for me personally this has never been an issue. Some music that I own on CD is unavailable on any streaming service. So Qobuz is pretty much all I really need.
I have tried both and prefer Qobuz. My preference has to do with more than just the experience with Roon integration. I happen to like the Qobuz Android app and the web app (I’m a Linux desktop user). I like the Qobuz discovery functionality. I even like the Magazine feature and wish Roon provided this type of functionality, too. Even though I listen to music mostly via Roon (Ropieee and the Pi2AES streamer), sometimes I wish Ropieee had Qobuz Connect integration, for those few occasions when I want to play music via the Qobuz app. I get around that by having the old Chromecast Audio streamer hooked up to my DAC’s optical input. Qobuz sounds surprisingly good through it.
Qobuz will often provide album liner notes as PDFs, which will then be integrated into the Roon library. At one time, Tidal did not do this, which is one of the reasons I switched from Tidal to Qobuz (the other being Qobuz Sublime). If Tidal has changed this, then perhaps one of our Tidal users can confirm this.
Not valid since quite a large portion of the world doesn’t have Qobuz , Africa is the big landmass south of Europe
Large areas of South America , some have coverage I think Argentina, Brazil, Chile & Columbia
. Not sure about Asia , wouldn’t surprise me if lots there as well
Tidal is pretty worldwide, not that it enters your debate
One thing I will say is Tidal has more albums overall and more fleshed out artist discographies. I listen to a lot of metal and notice some of the albums don’t get put on Qobuz.
Food for thought.
mjw
(Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)
17
Having had both services, I say yes. Occasionally, you can identify the same album because the track count / listing is unique to one release (checking on Discogs.)
I only use streaming for discovery, so switch between the two services for the best deal, and purchase music I want to keep. I usually have a brief time with both Qobuz and TIDAL, and I don’t notice any audible differences between them when comparing like-for-like.
within Roon, the discovery should be the same. As others have said, you can’t be certain they’re serving the same version. Generally, Qobuz is more fastidious about displaying the resolution of any given track/album. this is often missing from Tidal, particularly for new releases, at least until you play it back.
I am of the opinion that the two services do sound different, and sound different in Roon. I have a slight preference for Qobuz, BUT, I love MQA, so I keep both. I also have some local, purchased, MQA files.
Lastly, if you use either service on mobile, in the car, or elsewhere, that may be of importance. I prefer the Tidal app, and oddly, in my car, Tidal sounds better than Qobuz. also, Tidal’s “more like this” radio is preferable to Qobuz’ (and either is better than Roon Radio.)
as always, YMMV. trust your ears.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
1 Like
mjw
(Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)
19
But bit depth and sample rate have nothing to do with versions. The same (re)master may be available in many formats and sample rates.
What is absolutely clear is that identical releases are the same when played through Roon. This is incontrivertible.
In my car, a cassette tape could sound better than Qobuz.
