@woodford - Thanks, yeah I guess after the various replies (I understand files can differ (and very likely do) from what version/masters they come from), my question of the ‘same’ has now turned to the discovery.
So when I click Start radio for example, assuming they had the same catalogue would the returned song selection be the same? Or a clearer way to ask - is the discovery/auto playlists side of things all handled by Roon’s own discovery algorithms rather than what Qobuz or Tidal think.
@mjw - I like your approach and may follow this of using one for a while and then another - more so now as I just realised whilst reading the Roon Mastery Series that you very easily export playlists with Soundiiz - so switching would be pretty easy.
Here is a listing of some of my playlist. I make them in Qobuz, then use Soundiz to send to Tidal. I also save a local copy using the Qobuz version. I do this for redundancy purposes, not SQ purposes. I recommend you keep both Tidal and Qobuz for several months and then decide which one to keep.
you’re asking a question that only you can answer. If you have both, play both, compare and make your decision. I love the forum but the answer ain’t here.
Thanks @RTaylor3rd - yeah I think I’ve made my mind on Tidal as the catalogue has a few more records around what I listen to and its a bit cheaper where I am.
But at this point, I was really more so curious about the Roon discovery/radio - I’m assuming it doesn’t rely on Qobuz/Tidal’s recommendation algorithm’s but rather it’s own (and what I would assume much smarter).
The thing I liked abut Qobuz was I like their playlists - and I may be going mad, but somehow it sounds a little more engaging - but I think its just my head.
Tidal is cheaper for me, and I get to see more albums of what artists I listen to.
I started seriously streaming during the pandemic, when I had both Qobuz and Tidal running thru my Roon Nucleus. After comparing them side by side for a couple of years I decided that I enjoyed using Qobuz more. 1) I think it sounds better. 2) Qobuz has more high res versions of the classical, jazz, and opera recordings that I like.
I subscribed to both in 2022 or 2023 with the intent of choosing one to use with Roon. I’m still using both. Have never made a decision on which one to jettison. I think Tidal has better recommendations for me and has Atmos which I enjoy sometimes but I also purchase files through the Qobuz store/Sublime. In a perfect world, I’d probably keep Tidal (and Spotify which I do use and my family does too), ditch Qobuz and Apple Music (yes have that too). If anyone comes up with the definitive use case let me know!
Thanks @Victoria_Carlin - I’m assuming as you mention preference for Tidal recommendations and Atmos you use the app directly too?
I actually avoid using the Tidal/Qobuz directly as I don’t feel I benefit from Roon’s local library+streaming ‘togtherness’ (and of course prefer the UX) hence was mostly curious on whats it’s like with Roon.
I also subscribe to a few of them - it’s a little frustrating as none of them are perfect. One of them could be and I wouldn’t have to pay them all.
Apple Music - I like their categories. Also its more family friendly - when people don’t know music, they just want to hear a particular mood, easier to find a playlist. Atmos too is enjoyable on certain albums.
Tidal - Catalog
Qobuz - Catalog
And now looking more likely - Roon.
Spotify - I dropped that a month ago.
It’s all a little cumbersome and if I could save I would like to. I’ve even been thinking about Roon itself after my 14 day trial - just stick to Apple Music and Plexamp. But I really like using it Roon - genuinely a wonderful way to discover more.
By the way - as fair few of us here seem to have have multiple services, do you have an effective system of syncing things across services and keeping them that way. I generally pay for a month of Soundiiz now and then - but some services don’t have some songs, so I’m always concerned I’ll loose track of them - maybe I should just buy those
I’m not sure what I would really keep for Atmos. I kept Apple Music mainly for that because I have a Sonos Era 300 that plays Atmos but only through Apple, not Tidal. If they added that feature (Sonos/Tidal) I’d drop Apple Music. Honestly I rarely use that speaker and usually use earbuds when I’m doing an Atmos th8ngs so I should probably just ditch Apple. I think the Sonos can do Amazon ,using Atmos as well but I dropped Amazon very quickly after trying it out.
I think I’m most likely to drop Qobuz eventually and just buy less music from their store. I can’t ditch Spotify I still like it and now it’s at least lossless.
And I just keep a sub to soundiiz all the time to port music around the services.
My actual personal ideal situation would be Spotify working on Roon, I think!
I saw an interview with one of the Roon developers who said that every morning a full Tidal index is provided to Roon, so that when you do a Tidal search in Roon it is very efficient. I don’t know if it works the same way with Qobuz.
I am mostly (but not exclusively a classical music listener. Qobuz far more often has a higher res recording (96/24 or 192/24) and attached pdf booklets. So, if I had to choose, it would be Qobuz.
For me - former Tidal now Qobuz user - Tidal was. wonky and intermittent. I don’t think I have had a Qobuz issue yet. I have 8TB of NAS stored files and don’t rely on streaming completely, though. And FWIW in general Qobuz sounds better when same resolutions are compared. But that is probably just a minor preference, not analytical.
my long standing impression, going back to the days os WiMP and LMS, is that Tidal sounds very forward, and Qobuz more relaxed. you might say “easier”, or “softerr” depending on your audio descriptor vocabulary.
For most of the music I listen to, classical, opera, and acoustic jazz, this ease is preferable. for some rock, americana, pop, Tidal’s more aggressive stance better suits the music, although it sometimes becomes irritable in my system(s), especially the low end.
the fly in the ointment is MQA, which I have always liked, and always sounds, by some margin, and irrespective of genre, the most natural.
so, i continue to subscribe to both.
incidentally, many of the albums tagged as MQA in Tidal no longer are, which is disappointing.
