Roon will never integrate Spotify as Spotify donāt integrate they use connect and connect only. They have a web api but not an api for 3rd part integration over and beyond connect. They moved to this model so they can control all aspects of it, track your data etc.
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Ah OK. I understand the commoditisation concern in principle - but Iām not convinced it really applies in practice. And I do see see the point about data.
At least Spotify provide a connect service that I assume will be lossless or Hi Res whenever this update comes. If they provide a great app, gapless Hi Res connect to connect to a multitude of devices as they can now and direct to USB DAC, a lot of people will just use that service.
It will be less hassle and more affordable.
Tidal are a bit behind Spotify in the connect area, not as many devices are supported that I can see, bit they have direct to USB DAC.
Each service has itās Achilles Heel in my mind, hence we have Roon.
Qobuz doesnāt have a connect option at all. That makes it a real bummer.
My 3 streamers at home (Cambridge CXNv2, Bluesound Node X and WiiM Mini) all have Tidal Connect onboard. Same with Spotify Connect.
But apart from AirPlay 2, which is supplied by my iPad, iPhone or Mac, Qobuz can only access the Cambridge directly as it has Chromecast built in. Both the Node X and WiiM Mini do not have that option.
Roon makes it all work though when it comes to Qobuz and Tidal.
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Maybe thatās why:
Spotify have been promising lossless since 2017 lol. Ok It might actually happen in the next few months BUT as far as I know they are only offering CD quality not Hi Rez. That is fine and Iām happy with CD quality but not at Ā£19.99 or $19.99 the same price as the top tier of Tidal, It seems to me that they are also offering lots of other features that most Audiophiles will not want, to justify that inflated price. Spotify can stick it where monkeys stick their peanuts lol I will stick to Roon and Qobuz, Qobuz at Ā£10.83 a month 
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The latest leak seems to suggest the tier will include 24 bit content, as to the sample rates there wasnāt any mention of what the cap is.
On the price, they will be adding some features that music fans do care about (again according to leaks). Things like a focus equivalent, you can cut your library by genre, mood, tempo and other properties.
Full listening data, taking what people already use third party tools to track (Last.fm) and building it into the app.
When you combine those additions, plus the best streaming connectivity (Spotify Connect) and the most well integrated platform of any service, to me it seems like a lot of audiophiles might be interested in paper. Particularly when you consider how rock solid their app is.
The added cherry on top is that if you care at all about podcasts and audiobooks, they are thrown in too.
There are a few things that I donāt see get mentioned a lot when it comes to audiophile needs on Qobuz and tidal + Roon. Reliability and integrity.
Qobuz and tidal suffer from music being removed and reloaded, effectively creating holes in your library (you have to go and re add the album). Now if your library is small, itās no big deal but if it is large (like an audiophiles) that is a problem.
Bugs and stability issues plagues Roon, Qobuz and tidal. To be clear this isnāt a fair fight, Spotify is massive but itās the reality. Iāve seen a ridiculous number of threads on Reddit of the tidal app just being totally unreliable playback wise (particularly with downloads), Qobuz has a limitation on iOS that means if you use the genre filter on your library it will only show and play the first 300 items unless you scroll to the end of the list, at which point it will load another 300. These are just a few examples but the point is that even as music fanatics, these apps have pretty heavy drawbacks in areas that we care about, which Spotify does not.
All this is to try and highlight that Spotifys price (in my opinion) may not be inflated if you value stability, library integrity and integrations.
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Has Spotify eliminated their library size limit ?
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As far as I can see your library size is unlimited.
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Yet it still fails to actually be for music collectors in my opinion. Itās just too playlist focus. My current home page doesnāt have one album on it just lots of playlists and then your scroll and have more and more taken up with video thumbnails, Itās a horrible experience.
Itās release day today and I canāt see a single new release album on my home page!!! Sorry itās juts not for a serious collector as far as I am concerned, both Tidal and Qobuz are way better at this side and are still focused more on albums and not throw away playlists.
The app can be as stable as you lik, and have the largest collection there is, but the experience really isnāt there, it doesnāt offer me what I am after from a music app. I have never even impressed with their algorithms they repeat and come up with same suggestions way too often, itās almost like itās using Valence. I canāt say I have had any issues with stability of Tidal or Qobuz apps myself.
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Ok I do take your points and will wait and see what happens with Spotify and I guess what they are offering may be interesting to others, just not to me. I just want a wide selection of good quality music in classic rock, Blues and some jazz, Bluegrass, Folk and classical and I seem to get that fine on Qobuz. I find no problems with unreliability either on Qobuz or Roon and as I use Roon I almost never use Qobuz o/s. So basically I donāt want to pay almost double what Iām paying now for features I donāt need or want. Also of course Spotify is not in Roon so that rules it out straight away for me. Of course for other people that donāt use Roon then it might be good, especially if the subscribe to Tidal which I know is having problems and is the same price for the top tier, guess that will come down to the quality that spotify end up offering
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You are bang on with the home page, itās certainly playlist focused (although there are at least 3 home lines for me that have album recommendations).
On the releases though, Spotify has the most reliable new release mechanism for me:
That being said, you are right the home page (outside of the new releases tracker) is very much playlist focused.
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Are there any Qobuz users who listed to electronic, rock, reggae, folk - rather than the classical genre for which Qobuz is better known?
How does Qobuz compare with Tidal in this respect?
Very similar. All the electro/synth I am listening to is available on both.
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Hi Mike_Betts,
Qobuz and Tidal have little to no difference in their catalogue. With a lot of effort, you can find something in one that the other doesnāt have. Qobuz certainly has its strength in classical and jazz, but everything else is there too. Hip hop and rap may not be as prominent, but they are there.
Qobuz has perhaps the most extensive catalogue of HiRes recordings in these areas.
The differences lie more in the features. Tidal has videos and personally generated playlists. Qobuz does not have these. On the other hand, the search in Qobuz is outstanding, even better than in Roon. Above all, it is able to find names that are not spelled correctly.
I personally find the UI of Qobuz better than that of Tidal, but thatās a matter of taste.
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I listen to a wide range of genres using Qobuz, I donāt listen to much classical in comparison to all others. Qobuz has got a lot better over the last few years compared to what it was but can still be missing some albums by some artists but its not as common as it was.
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I never thought I would like playlist listening but Spotify allows me to discover artists I dont know about by listening to their playlists
Then I add a bunch of albums to the music services I use based on their playlists and nobody makes them better
There is also this section if you want album recommendations:
https://open.spotify.com/genre/0JQ5DAtOnAEpjOgUKwXyxj?si=-nN9Dz2aTqGfHrAhhvVH0A
I listen to all your genres, plus a fair bit of classical and jazz. Thereās not a lot in it TBH, although Iād say the Tidal catalog was marginally better overall - there are albums I have looked for that are on Tidal but not Qobuz, but never the other way around as far as I can remember. Tidalās new music day list is far superior to that of Qobuz, but I really like the availability of digital booklets in Qobuz for a lot of more recent classical albums (plus a few from other genres), and of course you can buy downloads from Qobuz (although not for every release by any means). Thatās why I still currently have both subs.
Oh, and (puts on body armour) there is no discernable (to my ears) overall difference in sound quality between them.
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I am a Qobuz user with Roon and really enjoy how it work alongside my local library.
I tried Tidal back when it was pushing all MQA so I bounced to Qobuz, but now that Tidal also offers HiRez FLAC as an alternative, I think I stay for deals I can get on album purchases.
I do love how Spotifyās UI works, but Iām not sure Iāll upgrade to the āSuperemiumā sub. Maybe to at least try it.
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