Hello, I had some soundquality issues but they were resolved as I improved my source. I added a Auralic clock and a Auralic upsampler. I can hear no difference between Roon and other apps like Jplay etc. They both sound the same. Last question remains. Do you guys here a big difference between Tidal and Qobuz ? A lot of people say that Qobuz sounds better. But is that true ? What do you guys think ? I have a subscription with Tidal.
I have had both and heard no difference.
Had both services, but did not make an awful lot of side-by-side comparisons or bit-checking. My conclusion was that all HiRes files I ever tested, were identical on both platforms, which makes sense because record labels or copyright owners usually do batch-uploading of the same files. In most of cases, this applies to 44/16 FLACs as well, majority should be the same. Would say that this is true to 98% of cases.
Only exceptions were albums, with which I had the feeling Tidal was streaming files which previously had undergone additional encoding, like MQA on Tidal´s side, or MP3 on the uploading side. Or in general files from dubious sources and albums existing in multiple versions on Tidal than they exist on Qobuz. In these cases, Tidal always had some versions appearing to sound inferior to me, but it is not a general rule.
My take from that would be, Tidal is excellent in 98% of cases, Qobuz is the 100% ideal source if you want the best quality. They never messed with degrading codecs like MQA, and they usually offer one and the same fiel as streaming and as FLAC download, which ensures a certain care is taken from record label side not to upload garbage.
Thank you so much
Hello. The difference is infinitesimal and subject to psychoacoustics. Also, other variables creep in, like your hi-fi system, maybe even the kind of music. Overall, both are reliable, sonically advanced streaming providers. The conversation goes back quite a few years now, as goes the issue whether sound quality can be determined solely on the basis of technical criteria / specifications or not.
Sound differences aside, a subtle difference I have noticed is that with Roon it is more probable to get the cd leaflet / pdf with Qobuz files rather than Tidal. Personally, for classical music and jazz I usually opt for Qobuz.
Comparing both side-by-side, they are identical when using the same version of an album.
TIDAL is my preferred service for now as it offers better value on a monthly subscription and doesn’t have the current issues associated with Qobuz.
Apple Music is the answer 
Seriously would love to see Apple’s new boss open up yaw closed gates to make it an available service.
Had Qobuz and went to Tidal not because of SQ, but for catalogue completeness across many deluxe sets that have come out.
Qobuz and Tidal sound different even when controlling for 1:1 masters across their iOS app, desktop app, Roon endpoints, and Roon arc devices…normalization off, exclusive mode, sample rate matching etc. controlled for…just my observations on my devices.
Theoretically, there shouldn’t be any difference in sound quality. In fact, if the exact same files are played back, there cannot be any difference in sound quality (there can be differences in settings, of course).
Tidal at one time opted for MQA, whereas Qobuz had true lossless high-ress files, so you may have had a (theoretical/practical) different sound quality then, but that is more or less history (not sure the percentage of MQA files still out there in the catalog).
I had both services but opted for Qobuz because it’s got great deals and sales on digital download albums.
The best advice for questions like this is actually very simple, get a Qobuz trial account and compare it with what you’re using now.
Do you hear a difference? If so, spend some time with both and decide which one you enjoy more. That’s the one you should use.
If you don’t hear a difference, then you’ve got your answer as well. In that case, stop worrying about it and stop reading endless discussions about streaming sound quality. Otherwise, you risk developing a serious case of audiophilia nervosa, where the search for tiny differences becomes more important than simply enjoying the music.
I’m curious, how were you able to determine the masters were the same?
Does it really matter?, both offer high quality sound. Choose based on UI, location, and availability of music. Sound quality differences are not sufficiently material to build a case for preference.