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Yet another Qobuz vs. Tidal debate

I'm not convinced that I'm getting "CD Quality" from either service even though I've paid a premium for it.  In terms of the catalog, Tidal has Qobuz beat hands down.  Not even close IMO.  I like the user interface a little more with Tidal.  Similar artists populate right under the album listings.  However, Tidal is expensive when compared to Qobuz, if you're a long term subscriber. With Qobuz I received a considerable discount with a 1 year subscription.  I was paying $24 month (with taxes inc) for Tidal and that was a year ago. It's probably gone up from that. $300 a year buys a lot of CD's (especially when I usually buy mine used).  Has anyone else been as disillusioned as I am?     
russellrcncom
ahofer
225 posts
 
Interesting. I have found holes in both catalogues, not one more than the other, although Qobuz is a little better on classical while Tidal is better on jazz.  Both have also "disappeared" titles that I favorited.  Qobuz didn't have any Joey Alexander albums until then..it did.  

I like the hi-rez options on Qobuz, far more numerous than MQA on tidal, and MQA is a licensing grab.

I have noticed Qobuz has been a little worse on dropouts, but it's hard to tell if that's my internet connection or them.  I ran into one badly corrupted file on Qobuz, which hasn't happened on Tidal.
tuberist's avatar
tuberist
951 posts
 
I tried Qobuz for a monthly free trial and then stayed with Tidal. I may revisit Qobuz in the future as I liked the sound quality and the selection was ok for me. Two deal breakers were the  inability to organize my album list by artist and frequent drop outs or failure to connect on "downloaded" (on iPhone) albums usb connected in my car, when Tidal never had either of those issues.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,436 posts
 
Tidal with Roon sounds a tad better than CDs in my rig.  It all comes down to your gear on this one. Need a good streamer like Innuos.   
glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,514 posts
 
I can defiantly tell the difference with Tidal on the HIFi and master files. Master files are quite good if i do say so. Never tried Qobuz though. But I have noticed quite a few albums I used to listen to on Tidal are now no longer available. makes me wonder is Tidal going down ? I cant be bothered with CD's anymore to be honest.
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