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Qobuz vs Tidal

First off in the last 3 weeks, I have lost 90% of my vision so if there are mistakes please understand.  I am building my last house and will be moving in in late August.  I have ordered a fantastic two channel system, and I have a separate theater room.   The 2 channel system consists of Canary Audio Grand Reference Two Mono Amps, Canary C1800 Pre-amp, Lumin X1 Dac/Streamer, and an Inakustic 3500P power conditioner and Viking Accoustic Grande Voix horn speakers.  My theater room will include a 5.2.2 set up of Tekton Double impact in wall speakers.   My music source is a Lumin X-1 with a 4tb Synology NAS filled with over 10,000 titles.  In my last system I used Tidal to complement my digital library.  I am looking for either Qobuz or Tidal  for my new system.  I am looking for people who have both or have used both.  Which do you prefer and why?   If you have only used one please don't reply.  I need your help as I can no longer research the way I would like.  All your replies will be voice activated so that is how I am getting your information.  Ease of use will be critical due to my sight restrictions.  Thanks for your help.
willgolf
willgolf OP
936 posts
 
Thanks for the responses so far.  As for my medical condition, I had a stroke in the optical nerve in the right eye.  This same thing happened to me 18 years ago in the left eye.  It is not correctible.  Trust me I have asked every eye doc appointment I have had for the last 18 years.   

I am hearing a lot of sentiment for Qobuz. The great thing about the Lumin app is that it stores the last music played on the left side of the page so it is easy to navigate.  I am not a fan of hip hop from Tidal but I could usually click on any artist I was looking for and find it.    My musical tastes are Indie Rock, Jazz, Country, Classical.  I love strings and a nice sax.  I just listened to Annette Askvik - Liberty....what a great sax solo.  
hifi_mikeh
1 posts
 
I prefer Qobuz since I do not have the MQA capabilities in my DAC. I would also highly recommend Roon if you don’t already have it. It will combine all of your libraries together to organize it seamlessly. Qobuz, Tidal and your library of files will all be within one easy to search library. You would have to make your NAS into a Roon Core but it shouldn’t be too difficult to do so.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Will, is your vision going to improve? Was it just cataract surgery? Not macular degeneration I hope.

Wonderful system. I might make one suggestion. Trinnov makes an incredible Theater processor which will operate in 2.2 for Stereo use. Then your just need a plain streamer. The sub crossovers are in the Trinnov with the best available room control. You can not do better.

I do not stream. I download files from HD tracks and elsewhere so I have no opinion on Roon vs Qobuz. 

Good luck with your vision.

Mike
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@willgolf Your Lumin X1 provides full MQA functionality, which means you will get higher resolution output via Tidal (with many more albums) over Qobuz.

Tidal offers (in many cases) higher bit rate recordings than the equivalent recording from Qobuz.

"LUMIN network music players can automatically perform Core Decoding and Hardware Rendering of MQA-encoded streams to get the maximum available Hi-Res music data (up to 24-bit 384kHz)."

To make a point, regarding catalog differences...just now, Roon - in their Recommendations Section - listed an album I was previously unaware of.

Blue Incantation with Special Guest Jerry Garcia. This was one of Jerry’s last performances.

It is a Tidal only offering.

Go with both services.
hodu
316 posts
 
One potentially crucial point, assuming you'll be relying on assistive technology: The Roon app for the iPhone is completely inaccessible.

I've tried Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon HD, and got rid of Tidal and Amazon, sticking with Qobuz.

-- Howard

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