Qobuz or Tidal?


Qobuz or Tidal? And why?

Aurender, good DAC, no MQA. US.
jaybe
edcyn-
I agree the gear can make the difference.  I just made 3 changes today and that changed my preference of Tidal or Qobuz.  First I added a Chord English Electric 8switch between my Etherregen and the wall.  The 8Switch was a huge change all positive.  Added a lot of weight, focus and richness.  With Qobuz the euphonics were gone just a much more textured sound, Tidal in comparison sounded a bit thin.
Using Roon for comparison the music on my library did not have the same new richness and weight as Tidal or Qobuz.  I moved the 8Switch between my SOtM sNH-10G and Innuos Server and I have the same effect now with my library.  My Roon core is on an Antipodes Core on the SOtM sNH-10G.  I have files on both the Innuos and Antipodes but the Innuos is just a bit better.
The 3rd change was replacing the ethernet connection between the Etherregen and sNH-10G with Optical fiber.  Definitely an uptic in clarity and smoothness.
With the current set up I prefer Qobuz.  The 8switch changed my preference.  If I did not hear the difference I would be happy with Tidal but knowing that Qobuz sounds better it would be my choice if I had to make one.
Hi, I didn't want to start a new thread as I found this. I had 3 months of cheap Tidal, but since it expires tomorrow I wanted to check out Qobuz. I transferred my "test track" playlist from Tidal to Qobuz and started listening. I hear an immediate improvement in detail, bass clarity, separation. How can this be? I thought these services are "bit perfect".
I use a Lumin D1 DAC which can do MQA as well, and I have upsampling to DSD turned on. For MQA upsampling doesn't work though, however, my test tracks are mostly non-mqa anyway. I previously noticed an improvement with Tidal from no upsampling. But now I'm amazed at how good qobuz sounds on the same songs. I'm really surprised. Are these services using the same "original" sources? Why is there a change in quality? Does it have to do with integration between the Lumin and the particular service? Or am I hearing things?:)
@arthur1260 you are either hearing things or something is not set up equally between the two streaming services.  I speak from experience as I made the same mistake.  I've since corrected my mistake (reset Roon completely) and started fresh and made absolute certain I was comparing the same masters.  Comparing both streaming services this weekend, I find they are extremely close in SQ.  I run fiber optical to my house and an opticalRendu streamer.  So noise is pretty non-existent for streaming.  I agree with some comments here that Qobuz is a tad (and I mean a TAD) warmer.  But Tidal does not sound thin in any way.  That probably has to do with one's gear/setup.  In my setup, Tidal has plenty of bass and is slightly more neutral.  It also has a bit more treble extension.  Most noticeable on ride cymbal 'pings' within the soundstage.  Qobuz has slightly more bass presence but this translates into it being a bit too much when I really turn things up.  The treble is also very slightly subdued.  Those same ride cymbal pings lose much of their attack and sound further away/muffled.  Soundstage/imaging is a tough one to call and seems to depend on the track compared.  Overall, they are very close but you will probably prefer one over the other based on system chemistry.  Tidal wins out in my system but I am going to sub to Qobuz because it's close enough to me to save $7.50/month.  It should be noted that neither service can compete with home network (NAS) files but Tidal's sound signature is closer to them than Qobuz..
And if you are a BestBuy member you get a steep discount on Tidal's yearly subscription from the BB site. 
I have both... Qobuz sounds a bit better, but Tidal has a bit better selection.