I quite agree. However even with Qobuz integration your NDS would sound better with Bubble.
Hi Peter. You’ll see above that Naim are not looking at integrating Qobuz in the legacy streamers, only the fancy pants new ones.
I was using Bubble and it does sound really good and better than integrated Tidal. The only issue I had is that I’ve I’d been playing via Bubble and then played something on my nas, as soon as the nas music stopped Bubble restarted. It was a right pain and involved going into Kazoo and clearing the playlist completely. Maybe I was doing something wrong, or simply being thick.
I would have thought the availability of Qobuz in the US was a significant factor, along with its recent addition to Roon raising its profile somewhat. Other manufacturers such as Yamaha, Innuos and Sonos support it natively too, so there might be a perception that Naim are lagging behind. Using Chromecast is all very well, but it’s integration is then largely out of Naim’s control, and the consensus seems to be that it’s not the best for sound quality. Plus Qobuz seem to have implemented their Chromecast service badly - lack of gapless play being not the only complaint.
As for Tidal’s use of MQA, it seems to be increasing steadily. It concerns me a little that they might stop bothering with regular 16/44 altogether, as the MQA files will still play on non-MQA devices, but possibly at reduced sound quality compared to a regular 16/44 file, if I have understood how it works correctly.
I’ve noticed this too, since I started using Kazoo. It never happened when I used the Lumin app.
I use the Bubble app to control the Bubble server and I haven’t had any issues as you describe.
I rarely use the Naim app now, only to see what new updates look like and for iRadio.
MQA encoded data will play on pcm equipment, but at a notable loss of resolution and quality.
Alas to me MQA with first oversample decode (and second level just seems to make it worse) just does not pass the critical listening test for me… it just sounds artificial over time and starts to really irritate… there is something wrong with structure of the sound… in short it just doesn’t sound right.,
I have now actively configured by Roon to avoid MQA on Tidal within my library… and I can usually instantly hear the loss in naturalness of an MQA track compared to PCM if it is get spooled up.
If Tidal ever makes PCM files difficult, I will drop it straightaway and take Qobuz… at least Roon makes that easy to do.
2 Likes
And so the DRM grip starts to tighten…
1 Like
I have Tidal set to standard 16/44 rather than the so-called Masters setting, as I’ve yet to hear anything to persuade me that it sounds any better.
You’d have to play a Masters track against the same track in 16/44.
Hi
In order to avoid that, you just have to clean the playlist (in Bubble) as soon as you stop the music
Timely I just cancelled my Qobuz Studio again, hardly used it in preference of Tidal, Home, Car and Mobile.
24 bit material not to your taste?
i guess it’s the catalog. I prefer tidal too, for the biggest choice for my music. However i use it one month per year only.
The choice on Tidal is better, I agree but for me there is a decent amount on Qobuz; and it is getting better.
I guess it depends on your musical preferences, I have been running Tidal and Qobuz for the last few months to see which I prefer, I will definitely go with Qobuz mainly because of of sound quality and choice.
5 Likes
I am not sure if this is a big deal, you can in fact stream both Tidal and Qobuz using Roon?
1 Like
I had both with Roon but ended up canceling TIDAL, mostly because it switched to MQA.
1 Like
Indeed I ran both Tidal and Qobuz for a month recently on my Roon… the musical choice these days is pretty similar … Tidal seemingly have slightly more obscure US releases, whilst Qobuz is slightly better for rarer European/U.K. releases.
Classical is better on Qobuz, but has hugely improved on Tidal over the last year.
Roon allows you to easily see and compare the libraries of both platforms and you can see that are largely pretty similar nowadays.
On 44.1/16 on the same distribution master Tidal and Qobuz sound identical, hardly surprising. For me not using an MQA DAC, and upto now not that fond of the format, I found the SQ for Hidef on Qobuz superior. Tidal only offers PCM for 44.1/16… everything else is AAC or MQA. Qobuz offers Hidef PCM streams upto 192/24 if available … with 24 bit PCM streams at various sample rates being common for much new material.
I have now cancelled my Tidal subscription, and restarted my Qobuz.
3 Likes
This is pretty much my exact experience. I started with TIDAL alone, added Roon, added Qobuz, using both simultaneously, and cancelled TIDAL later after using Qobuz for a month or two. Never looked back.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.