Thanks Robert, much appreciated. I’ll give it a try then!
Best regards, BF
No problem; you probably know this bit, but pop into the audio section in roon settings and you should see the qb listed as an airplay endpoint.
Thanks Robert, all good, now a subscriber to Qobuz as well as Tidal.
Only one will continue in a month’s time.
QB also spotted in Roon.
Best regards, BF
There are a couple of drawbacks to this, although they may or may not be a problem for you. AirPlay does not, of course, support HiRes formats. Also, you cannot mix Airplay and non-Airplay devices in a Roon multiroom group.
1 Like
Well, we are a few days into our Qobuz vs. Tidal comparison period and we are scratching our heads a bit.
First, cost. Qobuz wins. It’s £15/month in the UK for the Premium service which gives access to cd quality and also to a library of 192/24 and 96/24 albums. Tidal Hifi is £20/month for cd quality (44.1kHz/16bit FLAC) and no HD albums.
It’s sound quality that is confusing. We have tried the classic Paul Simon album Graceland on Tidal (44.1/16 flac) and Qobuz (96/24 flac).
The Qobuz HD version should sound much better, eh? Well, no. Sure it’s detailed and images extraordinarily well but it all sounds a bit synthetic, cool and ever so slightly unengaging. Switch to the lower resolution Tidal version and every song picks up its skirts and merrily boogies along with a wonderful sense of unabashed joy. It just flows and captivates in a lovely way.
Hence the head scratching. Is this a case of Qobuz taking a cd master and then scrambling the original file up to “high” definition, in effect being an artificial master quality file?
If so, how can we spot a genuine HD master from an artificial one?
Thoughts most welcome.
Best regards, BF
1 Like
Not ALL Qobuz 24 bit streams are ‘better’ than the comparable Tidal 16 bit stream, or indeed, locally streamed 16 bit equivalent, but MOST are, IMV.
I suggest you try a few more 24 bit Qobuz vs 16 bit Tidal comparisons.
1 Like
Thanks Nigel. Now comparing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble playing Tin Pan Alley. I honestly can’t hear a difference between Qobuz 96/24 and Tidal 44.1/16 versions. Maybe I need a better resolving dac !!!
1 Like
Depends on whether it’s on your “Main” system or “Backup” 
I’d be astonished if Qobuz were doing anything other than storing masters sent by the record label.
I have to say Qobuz Hi-Res sounds amazing on my system which is comparable to your “backup”, though as I type I’m slumming it on a bare NDX as the M Scaler and DAVE are at Chord for a firmware update, and I’m not happy!
1 Like
Thanks Nick. Yes, on the backup system again.
My pair have just returned from Chord. Dave was being a bit moody but has come back with a new main circuit board, which seems to have reignited his sense of musical joy. The M Scaler has behaved impeccably throughout.
Best regards, BF
I think we need to remember the sound engineers and mastering playing a role in this as well as the resolution, so whatever we eventually feel happy with as general conclusion we are bound to find plenty of exceptions.
1 Like
Indeed, from what I have found the higher definition releases seem less processed and probably closer to or the same as the mix master.
What you hear with the decimated / downsampled 44.1/16 versions is more processing, usually in the loudness/eq compression area.
On older 44.1/16 releases and for some current where it may be the only version I have noticed less processing.
Of course 44.1/16 can sound very good, but by comparison higher definition releases, certainly on Qobuz, nearly always sound more realistic and have greater feel and flow… I can’t think of one release where this is not the case.
To the point I have adjusted my virtual collection to always use the highest definition available including over my local collection.(using Roon)…
Now the interesting bit… I was running Acoustic Energy active speakers from my 552 recently for various reasons… they were rather good and enjoyable, but with them in all honesty I could not appreciate the benefit much in hidef over 44.1/16.
I later put back my ATCs and NAP250 fed by my 552 and normality was restored. The high definition releases give a delightful increase in musical enjoyment.
Sometimes simply the 44.1/24 over 44.1/16 version is all that is required for a greater analogue feel.
My conclusion is from that experience, that to enjoy and appreciate hidef your system, or perhaps more importantly your speaker/room coupling needs to be able to communicate the benefit.
1 Like
AC
Side topic-ish. But when my father was bed ridden i cancelled the TV license. It was quite simply one of the worst experience of my life. Threatening letters, threats of “investigations” I ended up with a big folder of them, like the one enclosed, several times week often. I gave up with the TV license and BBC after these experiences. End of rant 
1 Like
It’s the threatening/accusatory tone of the letters that gets my back up, I had the same experience when we left the house for some building work a few years ago, renting elsewhere.
In my opinion, the BBC is one of the Great British institutions – if not the Great British institutions. Excellent programming, and indispensable for the democratic culture by providing news people can trust. Substance, instead of fake news! If the US had something like the BBC, the country would be in a better place. Sadly, government, for purely political reasons, is depriving the BBC of the monies needed to keep standards high – wonder why…
5 Likes
Absolutely agree , demonising the BBC for withdrawing the over 75 free licence when historically it was always funded by the government. Still we can trust Boris Trump to look after us.
5 Likes
Out of interest did you provide a communication stating that you no longer require a licence.
If so I would formally write that further such correspondence from them would be treated as harassment and that you may take legal action against them, and remind them you are keeping all copies of such solicitations and demands from them.
I would specifically ask them to confirm they understand your instruction and ask for a copy of all personal information they have for you, your father at that address, and instruct they now remove it other than your instruction of not requiring a licence.
That way any further breach from them gets significantly more serious for them.
Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, and PDP is a powerful lever the ‘little person’ has.
The BBC is valued by many, but I think the more it departs from the original aims of Lord Reith the more it can expect to be criticised… I understand it has recognised it may have become a little too ‘metropolitan’ and ‘urban’ and lessened it’s relevance with swathes of the country outside London and the big cities… and thankfully I read it is now addressing that… because without a predominant relevance across the whole population the argument for universal licensing becomes tenuous.
Cant agree at all on this, growing up it was THE source, science, drama and balance. Its now woke BS. With crisp salesmen and shallow chat show types earning millions. The most prosecuted group for not having a license are single women with children which is just unacceptable. I will not go near it. Sorry if you like it, but i don’t
5 Likes
Just realised that I have the 3 month free Qobuz trial period unused from my ND555. Is there a thread on the forum or a link on the Naim website to get me started on that?
I think you mean a three month TIDAL trial?