I’m keeping both, just in case. As Zackwater says, what’s the big deal given what we spend on hi-fi? And I’m keeping Apple Music. I have a 6-year-old who loves the kids’ playlists on Apple Music on her Sonos Move. I’ll bet the little audiophile will want my Mu-So before long!
I auditioned both before going for the TT2.
What swayed you to tt2? Would you say going from a Qutest to tt2 would be a better path or adding an m scaller to qutest. Just curious what your thoughts are?
I wouldn’t want to influence others as part of my journey has involved recognising that the upfront sound of early classic Naim needed to be replaced by something more relaxed and that may not be where you are.
I tried NDX2 and Qutest and found the latter incredibly detailed but far too much in your face. A view shared by wife and son. Firmer described it as having someone clawing at your face. Not helped by every audition of the NDX2 leaving me unengaged and having to acknowledge that Naim sources don’t do it for me anymore. Moved to Innuos Zenith with Qutest and felt largely the same. Then tried the TT2 and was initially unimpressed because it felt recessed and vague in comparison. Didn’t really work with an NDX2. Left the whole family talking to each other rather than listening. Very much worked with the Innuos and the more we listened the more we liked. All the detail but much more relaxed.
I can’t really comment on the M-Scalar. It may or may not be in my future. Alleged to work well with both though. I can’t see that claims it brings the Qutest to TT2 level are anything other than hype as, for me, they were very different sounds. The target of my auditions was the DAC and I very much hoped to walk out with a Qutest but ended up with the TT2. YMMV.
I am trialling Qubuz on a freebie until Jan 21st. Sounds great via the NDX2 and Supernait 3; as well as on my Fiio.
I find it’s classical catalogue is surprisingly good, with lots of obscure stuff there.
Can’t compare it to Tidal as the latter not currently available in the Channel Islands.
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I’m in the states and haven’t experienced any issues with meta data and the app works perfectly. The high res files are easier to spot for me as well, much better than Tidal. And the SQ is top notch. I don’t know why the SQ is so much better than Tidal was for me. It makes me wonder if I had a setting not right.
I don’t see the problem.
The problem being that if I search for music by genre I get 399 albums from Qobuz with “No tag”.
What about the price?
I was at Tidal, paid 20€. Then switched to Qobuz for 15€. I also lack a lot of songs, I see that Tidal now charges for hi-fi plus 26€. I find it very expensive compared to Qobuz
Oh ok, I don’t know why anyone would do that. I’ve never used genre for anything as the labels are not usually intuitive.
I guess they wouldn’t do it unless there was a demand. It’s not s thing I do often but I’ve read numerous people on here saying they do. In our household it has prudent useful for example when Mrs. H. wants to put together a Christmas play list. Rather than try and remember what we have she can search by tag.
I have found it handy to search by year.
You only need Hifi plus if you want to use MQA.The basic Hifi plan is CD quality,which I have for $9.99 Canadian a month.
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It’s funny, I was going to start a thread to discuss my experiences with Qobus and Tidal on my Innuos Mk3 mini - until I saw this thread…
I have both Qobuz and Tidal connected to my Innuos server which feeds some Chord Electronics equipment (Inc Mscaler) and several different headphones. I originally switched from Tidal to Qobuz last year after finding it increasingly difficult to filter out the unwanted MQA tracks from their service (in Innuos anyway).
Last week I reconnected a Tidal account after their Jan 2022 trial offer that created a non-mqa / lossless tier and compared many tracks in Qobus / Tidal / Ripped CDs all shown as FLAC 44.1 on Innuos.
I was surprised that there were any differences as I assumed they were all 100% digitally the same? I found the Tidal streamed tracks to be more enjoyable/musical/exciting while also being more relaxing. I think if I still feel like this when the trial is over I’ll keep Tidal and get rid of Qobuz…
Ade
Do you have any examples?
Going way back I found Tidal to sound better than Qobuz. However in more recent times with 16/44 material there was no longer any difference. This was true through both Bubble UPnP and Roon.
Sure.
I listened to the track Brutal by Olivia Rodriguez initially in Qobuz 44.1 FLAC - it sounds very good. It has an instrumental lead-in followed by strong drum / synth / guitar / vocal combo. All the detail / texture is there. I could live with it.
I then listened to the same track on Tidal 44.1 FLAC. The introductory instrumental was more distant and isolated. When the strong main combo starts there is greater definition and texture to it and it sounds more aggressive because of that. However, the sound of the track is slightly more coherent than on Qobuz.
After listening to a number of different tracks in a similar manner I realised that I was engaging more emotionally with the Tidal tracks while feeling more relaxed (sorry I know that this may sound confusing but it’s the only way I can describe it). It’s not a night and day difference (I’m sure many people won’t care) but it is consistent. I haven’t found a track that I prefer on Qobuz…
Ade
I’ve had Q en T side by side for months to decide between the two. I’ve never found a consistent better SQ from either. For me it always ended in a tie. Based on the better catalogue from Tidal for my taste, better apps on iOS and OSX and Tidal Connect, I kept Tidal.
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There are two different Qobuz versions and four Tidal versions, not including MQA or 24 bit options. 
It’s sort of difficult to do a proper back to back comparison.
Assuming that this is Olivia Rodrigo, I have 4 different Tidal versions and 2 Qobuz versions in 16/44.1 (plus too many 24 and MQA to count). Before I go through all of them, how do we know that the master is the same, and which is which? The large differences you describe seem more likely to be different masters than the same file coming from 2 different content delivery networks (that may well be the same Amazon storage framework to begin with) and otherwise being the same
Edit: Guinnless was faster
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I’ve checked the different versions and got matching release numbers from Tidal and Qobuz.
And guess what? The Tidal version is noticeably different and better. It drives along and boogies nicely, the Qobuz version is a touch flatter with a more rounded bass.
I’ve done a similar comparison on a couple of other albums that I’ve played recently and they are close but the Tidal version is a touch better in all cases so far.
You started something now! 