Qobuz vs Tidal WhatHifi

The Naim Qb 1 can’t play Qobuz directly, as it wasn’t designed to back then … you need a media proxy such as BubbleUPnP server or even Roon (via Airplay) to convert the cloud service into a local streaming service.
Obviously the NDX2 can play Qobuz directly

Thanks Simon

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I also have a QB1 and I use multiroom on my Nova to play Qobuz to it. They are both on the same network and you can mute the Nova (or NDX2 in your case) on the multiroom control. Ideal for Apple avoiders!

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Naim doesn’t support MQA so you won’t get the full “MQA experience “ with it.

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I use Qobuz as I found the SQ superior to other options on my NDX2.
I’ve always found What Hi Fi and What Car to be on a par with one another and ignore both.

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I’m new to Qobuz and it does seem like the sonics are better for me with the dozen or so familiar tracks I’ve been experimenting with. I had no expectation of this so not sure if it’s bias or not. Hopefully I can get back into Tidal so I can compare properly. And I’ve actually found some tracks in Qobuz I couldn’t find in Tidal and there have only been one or two I couldn’t find in Tidal so far. Not the gaps in content I was expecting that’s for sure. But I’ve only just started so we’ll see.

Fwiw, I’m on the Studio Premiere plan, I wasn’t sure if I needed a higher tier to stream hi res or not. I do see hi res albums so hopefully I’m good.

Good info and most comments reflect what I experienced as well. I have never experienced that I couldn’t find a song on Qobuz and almost all songs I listen to are both available on Tidal and Qobuz. Only that Qobuz often has them in high res and Tidal occasionally has Masters.

Sounds like you are good. Yes when I ran both Qobuz and Tidal side by side just over a year ago I found the release libraries were mostly the same, with seemingly Qobuz slightly better for classical and European content, and Tidal had a slightly fuller US urban, Jazz and Rap library… but not much in it either way… certainly very different to say a few years ago where Tidal was hopeless for classical, and Qobuz had many gaps.

One thing I did find, is often where Tidal has a MQA processed file, Qobuz has the equivalent hidef PCM lossless file.

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One annoying feature on Qobuz is it’s search function. Type in an artist it might not pull up all their albums, type in the artist and a “missing” album, and it sometimes is there?

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I’m still not tempted by Qobuz, i ran with it years ago when i was using a laptop into a USB DAC, it’s search function, dropouts and lack of underground music drove me nuts. Ever since i’ve had a new Naim streamer i much prefer Tidal, in it’s user interface and rock solid reliability. Hi-Res is not enough to swing it for me either - i find 16 bit CD quality good enough.

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No issues with dropouts here and not yet found an album I had in Tidal be missing in Qobuz. A lot of stuff happens in a year so not sure how valid your feedback is :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Give it a go again. It’s free to try out.

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I may give it another go someday. I have to say that i do agree with with the reviews of WhatHiFi? though…

Sounds irritating… is that with the Naim app or with Qobuz app?
I use Roon and have not noticed any search issues… and I can put in compound searches and it seems to work well… I would have thought they are the same APIs behind the scenes?

The Naim app

Be interesting to see if the same thing happens with the Qobuz app to see whether indeed it’s a Qobuz thing or a Naim thing.

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AFAIK, Roon is not using the APIs at all, they receive a full database dump

I’ve been thinking of giving Qobuz a go for a while, I use Tidal at the moment.

If I did would I have to re-establish my library in Roon or is there a “search and replace” type function to swap between the two?

In my opinion, not much difference in SQ on my systems between Qobus and Tidal content when resolution and original masters are the same. I have one system that supports MQA, but although my main system does not support MQA I use Roon which gives me access to the first MQA unfold on each of my systems.

I would potentially move from Tidal to Qobuz for a number of reasons, but don’t simply because there are still too many gaps in the Qobuz music catalogue for my particular music tastes - I have more than enough Neil Young content on my local NAS for my taste in music nowadays.

I have approximately 550 albums from Tidal integrated into my Roon music library. Unfortunately, 90 or so of albums these are not currently available on Qobuz, and by and large these happen to be albums that I listen to particularly frequently.

The fact that Qobuz tends to have more high resolution content than Tidal is not enough to counter the music gaps.

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You only need a one-month subscription at the Soundiiz web service

ouch!