Making up your mind before a demo is the way to the upgraditus side!
Demo first, and if the dealer knows you and is willing to let you try the items in your home it is even better. Then you know exactly what you need to buy and won’t have regrets later.
This forum is absolutely peppered with threads of people who buy something and a few months later want to upgrade again due to regret.
That was challenged on the thread where the claim was made. (At least that’s where I saw it.) The claim related to volume normalization.
Yesterday I listened to a Qobuz playlist I made of classical guitar albums. I shuffled the track list and found that I was having to adjust the volume from track to track. Ultimately I had to turn shuffle off and play entire albums.
The second part of this comes from Naim. But even my $35 ChromeCast Audio pucks can do 96/24. Are you claiming that Naim doesn’t match that? What is your source?
I have never used spotify so I can not comment on that product. I started with Tidal years ago and when Qobus became available in the US a few years ago I did a side by side demonostration between the two streaming services.
For me with my system, my room and my ears I found Qobuz to sound much better. It was also less costly then Tidal. I have been using the yearly subscription to Qobuz which works out to $10.83 per month.
Best to do a side by side trial on your system in your room on you system if you want to be certain what will work for you.
If you’re looking to spend that sort of money, I’ d consider an Eversolo DMP-A6 which will replace your Node and has an excellent tranparent dac. Mine works extremely well as a source for a Supernait 3.
You could even use the A6 dac and stream using the node if you prefer.
Currently using Roon with Qobuz, very happy with this, except that Roon is very expensive relative to what it is worth, will quit Roon+Qobuz in a heartbeat if Spotify goes lossless.
Qobuz changing the files was proven false. All they did is add the meta data to apply volume leveling. It is not turned on by default. So if you use roon, can apply and don’t have to adjust when listen to playlists. This is a good thing.
I find Qobuz is better overall if using roon since have access to more hires albums. However, if using native app, Tidal is better and offers Tidal Connect. Naim still needs to roll out update to take advantage of hires files. And lastly, Spotify mentioned eventually offering hires albums for higher price, but no timeline given. Lossless was first mention like 3 years ago and nothing to show for it.
Thanks, DiggyGun. For the jazz music I gravitate towards, I’ve never really had a problem with any of the big Streaming companies’ catalogues. (Maybe I don’t know what I am missing out on!) I tend to listen to new Jazz music or Jazz classics from the 60s onwards.
Going down the Qubuz route would have broken my relationship with my daughter. I’m not sure she would be impressed with the app! That said. I did a trial Qubuz, and it sounded good - not sure I could notice the difference in my setup when comparing it to TIDAL.
One thing I missed about moving away from Spotify was its inclusion of Podcasts within the app. I am now using the Apple app to manage that - no big drama but just another place to go…
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My Qobuz subscription is due to renew soon, so I thought I would try Tidal. Since Tidal has changed from MQA to mainly Flac I wanted to see if there was a difference through Roon.
Qobuz is more forward in presentation and slightly better sound stage. Tidal sounded flatter or dull in comparison. Interesting volume levelling db was the same for ripped albums and same version on Qobuz but Tidal was different. For example Siouxsie and the Banshees track Happy House from Kaleidoscope remastered / expanded album.
With Roon I have volume levelling set to auto and kept this for both.
And there was hardly any difference between Qobuz and Ripped album, but Tidal was not as close.
I’ve just signed up for the Qobuz free trial for 1 month. I spent last night comparing to Spotify. It is pretty obvious that Qobuz is better and I intend to listen to a lot more music today. Does anyone have and suggestions/ recommendations to albums that may highlight the differences better? I mainly listen to Prog and rock.initial thoughts are that Qobuz has a more 3 dimensional soundstage and an impression that someone has taken a blanket off the speakers. I was expecting a slight improvement but I am pleasantly surprised at how much difference it makes. Any thoughts on albums to audition will be greatly appreciated.
It’s possible to get a 2-month free trial from Qobuz - my Naim dealer sent me a link for that (maybe depends on hardware purchase?). Anyway, worked for me, I’ll be subscribing afterwards.
After playing around with Qobuz for a couple of days now I cannot connect my Bluesound node to it via wireless internet. I have tried airplay which is better than the Bluetooth connection but apparently airplay only allows cd quality and doesn’t allow the benefits of the hi res files. Unless I can connect through wireless I wont be subscribing as my Spotify through wireless is to my ears equally as good. I do have chrome cast but still struggling to connect wirelessly. It’s been a bit frustrating really and made me realise how user friendly Spotify really is.