adam2434

It would be great if Tidal Connect came to mainstream AVRs/AVPs from Denon and Marantz, etc., and also streaming boxes and Blu-ray players. Tidal using Heos is workable, but using the native Tidal app would be a lot better. Sure, connecting a Chromecast Audio to my Marantz AVP is another solution (I have several CCAs lying around), but it would be nice if Tidal Connect worked with more mainstream equipment directly. I contacted Tidal on this, but my guess is that a lot of this would be in the hands of the downstream equipment maker to implement, so I'm not holding my breath on Denon/Marantz doing this.

I cancelled AM HD in December after the 3 month trial. Wondering if anyone knows if there have been any developments/improvements in device compatibility in terms of receiving the native FLAC bitrates. When I cancelled, AM HD within Heos would play the native bitrates, but “My Music” was not available. With the native AM HD app, Alexa Cast to Heos would only do the lossy stream. IIRC, the cue did not work well either. Also, with a CCA, IIRC, I don’t believe it was possible to determine the stream quality. Any news on the device compatibility front? I have been using Qobuz with BubbleUPnP, but the gaps in the US library make Qobuz less than ideal too.

I'll send Curb another email from my other email address, so they'll think at least 2 people are pushing, LOL. 😀

Qobuz Team: Any update or timeline for getting the Curb label and Bob Segar in the US? This was mentioned many pages back. I emailed Curb Records about this, and not surprisingly, received no reply. I'm a fan of Lyle Lovett (on Curb), so was surprised to find that his albums are not on Qobuz in the US.

OK, I installed the BubbleUPnP server on my PC and made the Marantz processor and Sony blu-ray player OpenHome renderers. Now, in the BubbleUPnP app they show up as separate renderers with OpenHome in parenthesis. When I select them in the BubbleUPnP app and start a Qobuz album, the album continues to play after I exit the app. However, the album will stop playing before it is over with the Sony blu-ray player. Also, with Marantz processor, when I was testing last night, the BubbleUPnP app screen switched to a different album and the Marantz processor was no longer highlighted as the renderer. The original album continued to play, but it seems like the BubbleUPnP app lost connection to the renderer and displayed the wrong album. I had to restart the BubbleUPnP app for the original album to display and for the Marantz processor to be highlighted as the renderer, as it was originally. So, it's a bit wonky for me right now. I wonder why Qobuz does not allow you to select a DLNA/UPnP renderer directly from the native mobile app, avoiding the need to use the BubbleUPnP app and server. I see that the native mobile app has a "Connect" feature, but no devices show up. It would be very convenient if DLNA/UPnP renderers on the network could be selected directly, similar to the convenience of Spotify's Connect feature. The "Cast" feature does show my CCAs though.

Thanks for the info. I've been exchanging some emails with Bubble too. Based on when he said, some renderers have to use your phone as a proxy if you don't have the Bubble server and OpenHome configured. I believe I confirmed that this is the case with my Sony blu-ray players because Qobuz tracks would stop playing shortly after I close the BubbleUPnP app on my phone. With Heos, the track would play to the end after I close the BubbleUPnP app. I think installing the Bubble server on my PC and configuring OpenHome for the renderers will make my phone a controller only, meaning that the BubbleUPnP app on my phone will not need to be a proxy server for my blu-ray players, and that I will not need to rely on my phone to pass the stream to the blu-ray players. Most of my renderers are hard-wired to my network, so I want to avoid streaming over wi-fi as much as possible. I don't know much about how Qobuz works with BubbleUPnP, so the above may be off-base. 🙂

Do you mean what is described in this article? https://www.hifizine.com/2019/07/stream-qobuz-to-anything/ Did the BubbleUPnP app get updated since that article, such the you no longer need to run the server? Could you please explain the advantages of this with Qobuz? I am currently using Qobuz and the BubbleUPnP app (on my phone) without the server running on my PC, and it seems to be working fine with the renderers I've tested so far (a Sony BDP and Heos on a Marantz processor).

Yep, been testing the BubbleUPnP app for Android with Qobuz, and it is working well streaming to a Sony BDP. Kind of cool that you can use your own FLAC library (minimserver running on my PC) and Qobuz within a single app. I usually use the HiFi Cast app for my PC FLAC libraryI'll also test with Heos on my Marantz processor as the renderer. I expect this will work well too. Curious about the nuts and bolts of how Qobuz works with BubbleUPnP. How does the Qobuz stream become a UPnP stream?

Learned that the Yamaha WXC-50 does not have Qobuz support. I have been reading about using the mconnect Player app or the BubbleUPnP app as a work-arounds. Anyone have experience with these apps and Qobuz? Do they work well?

Is anyone using a Yamaha WXC-50 streamer with Qobuz 16/44.1 and Hi-Res FLAC? Crutchfield lists Qobuz for this device, but I also read that Yamaha dropped Qobuz on this device.

Trialing Qobuz Studio Premier. This is how it's supposed to work, based on my experience so far! Unlike Amazon Music HD, 24/96 or 16/44.1 FLAC seems to be working fine with the native app and a CCA. I like that both 16/44.1 and hi-res album versions can be selected, when applicable. I had a couple skips with 24/96 FLAC with a CCA in one location in my house, but a different CCA in a different location has not had skips. Need to do more testing on CCA reliability with Qobuz 24/96 FLAC. It's a shame that Heos does not have Qobuz Studio Premier compatibility. What other streaming hardware platforms are compatible with Qobuz at resolutions beyond 16/44.1?

Thanks for the replies above.

The same team that has not been able to implement Amazon's My Music within Heos? 😀😫 Any ideas on my other questions above?

Thanks for this article and thread! This has really brought Qobuz to my attention! Given that it's been 2 months since the Amazon Music HD launch, and the hardware device compatibility issues have not been improved/addressed, trying Qobuz is very tempting. For the streaming device platforms below, I understand the following. Please comment if I am wrong or if there is other relevant info. Heos - no native compatibility within Heos or with Qobuz Connect using the native Qobuz app. I wonder why? Chromecast Audio - the native Qobuz app can be used to cast up to 24/96 FLAC to a CCA. For 24/192 FLAC from Qobuz, does the CCA of Qobuz server downsample to 24/96 FLAC? Sonos - not sure on the details. I believe you can use a Qobuz app within the Sonos app, but not sure if you can use the native Qobuz app with the Connect feature. Does anyone know if the native Qobuz app works with Sonos? Of course, the max resolution on Sonos is 16/44.1.

For Sonos, it would be interesting if someone could clock the Sonos device on their router while playing "HD" and "Ultra HD" tracks to determine if both are in the right bitrate range for 16/44.1 FLAC. I figured that Amazon Music would also have a "HD" 16/44.1 version of every track they have in "Ultra HD", rather than doing real-time downsampling to each Sonos device, for example...unless Sonos can downsample. Heos (at least built-in Heos) supports "HD" and "Ultra HD" at their native bit depths and sampling rates. But, as I've mentioned before, the Amazon Music app within Heos in clunky and lacks My Music. Not sure if the Heos Link HS2 will do 24/192 from the digital outs, but I would guess it can. If Heos adds My Music, it will become a great platform for Amazon Music HD. The $350 Heos Link HS2 is not "too bad" of an add-on cost, IMO. I'm surprised Amazon does not make a streaming box that can decode and digitally output the full native native bit depths and sampling rates. Seems like they should have had this available at the time of the launch. However, if such a box existed, it's not clear how it would integrate with the Amazon Music app, since Alexa Cast only directs the "SD" lossy stream, IME.