HighResAudio announced HiRes streaming service in Europe

[#Yoda#]

It seems as if we must wait a little bit for the HighResAudio streaming service: http://www.monoandstereo.com/2017/12/highresaudio-streaming-service-is-coming.html#more

[#Yoda#]

HighResAudio.com will initiate a "soft-launch" of their real HiRes FLAC streaming service at the Norddeutsche HiFi-Tage in three weeks from yesterday and estimated at the HighEnd Show in Munich, the launch of the corresponding iOS and Android apps.

 

The service will start in the EU countries, the UK and the Scandinavia. It is still uncertain, if and when the service will be available in the US as well.

[firedog]

On 11/2/2017 at 6:37 PM, Charente said:

 

I guess the MQA releases they keep on catalogue are ones they have been able to qualify thru' their process ... I hope !

 

 

Yes, that is what they said-they’d only sell MQA if they could “authenticate” the source.

[#Yoda#]

HRA Streaming what is the official name will have an annual subscription and the price is either € 16.66/month or € 199.99 for annual payment, the price for the Qobuz HiRes service Sublime + is € 349.99. Compared to Qobuz, the catalog is relatively small because HRA Streaming is streaming HiRes content exclusive.

Similar to Qobuz, HRA will offer up to 50% discount on HiRes downloads. A trial subscription will be available for 7 days.

 

Rumors say that we will see an integration in several well known audio hard- and software solutions soon.

[Charente]

@#Yoda# ... Thanks for the heads-up .... that has set the cat amongst the pigeons, n'est pas ! I guess Audirvana may be involved as they are now already. Looks like a good price but I'm thinking can one have offline playing as with Qobuz ? 

[#Yoda#]

19 hours ago, Charente said:

Looks like a good price but I'm thinking can one have offline playing as with Qobuz ? 

I don't know if offline playing is possible. Maybe we will find out next weekend when the soft-launch starts.

[R1200CL]

Can anyone explain to me what I get if I go for the 

Optional: 229,99 GBP Streaming + Downloads (12 months)

option ?

 

Meaning what is the download part, as I don’t expect to be able to download 30000 albums for that price ?

 

 

[#Yoda#]

4 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Can anyone explain to me what I get if I go for the 

Optional: 229,99 GBP Streaming + Downloads (12 months)

option ?

 

Meaning what is the download part, as I don’t expect to be able to download 30000 albums for that price ?

 

 

Unfortunately not, HRA offer a discount up to 30% on downloads for this streaming option, comparable to Qobuz Sublime +  

[R1200CL]

Is all album you can stream also available for download ?

[#Yoda#]

32 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Is all album you can stream also available for download ?

Not necessarily, the regional rights to stream music are not always the same as for selling music downloads, not even within the EU. This is the weird digital world. 

[Musicophile]

Just stumbled across this interesting interview with the HRA founder about their streaming service (in German, Google translate should help). 

 

http://www.highresmac.de/hra-streaming-vorleistung-fuer-mehr-vergnuegen/

 

I‘m really impressed by their quality control, they claim they reject 30% of the albums. 

 

As much as I like Qobuz in general, they should take this as a best practice example. 

[#Yoda#]

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

I‘m really impressed by their quality control, they claim they reject 30% of the albums. 

 

As much as I like Qobuz in general, they should take this as a best practice example. 

 

Indeed, I'm indicating on Qobuz's missing quality control, anyway if download or streaming for years now in several forums and to Qobuz itself, but it seems as nothing's changed so far.

 

In case of HiRes downloads you can check the real resolution with e.g. MusicScope by yourself and usually get a refund if it is a obviously a fake, but for streaming you must trust your provider that the content is credible, what should be a matter of course for any HiRes offering, by the way.

 

It shouldn't be the job of consumers to prove the quality of the content, we pay the providers generously for getting the promised quality.

[Musicophile]

11 minutes ago, #Yoda# said:

 

Indeed, I'm indicating on Qobuz's missing quality control, anyway if download or streaming for years now in several forums and to Qobuz itself, but it seems as nothing's changed so far.

 

In case of HiRes downloads you can check the real resolution with e.g. MusicScope by yourself and usually get a refund if it is a obviously a fake, but for streaming you must trust your provider that the content is credible, what should be a matter of course for any HiRes offering, by the way. It shouldn't be the job of consumers to prove the quality of the content, we pay the providers generously for getting the promised quality.

I'm really wondering, who on earth in 2018 will take a 24/44 file, upsample it to 24/96, and sell it to Qobuz? What is the point?

[#Yoda#]

3 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

I'm really wondering, who on earth in 2018 will take a 24/44 file, upsample it to 24/96, and sell it to Qobuz? What is the point?

 

It is not so much a matter of new issues. Primarily it regards older recordings or reissues of some popular Rock/Pop albums from 2012 to 2016 as I already mentioned in other threads.

 

Another question is why some labels deliver occasionally obvious fakes to Qobuz and correct versions to competitors with quality control.

 

You can ask likewise, why albums are available in the U.S. or Canada in HiRes and not in Europe or the other way round, respectively different available resolutions or extremely differing recommended retail prices, depending on the country.

 

Due to regional restrictions and geo-blocking this is not really obvious to most common customers. A lot of questions for the labels to answer.