Official Qobuz Issues Thread

[firedog]

36 minutes ago, Sal1950 said:

Has it been mentioned here before but what will be the pricing tiers here in the US?

According to Sound & Vision who appear to have visited the Qobuz booth at CES, the pricing will be the same in the US vs the UK/EU, but in dollars instead of pounds/euros. In other words:

• Premium (MP3 320 kbps), $9.99/month or $99.99/year.
• Hi-Fi (16-bit/44.1 kHz), $19.99/month or $199.99/year.
• Sublime (Hi-Fi + downloads of Hi-Res 24-bit at MP3 prices), $219.99/year.
• Sublime+ (Hi-Res 24-bit FLAC up to 192 kHz + up to 60% discount on a large part of the download catalog), $349.99/year.

The discounts for buying hi-res downloads in the Sublime tiers is pretty worthwhile. You can make up the extra charge with  a relatively modest number of download purchases. 

[mulberry bush]

19 minutes ago, firedog said:

The discounts for buying hi-res downloads in the Sublime tiers is pretty worthwhile. You can make up the extra charge with  a relatively modest number of download purchases.  

 

But if you can stream in hi-res, why would you need/want to download anything?

[shadowlight]

8 minutes ago, mulberry bush said:

 

But if you can stream in hi-res, why would you need/want to download anything?

There could be change in licensing agreement, where album available today for stream is no longer available tomorrow.  If you listen to the album you can purchase it at discounted pricing with out having to worry about it missing in the future.

[mulberry bush]

4 minutes ago, shadowlight said:

There could be change in licensing agreement

 

Well I've used Qobuz streaming, very happily, for the last four years.    One or two labels were not available for streaming during their ownership transition, other than that I've had no problems.   Never felt the need to download anything.

[shadowlight]

5 minutes ago, mulberry bush said:

 

Well I've used Qobuz streaming, very happily, for the last four years.    One or two labels were not available for streaming during their ownership transition, other than that I've had no problems.   Never felt the need to download anything.

That is great news.

[austinpop]

6 minutes ago, mulberry bush said:

 

Well I've used Qobuz streaming, very happily, for the last four years.    One or two labels were not available for streaming during their ownership transition, other than that I've had no problems.   Never felt the need to download anything.

 

There are all kinds of consumers. Some view streaming as the path to "never buy music again." Others see it as a way to sample and explore, but once you find gems you like, to buy for your own collection.

 

People are different, and they are serving differing mindsets. I really appreciate the choice of buying at a discount.

[firedog]

35 minutes ago, mulberry bush said:

 

Well I've used Qobuz streaming, very happily, for the last four years.    One or two labels were not available for streaming during their ownership transition, other than that I've had no problems.   Never felt the need to download anything.

It is different for different albums and in different countries. Other users may have had more issues than you. 

Personally, I buy the albums I like the most. That way I know I have them for sure. The artist royalties if you buy the album are orders of magnitude greater than if you stream, so it is also a way of making sure artists you like are properly compensated.  The difference in compensation for the artist between purchase and steaming of an album can be  on the level  of hundreds of times more. 

[EuroChamp]

1 hour ago, mulberry bush said:

 

Well I've used Qobuz streaming, very happily, for the last four years.    One or two labels were not available for streaming during their ownership transition, other than that I've had no problems.   Never felt the need to download anything.

 

I have some albums under my Qobuz favorites, which are not available anymore, neither streaming nor purchasing.

You never know before. I should have bought them sooner.

 

Basically I buy albums I like (at a discount) and use the streaming for discovering new music.

This approach is cheaper than in the past - without Qobuz streaming.

I want the "important" music on my local disc, this gives me confidence.

?

 

But each his own.

[mulberry bush]

I guess it is a mindset thing.     I feel that if anything goes seriously wrong I still have my (embarrassingly) large CD collection to fall back on.    Although, it’s far more likely to fall back on me!!!

 

The artist royalty disparity is a separate issue that does need to be sorted out.   I might stream an album I really like, say 20 times a year (not 100 granted).    So in five years it may equal out.    But I agree, as we move to a largely streaming environment the artists must not loose out in the process.

[EuroChamp]

I never streamed an album 20 times. If I stream and really listen to the full album, change is high, I buy it.

[austinpop]

5 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

??

 

Now I can listen to Podger with my porridge!

 

Spoke too soon - the porridge is a bit lumpy. I.e. the Channel Classics albums only stream at 16/44.1. Let's hope this is temporary. Until the US launch is official, I plan to give Qobuz a pass while they sort things out.

 

Here's another glitch: https://open.qobuz.com/album/3760009293281

 

Only the first track - Verklärte Nacht - is a sample MP3, the rest are at full hi-res. I've seen this at the album level, but not at the track level before.

[TAV]

Don't remember where I screen printed this from but it was from a recent event.   

 

[shadowlight]

@TAVI believe it might have been from CEDIA event.  When they do debut in US, will they have the option to prepay for a full year for even more discounted price?  I guess, we will find out.

[TAV]

59 minutes ago, shadowlight said:

@TAVI believe it might have been from CEDIA event.  When they do debut in US, will they have the option to prepay for a full year for even more discounted price?  I guess, we will find out.

 

Yes,  that jogs my memory it was CEDIA.  

[Polyglot]

Will Qobuz feature the MDG and Hyperion catalogues?

[David Craff]

On 9/20/2018 at 4:12 PM, rando said:

 

That is more reassuring than you might appreciate to at least one of us who want Qobuz for Qobuz.  The catalog and sophisticated tastes it reflects, lack of spangles added to please every hard felt sentiment expressed, a proven solid platform that works perfectly well for most of the rest of the 1st world countries. 

 

I especially appreciate that you don't appear willing to be pushed into rushing the release.  Two months from now when "Indoor Sports Season" starts in earnest.  It might actually be a more appreciated development than it would beginning of next month when everyone is riddled with hype from the shot gun blasts of product release reporting.

 

Our product is good but not perfect and I think the American market is more demanding than the European market. So if it were up to me, I would postpone the release in the USA even more. But I only have the product vision and not business, so it won't depend on me alone.

It does not change the fact that the product is working and that everything necessary will be done to improve it further.

[David Craff]

15 hours ago, Polyglot said:

Will Qobuz feature the MDG and Hyperion catalogues?

 

These are labels under negotiation for inclusion in the Qobuz catalogue. However, I do not have a date to communicate.

[TAV]

17 minutes ago, David Craff said:

 

Our product is good but not perfect and I think the American market is more demanding than the European market. So if it were up to me, I would postpone the release in the USA even more. But I only have the product vision and not business, so it won't depend on me alone.

It does not change the fact that the product is working and that everything necessary will be done to improve it further.

 

I've been using Qobuz in a variety of configurations during the last month or so;   Chromecast Audio,  Airplay to Raspberry,  IOS native,   MacOSX, Web App.   I've also used it mobile in the car via Bluetooth and am very happy to report that not only are the apps refined and extremely functional they are also easy to use.   The service seems rock steady  and I've had no problem in daily use.   

 

I'm a Tidal and Deezer subscriber as well and I can say that when Qobuz formally launches in the US and is integrated with Roon I will be dropping my Tidal subscription.   Great job on the rollout and infrastructure Qobuz has developed in prep for launch.    

[David Craff]

40 minutes ago, TAV said:

 

I've been using Qobuz in a variety of configurations during the last month or so;   Chromecast Audio,  Airplay to Raspberry,  IOS native,   MacOSX, Web App.   I've also used it mobile in the car via Bluetooth and am very happy to report that not only are the apps refined and extremely functional they are also easy to use.   The service seems rock steady  and I've had no problem in daily use.   

 

I'm a Tidal and Deezer subscriber as well and I can say that when Qobuz formally launches in the US and is integrated with Roon I will be dropping my Tidal subscription.   Great job on the rollout and infrastructure Qobuz has developed in prep for launch.    

 

Thanks, but we know that we have problem with DLNA, some issues.. Android app need to be realy improve. But all will come.

[mourip]

Any chance of Qobuz for Apple CarPlay?

[TAV]

3 minutes ago, David Craff said:

 

Thanks, but we know that we have problem with DLNA, some issues.. Android app need to be realy improve. But all will come.

 

Curious what are the problems with DLNA?  Right now I'm listening to Qobuz using Audirvana Plus, SOTM-SMS200/MDP/DLNA,  Ayre QB9-DSD and not experiencing any issues.  

[shadowlight]

4 hours ago, TAV said:

 

Curious what are the problems with DLNA?  Right now I'm listening to Qobuz using Audirvana Plus, SOTM-SMS200/MDP/DLNA,  Ayre QB9-DSD and not experiencing any issues.  

 

The DLNA issue only exists with the Qobuz desktop application as far as I know and what I have experienced.  If I use Qobuz Desktop to stream to HQPlayer Embedded, only the first song plays and the rest show up as flac errors.  I have not spent any time trying to debug and collect logs for it yet to send into support.  I will probably wait until early Nov. before I collect debug logs.

 

I wish @Miska had access to Qobuz in Finland, so he could get a head start on testing DLNA integration :).

[TAV]

1 hour ago, shadowlight said:

 

The DLNA issue only exists with the Qobuz desktop application as far as I know and what I have experienced. ....

 

Good to know thanks for the information.  

[AudioDoctor]

8 hours ago, mourip said:

Any chance of Qobuz for Apple CarPlay?

 

No kidding, that would be awesome!

 

[sockpit]

9 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Thanks, but we know that we have problem with DLNA, some issues.. Android app need to be realy improve. But all will come.

Love the iOS app.  Give me stable DNLA connnection to my Rendu, and life is complete ?