Lossless streaming
Posted by: grahambateman on 14 September 2014
Hi.
ok looking for suggestions on the following.
currently streaming spotify premium into my naim System.
im looking to take the jump into full losslesss streaming.
so do I go for quobuz , which I'm hearing is in financial trouble or wait for the new tidal service which I believe is available in the autumn.
thanks
graham..
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by KRM
If you simply want to stream from Qobuz, the worst case scenario is that you pay them £20 a month until they go under and then you stop paying. I would recommend this for now. I would not necessarily advise you to buy a stake in the company, though 
Those (including myself) who have bought downloads from Qobuz need to make sure we have backed up purchased files, but that's not really news.
Keith
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by grahambateman
Cheers for the prompt reply Keith.
yes do like the spotify service , but it's just not good enough quality.
shame...
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk
I like Keith am going to suggest Qobuz. You have total control of your monthly subscription, and so if the worst happens and this great service simply stops or you want to stop you simply won't be charged.
I have also noticed more and more appearing in the Qobuz lossless downloads.. But yes like all downloads do keep a backup.
Simon
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by Hugh Craig
I have used Spotify Premium for some time and it's great on portable devices and through my second system via Apple TV but, as other have said, the sound quality just isn't up to serious listening.
I have just taken out a Qobuz subscription (1st month free) and so far am very happy with it. The interface is not as good as Spotify and the music available is slightly more limited (and it's more expensive) but I'm prepared to put up with all of these for the huge difference in sound quality.
Hugh
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by AS332
Like Hugh's post I used Spotify for quite a while but switched to Qobuz . I am still under the one month trial and the quality is good but occasionally the streaming service can stop or stutter like this morning . Which is annoying .
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by grahambateman
So will you guys be considering the new tidal streaming service ?
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk
AS332, indeed yesterday I experienced for the first time stuttering audio on Qobuz when lossless streaming. I wonder if they need to catchup with their infrastructure to match the number of customer / subscribers they appear to now have.
Graham I will try most new lossless streaming service that come along - this is an interesting time with the introduction of these new services - and I do wonder if some like Spotify will be caught being complacent which has occurred time and time again from the late 80's to now with dialup and then web services.. and I have have participated with a fair few of them - and I am sure each new entrant will try and do something in its own unique way.
Simon
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by GregW
If Qobuz is struggling to settle it's bills with big 5 labels, it's unlikely they are in a position to pay for expanded CDN capacity. Selfishly I hope they stay in business until at least the end of the year when my subscription runs out!
As I noted in another post Deezer has just launched CD quality streaming in the US, and in a few months here in Europe. They have deep pockets so might fare better than others.
Posted on: 14 September 2014 by KRM
Qobuz stuttering over the weekend here too. The stream seems to be too slow, although BB speed was fine.
Keith
Posted on: 15 September 2014 by nap90
I have Spotify Premium and Qobuz Hifi (in Germany). Interface on Spotify is much better, as are the possibility for finding new music (radio feature, and spotify own music + apps). Qobuz quality on my system much much better. Have however had horrendous stuttering issues the last two weekends (ties in with extra countries having access to the system i think). Can't be my bandwidth @ 50mbps! Tried Wimp for their 24 h trial yesterday - similar sound to qobuz although one cannot choose wasapi or asio for bitperfect output to soundcard. I found here the option to import spotify playlists that actually works (and fast) really really good. Qobuz gives the option to import from spotify but always got an error.
Regards
Matt
Posted on: 15 September 2014 by winkyincanada
