![]() ![]() With lossless streaming, I no longer have to buy the CD or the download equivalent, and this same online library of lossless music is available to me wherever I have an Internet connection. While better is always better, I'm fine with CD quality, as it can and often does sound just wonderful. The majority of music most people are interested in and buy is offered, at best, in CD quality (at least until Apple decides to follow first HDTracks' and now Pono's lead. It's like being locked in a museum or library all by your lonesome, and you can stay as long as you like. Many nights found me still awake long after I should have been asleep, listening through the prospect of having so much music right there, right in front of me. Vincent, The Feminine Complex, Swans, Giuseppi Logan, Jimmie Rodgers, EinstÅrzende Neubauten, PJ Harvey, a recent reissue of Grace Jones's Nightclubbing, Mosaic, Burial, Ben Frost, Jimmy Giuffre, and on and on. Having one-click access to a catalog of a claimed 17 million (and growing) tracks of CD-quality music for a fixed monthly price of $27 is file-based-musiclovin' heaven.Ĭab Calloway, Robert Pete Williams, Giacinto Scelsi, St. Okay enjoy is really not the right word. If I listed all of the music I listened to during the weeks I evaluated Qobuz Hi-Fi, I would have no room left to tell you how much I enjoyed it. Streaming in CD Quality Is Better than Good While I did play with the iPhone version, my main listening was through my desktop and main systems. There's also a mobile version of the Qobuz app, for both iOS and Android devices each subscription allows you to play the app on up to three mobile devices. The Vega is wired to my Pass Labs INT-30A integrated amplifier using Kimber Kable Select KS 1126 balanced interconnect, and the Pass is wired to my DeVore Fidelity The Nines speakers with Kimber 12TC speaker cable. I also used the Qobuz Hi-Fi service in my main system, with my MacBook Pro connected with a length of Light Harmonic Lightspeed cable to an Auralic Vega DAC. (The rest of my desktop system comprises a Mytek Stereo192-DSD DAC connected to a pair of ADAM A3X active speakers.) Once this was set, I experienced no dropouts or interrupts. I found that I had to adjust the buffer size when playing from my iMac, which connects to my network via WiFi. That gives companies like Qobuz a chance in the marketplace, for now.Other options include Crossfade Duration (within a range of 2≡5 seconds, set with a sliding scale), Gapless Playback, Cache folder path, Cache max size (automatic 10% of free space, or set with a sliding scale from 1GB to a maximum value that will vary based on the amount of storage available on your computer), Playing buffer size, and Music Downloads Import Quality (320kbps or CD quality). That hasn’t happened yet and there’s no indication that such a move is imminent. We keep waiting for Apple Music to turn on the hi-res tap, since the company has been collecting high-resolution masters for over 6 years now. Deezer, another French company with a hi-res tier, hasn’t had much of an impact on North America yet, but that also means that there’s room Qobuz. Go to a hi-fi show anywhere and if an exhibitor isn’t playing back from vinyl then they’re streaming from Tidal. While it’s not widespread, there is a market for high quality streaming music. Its Hi-Fi tier will be priced at $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually for 16-bit CD quality, and its Premium tier will cost $9.99 per month for 320 kbps MP3 quality streaming, or the standard $99.99 annually. The Studio tier will be $24.9 9per month or $249.99 annually for unlimited hi-res streaming. As a bonus, the user will also be offered 40-60% discounts on hi-res download purchases as well. ![]() When the service does begin in the U.S., it will be available on all Mac, iOS, Android and Windows operating systems.ĪLSO: Sony Music Takes On Spotify, Launches Streaming Service In Japan 'Powered By Napster'Īs with most hi-res services, you will also pay extra for the hi-res tier of Qobuz. It’s Sublime+ tier will cost $299.99 per year for access to the full hi-res catalog. It offers more than 40-million CD-quality tracks and over 2 million hi-res tracks with up to 24-bit resolution, but the company says that it has secured an additional multi-million track catalog ahead of its US launch. Qobuz was founded in Paris in 2007 and is currently live in 11 European markets. ![]() ![]() That sentiment isn’t enough to stop hi-res streamer Qobuz from planning a launch for next year though, as the company recently opened up a New York City office and hired a number of well-known music executives. The fervor for high-resolution music streaming has died down in recent months, and it looked like everyone has finally settled on the current CD-level quality as sufficient enough for most users. Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 ![]()
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