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Qobuz
Feb 15, 2019 10:35:10 GMT
Post by jandl100 on Feb 15, 2019 10:35:10 GMT
Urk. I'm not tempted at all. Gave up immediately on DK's entry.
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Qobuz
Feb 15, 2019 11:15:32 GMT
Post by MartinT on Feb 15, 2019 11:15:32 GMT
LOL - was worth a try!
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Qobuz
Feb 15, 2019 15:47:51 GMT
Post by jandl100 on Feb 15, 2019 15:47:51 GMT
LLJ.
lounge lizard jazz.
Makes my skin crawl.
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Qobuz
Feb 15, 2019 15:54:22 GMT
Post by MartinT on Feb 15, 2019 15:54:22 GMT
Holly Cole - same song, couldn't be more different?
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Qobuz
Mar 1, 2019 10:14:04 GMT
Post by MartinT on Mar 1, 2019 10:14:04 GMT
Does Qobuz have the most irritating search results of any streaming service?
I just tried searching for 'Zero 7' and it gives me all manner of rubbish results but certainly not a single album by the band of the same name. It seems not to be very clever with partial or positional search criteria either.
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Qobuz
May 21, 2019 5:21:11 GMT
Post by MartinT on May 21, 2019 5:21:11 GMT
What has happened to Jewel - Spirit? They have all her other albums, although the search irritatingly finds someone else with Jewel in their name and mixes them all up even though I click on her picture.
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Qobuz
May 21, 2019 6:08:51 GMT
Post by jandl100 on May 21, 2019 6:08:51 GMT
Martin, iirc you've recently mentioned that Qobuz is now your main streaming source.
What's tipped you in its favour given that you have previously found it very irritating to use?
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Qobuz
May 21, 2019 7:03:39 GMT
Post by MartinT on May 21, 2019 7:03:39 GMT
What works for me is using it directly in Volumio. I only use the Qobuz interface to add to my playlists (for collecting similar favourites together). Volumio allows me to access Qobuz playlists or search directly, and it's a nicer interface. Making it easier to find things really helps.
Then there is the sound quality, which is truly excellent from 16/44 up to 24/192 streams. It's reliable and glitch-free, too.
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 7:18:28 GMT
Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2019 7:18:28 GMT
Now that I've been a Qobuz Studio user for a while, I thought I'd summarise my findings so far:
Sound quality is potentially superb, depending on the recording, but always better than the CD from my experience. From 16/44 upwards, it's just excellent and quite outstanding on some material. Integration with Volumio is perfect. From what I've heard it trumps every other streaming service including Tidal.
Catalogue - I want to see more material that I know exists in hi-res, such as Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon and Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms, appear. I do see more recordings appear by the month so progress is good. I look for the day when I don't have to resort to Spotify to fill in the holes. We're not there yet but it's getting much better. Classical coverage is generally better than modern.
The Search engine is simply shit. I've no other way of describing it. I can usually find a modern work in two or three tries but some classical material, which I know is there, is fiendishly difficult to find. It seems to search on artist only, and badly at that. Try searching for album titles and you're lost. Some of the indexing is terrible (try searching for Zero 7 and you get lots of results, none of them being Zero 7) while the occasional French spelling can catch you out, too. It needs a total revamp.
I use Playlists to easily reach things that have been difficult to find and they work very well both in the native app and in Volumio.
The Artist History is very good indeed and beats the Spotify Bio, for instance. Now I want it to appear in Volumio and have requested it as a feature.
Value is a personal thing but for me, at £24.99/mo for Studio, it's fine and is less than I used to spend each month on CDs.
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 8:20:47 GMT
Post by zippy on Jul 2, 2019 8:20:47 GMT
"The Search engine is simply shit. I've no other way of describing it"
You're right there, it really lets the rest of the package down..
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 9:14:01 GMT
Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2019 9:14:01 GMT
An example: I try to find Jerry's recommended Weiss: Sonatas for Lute on Naxos. So I enter "Weiss" into search. I get three artists, none of whom are the classical composer. Ok, try "Sonatas for Lute" and scroll through all the Releases. I finally find Weiss: Sonatas for Transverse Flute and Lute. Getting closer. So I click the three dots and See Artist. I get Duo Inventio (!) and a load of albums by different artists. I give up!
For all I know, it might be in there but I cannot find it.
Ok, I tried searching for Robert Barto (the performer). Now I scroll through and there it is, called "Sonates pour luth (Intégrale, volume 1)".
Jeez, it shouldn't be this hard!
I have a playlist called "Queued for Listening" so that I can find stuff again and will then transfer it to a main playlist for keeping if I like it.
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 9:35:00 GMT
Post by jandl100 on Jul 2, 2019 9:35:00 GMT
For some irritating reason, Qobuz is now the only streaming service I have tried that doesn't do gapless playback on my admittedly ancient PC setup.
Which makes it a non-starter for me, sadly, as I love the album write-ups and musician and composer bios that often appear on Qobuz and I prefer its middle of the road tonality compared to TIDAL and Spotify.
Someday soon I'll maybe get a new PC. Someday.
Personally, I find TIDAL to be even more of a pain in the fundament in terms of its search engine. You have to be damned devious with search criteria sometimes, and inhumanly persistent, if you are to find some albums.
Qobuz would be my service of choice, I think, if it wasn't for the gapless thing. But for now I'm into TIDAL, despite some irritations with it.
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 9:40:21 GMT
Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2019 9:40:21 GMT
That is such a shame, Jerry, and thankfully not a bete noire for me. If I find an album in Volumio from Qobuz and either click Play Album (the top play button) or click, say, track 4 and then queue 5 & 6, it plays gapless.
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 11:06:30 GMT
Post by zippy on Jul 2, 2019 11:06:30 GMT
Just a note to say that as far as I'm aware, the 'gapless' ability seems to rely on the combination of the streaming service (in this case of course Qobuz) and the method used to do the streaming. It's not just down to the streaming service itself.
As I've previously said (I think) I run Qobuz via the Bubble UPnP app, using my StreamX as the renderer and I get gapless no problem. Jandl..(as above) seems not to be able to get gapless using a PC.
Maybe someone can enlighten as to the exact technicalities of it..
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 11:16:05 GMT
Post by jandl100 on Jul 2, 2019 11:16:05 GMT
Tidal, Spotify, Primephonic -- all are now gapless on my setup.
Qobuz - nope.
Tidal didn't use to be gapless, but when I tried it after a period of many months recently, yup!
Has to be something to do with Qobuz and how it interacts with my system.
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 11:28:25 GMT
Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2019 11:28:25 GMT
Would you think about a Pi running Volumio or another headless streamer, Jerry, thus releasing your laptop just for controlling it? You'd without doubt get better SQ (I've yet to hear direct laptop output beat a proper streamer). Allo, Volumio and Orchard Audio sell ready-made players. That would get you gapless!
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Qobuz
Jul 2, 2019 12:37:33 GMT
Post by jandl100 on Jul 2, 2019 12:37:33 GMT
Would you think about a Pi running Volumio or another headless streamer, Jerry, thus releasing your laptop just for controlling it? You'd without doubt get better SQ (I've yet to hear direct laptop output beat a proper streamer). Allo, Volumio and Orchard Audio sell ready-made players. That would get you gapless! Hmm, interesting about laptops being a poor(er) source. For several years I was put off going streaming as all the systems I heard (all had dedicated streamers) sounded mediocre to my humble ears. Then I heard a streaming system that made me sit up and take notice - it didn't sound boring!!!  - and it was using a PC as source, the first such I had heard. That experience has kind of formulated my views, for better or worse. I have a Chromecast Audio widget, and that comes a rather poor second to my usual PC setup and I just use it in my 3rd system these days for fairly casual use, controlled by my phone. It's "OK" but way short of the PC-based system. But then it only uses TOSLINK digital cable ... so who knows? Tbh, I'm fine with TIDAL and/or Spotify. .... TIDAL with the Krell amp, Spotify with the Crayon. |
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Qobuz
Nov 26, 2019 14:43:40 GMT
Post by MartinT on Nov 26, 2019 14:43:40 GMT
Qobuz has come of age for me. Every month I find new material and today I found that they have added Queens Die Proudly by Juliette Commagere, one of my finds of the decade. There is less need than ever to resort to Spotify and my recent listening pattern verifies that. open.qobuz.com/track/73708929 |
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Post by mikeyb on Nov 26, 2019 18:19:38 GMT
I tend to find if searching for an album on Qobuz and it shows two versions the HD one is listed first.
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Qobuz
Nov 26, 2019 18:31:39 GMT
Post by MartinT on Nov 26, 2019 18:31:39 GMT
Yes, me too. However, it still sometimes displays 'challenging' indexing with albums and singles mixed together. Its handling of classical is also hilarious with a mixture of English and French words for symphony, concerto and all the solo instruments.
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- and it was using a PC as source, the first such I had heard. That experience has kind of formulated my views, for better or worse.
