Qobuz Announces Opening of US Beta

I haven't received any emails at all, and nothing to my spam folder.  One would think they would have an automated reply sent to everyone who submitted an email address to join the wait list.

As I continue to use the Qobuz beta and discover an insane number of albums that are not available, I am beginning to question if they are facing licensing and rights issues in the US. The availability is worse than indicated in my previous post and I'm afraid I will not continue my membership after the trial because TIDAL is exponentially more complete. With Qobuz weighing in as a featherweight, one can only hope that Spotify enters the lossless streaming ring for the title fight. 

8 hours ago, idesign said:

As I continue to use the Qobuz beta and discover an insane number of albums that are not available, I am beginning to question if they are facing licensing and rights issues in the US. The availability is worse than indicated in my previous post and I'm afraid I will not continue my membership after the trial because TIDAL is exponentially more complete. With Qobuz weighing in as a featherweight, one can only hope that Spotify enters the lossless streaming ring for the title fight. 

I am fixated on the issue of Roon integration. I really need a way to access Qobuz in the same way that I do Roon, and used to do with JMRC, by using an IOS app as a controller, especially now that I am using Audiolinux in headless mode.

I might have to go with Tidal. That would be sad as Qobuz has a ton of Jazz and Classical that I like...

I have friends on the continent that are very satisfied with Qubuz. Especially for their classical catalogue. In the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland) itbis not available for one or another reason.

4 hours ago, dmackta said:

Hi @idesign  - Dan from Qobuz USA here - the beta email should have made clear that while the US service is in beta there are holes in the catalog from suppliers who are still being onboarded. Please don't judge us based on what you see now! 

Dan-

Any input regarding the Beta signup process?  Apparently several (likely many) that submitted requests did not receive any type of acknowledgement. How are we to know whether we are accepted, rejected, etc.?

@catastrofe The 1500 people who filled out the application to be initial beta testers all received an email. Those who were not selected to be put in the first batch were added to the waiting list. The waiting list does not automatically send an email but does have a pop up that confirms placement of an entered email onto the list. Additional users off the waiting list are being onboarded in order as quickly as possible. Emails will be going out on a weekly basis. 

1 hour ago, dmackta said:

@catastrofe The 1500 people who filled out the application to be initial beta testers all received an email. Those who were not selected to be put in the first batch were added to the waiting list. The waiting list does not automatically send an email but does have a pop up that confirms placement of an entered email onto the list. Additional users off the waiting list are being onboarded in order as quickly as possible. Emails will be going out on a weekly basis. 

Thanks Dan!

@catastrofe ,     Hola ,  just wanted to say that you are absolutely going to love the sound of Qobuz on your Reference  3a's ( I noticed by chance your equipment list )  .  I can say this confidently as I am sitting here listening through a pair of older de Capo's as I type, and your Reflectors are a step up,  yet they share a family sound ...and what a sound it is !   ( I also use Audirvana+ ) ... so you will have to trust me on this  , you are in for a real treat       

5 hours ago, Don Blas De Lezo said:

@catastrofe ,     Hola ,  just wanted to say that you are absolutely going to love the sound of Qobuz on your Reference  3a's ( I noticed by chance your equipment list )  .  I can say this confidently as I am sitting here listening through a pair of older de Capo's as I type, and your Reflectors are a step up,  yet they share a family sound ...and what a sound it is !   ( I also use Audirvana+ ) ... so you will have to trust me on this  , you are in for a real treat       

Thanks!  Reference 3A is one of those companies that flies "under the radar".  Never a lot of press, but they make exceptional speakers.

I applied for the first beta but nothing.

Now applied for this second beta on the first day of it's announcement,  again nothing.  🤬

I signed up for the beta about 6 hours after it was first announced.  Today I received an invitation email, and I've been checking it out for the past couple of hours or so.  I chose Qobuz Studio for my trial period.  I'm using the Qobuz app for Windows.  WASAPI exclusive mode, up to 24/192 playback.  So far no albums have played gaplessly, which is annoying.  I don't see anything regarding gapless in the settings.  Googling now, no solution found so far...

Just as a followup to my post above, yesterday's update of the Qobuz app fixed the gapless playback issue, as noted by @David Craff here:

I've been listening happily ever since!

I am one of those people who always reads every CD booklet, so I'm pleased that Qobuz took the effort to include "digital booklets" with such easy access in the app!

I think that I am seeing a lack of some albums in the US version compared to the UK version I was on before.

Now that Qobuz is in the US and that there are so many Rendu users here, do you think that Sonore and Qobuz might cooperate so that one can play to Rendu devices directly from the Qobuz iOS or Android app via Qobuz Connect or DNLA?

I know the current solution is Kazoo or A+, but many of us want to take advantage of the beautiful Qobuz app with a simple, high quality connection to Sonore products.  

Currently, using Kazoo, Studio subscribers can’t even tell which albums are Hi-Res without having to bore down into info in Kazoo’s rather primitive interface.

Thanks to Qobuz and @vortecjr for their continual advances, and apologies in advance if I’m  overlooking something. I’m pretty sure Studio US sounds better than my Qobuz VPN tunnel to Great Britain.  Maybe it’s the Hi Res 🤨

Sum: iPad to microRendu is my goal, using Qobuz app and a high quality sonicorbiter output (I.e. not 16/44 Shairport) because I’d like to be a Qobuz Studio subscriber.

14 hours ago, dmackta said:

The US catalog is not complete, there are a number of suppliers still being onboarded. Sorry if that not was clearer during the beta sign up process. We expect just about everything will be sorted soon.

 

There will still be differences in the library between the UK and the US, complicated licensing of masters makes it unavoidable. This is the same with any legal download or streaming service. 

I suspect most of us saw this in the welcome email ...but we just can't help ourselves! 🙂  "One important note is that the music catalog is not 100% complete yet, but it will be fully populated before we move out of beta. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring missing albums to our attention."

I've actually found an artist with more albums on the US service than the UK service, and an indication even more are on the way! As I've posted elsewhere, I was looking for a specifically American artist to search for, and came up with... Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian. Sorry, eh? 😄

7 hours ago, sockpit said:

Now that Qobuz is in the US and that there are so many Rendu users here, do you think that Sonore and Qobuz might cooperate so that one can play to Rendu devices directly from the Qobuz iOS or Android app via Qobuz Connect or DNLA?

 

I know the current solution is Kazoo or A+, but many of us want to take advantage of the beautiful Qobuz app with a simple, high quality connection to Sonore products.  

 

Currently, using Kazoo, Studio subscribers can’t even tell which albums are Hi-Res without having to bore down into info in Kazoo’s rather primitive interface.

 

Thanks to Qobuz and @vortecjr for their continual advances, and apologies in advance if I’m  overlooking something. I’m pretty sure Studio US sounds better than my Qobuz VPN tunnel to Great Britain.  Maybe it’s the Hi Res 🤨

 

Sum: iPad to microRendu is my goal, using Qobuz app and a high quality sonicorbiter output (I.e. not 16/44 Shairport) because I’d like to be a Qobuz Studio subscriber.

 

My understanding is you can do that if you put a Roon Core in the system. Am I wrong in that assumption?

3 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

 

My understanding is you can do that if you put a Roon Core in the system. Am I wrong in that assumption?

Thx, you’re correct, but I and people like me have no interest in Roon.. Qobuz iOS app to sonicorbiter in Hi Res must be possible, if Qobuz and @vortecjr put their brains together.  Sonicorbiter does Spotify Connect.  Why not Qobuz Connect?

@The Computer Audiophile

Chris I think the number 2 million hi res is totally wrong. Nowhere on their website is this number stated. 

Reading on Qobuz website states 70000 24/192 and another 100.000 24 bit, but below 192. 

You may notice it says on the subscription plan up to 24/192. 

@dmackta

Can you confirm these numbers as well. 

The About has changed as well:

3 hours ago, R1200CL said:

@The Computer Audiophile

 

Chris I think the number 2 million hi res is totally wrong. Nowhere on their website is this number stated. 

 

Reading on Qobuz website states 70000 24/192 and another 100.000 24 bit, but below 192. 

 

You may notice it says on the subscription plan up to 24/192. 

 

@dmackta

Can you confirm these numbers as well. 

 

The About has changed as well:

 

 

 

 

Where did you see 2 million?

On 1/9/2019 at 8:23 PM, bobbmd said:

@skater999 @leftchannel : as i said above the MQA titles/playlists from TIDAL that I moved to Qobuz actually show them being streamed in Qobuz’s HiRes format 24/196 BUT some revert to 16/44 cd format indicating to me that TIDAL is misleading us on some albums they are not MQA 

No, I don't think so. I think that means Qobuz doesn't have them in hi-res, or doesn't have rights to stream the hi-res.

Quote

About Qobuz
Founded in 2007, Qobuz is a Paris-based commercial online music streaming and downloading service that addresses the needs of curious and discerning music lovers across the globe. Live in eleven European markets and launching in the US in early 2019, Qobuz offers an exceptional range of music genres as well as exclusive editorial content independently curated by a team of experts. Qobuz offers subscription to streaming services with genuine CD quality audio of more than 40-million tracks and over 2 million Hi-Res tracks up to 24-bit/192k resolution from all genres. For more information: www.qobuz.com.

@The Computer Audiophile & @R1200CL

This is from the bottom of their press release about the U.S. Beta.  Those numbers are based on their European service, and as they haven't completed all of the licensing for the United States, they probably don't have the same numbers here yet.  I imagine they anticipate being able to add most of those here, since it's the same small group of conglomerates that hold most of the rights.

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Where did you see 2 million?

In your article. Addition other people claim similar numbers, so many people are misleaded. 

1 minute ago, Hugo9000 said:

@The Computer Audiophile & @R1200CL

This is from the bottom of their press release about the U.S. Beta.  Those numbers are based on their European service, and as they haven't completed all of the licensing for the United States, they probably don't have the same numbers here yet.  I imagine they anticipate being able to add most of those here, since it's the same small group of conglomerates that hold most of the rights.

You are totally wrong. 

See my copies from Qobuz website. 

Show me if you can find different numbers on any site.