Official Qobuz Issues Thread

[Mark Dirac]

I am having to pick tracks which are not hi-res! - my Chromecast Audio has begun experiencing dropouts on 96k. Not 16/44, and not 24/44. It has been working fine for weeks, but has been doing this for about 5 days now. Anyone else getting this with CCA?

 

My internet is fine (70Mbps), the CCA is connected over ethernet, and I have tried two different DACs. Also tried casting both from Windows10 and from Android. UK account, not beta. Works fine with DAC fed by Windows PC and DAC fed by Android. 

 

I assume that Qobuz is feeding a different stream  / from different IP address to a CCA than it would to a PC (don't really know why I should assume this) and I suspect that this could be what is wrong.

[Mark Dirac]

I have just spent 50 minutes IMing with Chromecast support. What a strange character these mega corporates have. If they were individuals, we would definitely describe them as mentally insane. As expected, no progress at all. Except to point out that the current CCA software has been upgrade since the support thread you posted above Axell. (Is now 1.36) So could be a new or different or re-emergent bug. (I am intrigued that it only started for me last week.)

[Mark Dirac]

Some here have complained of the Qobuz Windows application being slow and resource-hungry. It may help you simply to minimise the Qobuz window...

 

I noticed the Windows application behaving strangely in that it was consuming a lot of GPU resource - over 50%. This was causing my PC to run hot and for the fan to run loudly. The GPU resource (plus considerable CPU resource as well) is consumed even when the screen is static - no movement on screen at all. It happens whether I am listening to hi-res or not. It even happens if Qobuz is a background window, with a foreground window over the top of Qobuz Player. 

 

BUT it does NOT happen if the Qobuz window is minimised. And CPU resource is also reduced if the window is minimised.

 

So, a temporary workaround for others may be to minimise the application's window, rather than leaving it hidden, but not minimised, behind other windows.

 

My Intel NUC uses a recent and fast laptop processor -  i7-6770HQ @ 2.6GHz, and the GPU is integrated Iris Pro Graphics 580. (According to Windows's "Task Manager" the GPU resource is "3D".) Can anyone suggest what might cause this unexpected behaviour?

[Mark Dirac]

1 hour ago, bobbmd said:

if what i suggested is unacceptable to you contact Qobuz support directly or maybe @dmackta or @David Craff here can help you

I did send a thorough report directly to Qobuz support, over a week ago. Other than a computer-generated receipt I received no reply, or thanks, or acknowledgement. (I am finding Qobuz support even worse than Tidal in terms of not reading problem reports carefully, and then replying with not-relevant responses.)

[Mark Dirac]

19 hours ago, left channel said:

It seems that, all confusion and annoyances aside, my main complaint remains: the Qobuz app for Windows does not correctly stream this MQA album to my Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital, and there is no solution except to switch DACs. That Pro-Ject DAC is favorably reviewed in this month's Stereophile by the way.

I have seen the same problem with the same Pro-Ject S2D DAC. I've seen this with perhaps 4 or 5 albums.

[Mark Dirac]

On 3/5/2019 at 9:01 PM, left channel said:

 

@Mark Dirac the behavior you describe could have more than one cause

Ooh. Please elaborate? I cannot imagine any other cause.

[Mark Dirac]

4 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will add a fix. 

 

Regards

There is a more general usability disappointment in the Windows application, in that it is always (usually?) the case that if you navigate away from a page to investigate something, when you return your context/place is lost. For example, when scrolling through a long playlist, the same happens as reported by Mr. Polyglot above with searching - if you check out an entry in your playlist, and then return, you are returned to the top of the playlist listing, and have to navigate back down again to where you started.

[Mark Dirac]

On 11/7/2019 at 3:59 PM, left channel said:

 

Just received the 5.3.0-b005 desktop app update. The new Search worked immediately, and I'm enjoying it. I'm on Windows 10 here, and after the update I encountered some trouble with the ASIO4ALL driver. It reset its ASIO Buffer Size back to its default 512 samples, which is too small for Qobuz streams. But after a few tries and restarts of Qobuz it obeyed me and stayed at 2048 samples. ASIO4ALL seems to have this problem with every new Qobuz installation. The Qobuz app does not have the same problem with ASIO drivers distributed by DAC manufacturers. WASAPI Exclusive also works fine.

I am still having some distractions following the new release(s) last week - I hear occasional short, not-loud clicks on some tracks. Perhaps 20 or 30 per track. Worse on hi-res tracks. Never happened before (this new release) in one year with Qobuz on 3 PCs and two DACs. Any ideas please?

 

Windows 10 application, WASAPI Exclusive Mode, 70Mbps broadband, recent good-quality i5-8xxxU laptop, SSD, Pro-Ject S2 Digital DAC via USB.

 

(I also experienced some of the other problems reported here - freezing, "not responding" - but those have since evaporated.)

[Mark Dirac]

6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

+1. I totally forgot about this one. Switching to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 has resovled several strange issues. 

Thanks for that suggestion.

 

How ridiculous that one would need to "remember this one" when wanting to listen to some music. Qobuz (and Tidal) are really fantastic, but there is a severe cost. Every time I settle down to listen to some music, I half-expect to have to spend some of my time in IT fault-finding. Windows quirks, or sound settings quirks, or flaky applications, or internet issues (which in turns breaks down to ISP, copper line provider, router, wifi, and now DNS provider!). The last time this happened, it took me 15 minutes to identify that I just needed to turn my DAC off and on again, a "fix" which has never ever happened before on that one component in the long, convoluted and flaky chain.

 

Not surprising that normal people prefer to listen "on Alexa".

[Mark Dirac]

27 minutes ago, left channel said:

@Talisman So basically what we're talking about here is a feature request. Yes?

 

And we are requested to make feature requests here.

[Mark Dirac]

16 minutes ago, Talisman said:

 

 the Qobuz app ... has mouse/keyboard back navigation!

Intriguing. My Qobuz application (Windows 10) doesn't do this. Are you on Apple? Does something need to be enabled?

[Mark Dirac]

Has anyone found / proved that we can use a USB flash drive or SD card for the cache and imports? I don't see the need to use my SSD, and would like the max allowable 100GB cache space. Since speed and reliability are not important for cache and importing, does it work to use cheap external storage?

 

(I don't want to check it out myself 'cos I will lose my current cache and I guess I will need to attach a fixed drive letter to a USB drive.)

[Mark Dirac]

On 3/12/2020 at 7:16 PM, coleb13 said:

Is Qobuz interested in receiving reports of metadata errors? What is the best way for us to report these?

Good question. Long ago, one of the qobuz boys said "yes", and to report them here. But that's just too inefficient a process - there are far too many to be processed via this forum. I reported a couple to the support desk, but was treated like a child and so have given up.

 

If qobuz set up some reporting mechanism for enthusiasts such as us, I could imagine we could provide a worthwhile crowd service to Qobuz.

[Mark Dirac]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:25 PM, wertygrog said:

Hi there, I am a recent Qobuz subscriber and I cast from the iOS app to the Chromecast Audio attached to my hifi system.

 

The casting works great other than the Qobuz iOS app "forgetting" about the cast after a few minutes of the app being closed. When I reopen the Qobuz iOS app, it has ostensibly disconnected from the CCA and begins playing on the phone instead (meanwhile the CCA is still streaming the requested audio perfectly). I know the issue is with the Qobuz app and not the CCA since the Google Home app on my phone shows the correct song currently playing on the CCA including album art, volume, etc. It's just the Qobuz app itself which malfunctions. This is very frustrating.

 

I tried Qobuz support but they were not helpful. If anyone here knows a resolution to this issue let me know!

 

Thanks,

Brent

This problem also occurs for me from Windows 10. I also get a bewildering message:

 

"The current session on chromecast is not synchronizable with the player, do you still want to start listening?" (see attached screenshot)

 

Easily-repeatedly, and for years. It's a strange problem:

• As you say, Qobuz support seem to be completely unable to understand the problem. I reckon the few people I spoke with have no idea at all what a Chromecast is.
• When I reported it here before, there was no interest. No one else seemed to have noticed the problem.
• But someone was interested in telling me that I shouldn't use Windows.

So, years later, it is disappointing that such a potentially attractive way of connecting from a PC (or Mac) to a DAC - and at 96k/24bit - is such a massive distraction from getting on and just listening to some music.

 

I would be grateful if at least @David Craffcould explain the error message please, and perhaps why is doesn't work and if there's any workaround. Or, in what limited circumstances it does work?

[Mark Dirac]

On 5/2/2020 at 6:03 PM, dmackta said:

Guys these Chromecast issues are known to us and should be largely fixed in upcoming app updates. 

Well, that was a complete waste of time on my part then - taking a screenshot & posting it here and three conversations with support, which I wrongly imagined were helpful.

[Mark Dirac]

6 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Hi,

 

We are currently working on the Chromecast certification proposed by Google, with our mobile applications. It is currently being tested on mobile. Our desktop application will then be impacted and many problems should be corrected.

I don't have a date to give you at the moment. I hope however that this evolution will be available this summer.

 

Regards

 

Thanks David. That's very helpful to know.

 

Don't be so quick with your sarcasm Chris @The Computer Audiophile. That's well over 3 hours of my life lost. I have been a loyal and constructive supporter of Qobuz for years, including paying them $1,000 during the years when their fees were high and their financial stability low. This Chromecast problem has been extant for years. I have spent hours doing my own fault-finding, researching the problem on the web, testing if the problem is with Qobuz, Google, Windows or my PC, and having several lengthy phone conversations with Google. At all times I have taken great pains (and time Chris) to ensure that my written reports are clear, unambiguous and comprehensive, in order to assist Google and Qobuz in working towards a solution.

 

So, here's a suggestion: There are long-standing bugs in the Qobuz ecosystem. Would it be so difficult to provide a good-old simple bug list of the most common outstanding problems, to save customers needing to spend so much time researching the issues they encounter? The list doesn't need to include petty bugs, or rare bugs, or short-term easily-fixed bugs. But a list of a dozen or so of the problems which Qobuz's customers are encountering time and time again would be a appreciative response to customers filing support requests and getting nowhere.

[Mark Dirac]

1 hour ago, David Craff said:

 

Hi,

 

Sorry for the inconvenience.
The removal means that all the local music is lost. It is not possible to recover it after uninstalling the application.

 

Our developers will analyse your problem.

Thank you for your understanding

 

Regards

Following update, I have 19.8GB of cache, and cannot delete it via the program. Should I simply delete it in File Manager?

 

Windows 10. Cache path had been set by me to my D: drive. 20GB allocated.

Upon upgrade, cache is lost (not a problem), but 19.8GB still consumed.

Clicking "empty the cache" is confirmed with "cache has been flushed". But Qobuz program still says 19.8GB consumed, and Windows File Manager also says 19.8GB consumed.

[Mark Dirac]

2 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Hi,

...

 

- New audio stream manager

 

Regards

What does this mean please? Qobuz is a service which streams audio. What does "audio stream manager" mean??

[Mark Dirac]

@David Craff Qobuz emailed me ("reached out to me") to complete a questionnaire about Family Subscription and my household's consumption of music. I had to abort the questionnaire because so many of the questions are about how other members of my household behave. But the questionnaire doesn't allow at all for the possibility that other members (ie. my wife) do not consume music at all. And do not posses any "music consumption devices" at all. And so the questionnaire became nonsensical.

 

Thought your colleagues might like to know that their questionnaire massively over-estimates the interest in "music consumption" on the part of many many people.

[Mark Dirac]

I have just got Qobuz to work gaplessly to an Allo DigiOne Sig RPi Moode streamer, from an Android tablet running BubbleuPnP. Out of the box. £300ish.

 

However, I suspect* that it is the tablet which is pulling the stream from Qobuz (and then passing it to the Moode to render), rather than the Moode pulling down the Qobuz directly. Nonetheless, it works very well, and gaplessly, and uses very little battery on the tablet (which leads me to think that perhaps, somehow, it is the Moode which is drawing down the stream from Qobuz, otherwise battery draw on the tablet would be expected to be significant).

 

However I suspect that JKleinbart is wanting an iOS solution, although he doesn't stipulate that.

 

*If I add my Qobuz credentials to BubbleuPnP on the tablet, it works. If instead I add my Qobuz credentials to Moode on the Rpi streamer, it doesn't work. Any explanation for this please anyone?

[Mark Dirac]

Many thanks Cebolla and Ran for taking the care to provide those illuminating and crucial links. Here's another one for anyone else following this thread:

http://moodeaudio.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=1772&pid=13443#pid13443

 

So, my understanding is - I thought my RPi was the streamer, but in practice it is my tablet which is the streamer, and my RPi/Allo is only a renderer. When I listen to Qobuz, the stream is drawn down to my tablet, sent back out of my tablet to my router, and finally to my RPi - three legs where one should do. Surprisingly indirect, and not elegant. (But it functions well - no criticism of Bubble or Moode implied.) If I am wrong in this conclusion, please would someone say.

 

So my tablet is in fact doing quite a lot of work, and I should be grateful that it (and BubbleUPnP) manage all this without consuming much battery. And, if anyone is interested, my setup continues to stream flawlessly, and to remain synced with the renderer, even when my tablet is screen off for an hour+.

[Mark Dirac]

Thanks for that Mike. Yes, I'm confused now.

 

I read all Cebolla's links, and those beyond. And it seemed to me that Moode on my Allo RPi, which is the renderer, cannot go get the stream itself because the component which Moode would use for this - namely upmpdcli - had its Qobuz access revoked in oct19   https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/index.html#news  

 

Is it the case that Moode can be instructed by BubbleUPnP on Android to go fetch Qobuz data using a key from Bubble? Or if not, how does it work?

[Mark Dirac]

On 12/2/2020 at 11:17 PM, David Craff said:

Sorry for my English, this means we change how we manage the audio content from our server to the application.

<deleted>

[Mark Dirac]

On 12/2/2020 at 12:23 PM, David Craff said:

 

Yes you can remove all the content in the cache directory of the application.

@David Craff I have another problem since recent update to 5.7.2-b024. Some tracks play at the wrong (slower) sample rate. Intermittently. Either immediately or after ~20 secs. Perhaps 10% of tracks, only higher bit rate tracks, such as 48kHz and above.  I suspect it's only tracks I have played before.    W10 NUC out USB to a DAC (MDAC). 

 

The tracks play fine on Moode on RPi out S/PDIF to same DAC.

 

On my office system, same problem on W10 HP laptop out USB to a different DAC (Pro-Ject). But 5.7.2-b022

 

For example: https://open.qobuz.com/track/15921513   plays at 88.2kHz, sometimes at 44.1kHz.

This: https://open.qobuz.com/track/66039807   plays at 96kHz, sometimes switching to 48kHz, then after 20 secs to 44.1kHz.

 

I've taken many days (after update) before reporting it 'cos I thought problem was caused by me playing around with a new Uptone Regen, and have been trying to fault-find it myself. But - I've never connected the Regen to my HP office system, and so that cannot be the cause.

 

W10 is well-maintained. Sound control panels correctly set "take control, exclusive". Broadband is strong. Storage (incl. cache) is set to my D: drive on the NUC and C: on the HP.

[Mark Dirac]

On 12/8/2020 at 8:37 AM, David Craff said:

 

 

Thanks for this feedback. I will try to reproduce and fix it.

 

Regards

I've noticed a couple of tracks switching to a higher sample rate than stated in the app. Let me know if you would like me to post or PM further examples.