Official Qobuz Issues Thread

[exdmd]

For those using the latest desktop app for Windows 10 what have you found the optimum playback settings to be? I am using:

 

 

but since little guidance is given I am wondering if the settings should be tweaked more for best sound quality.

[exdmd]

Yup in Win 10 the desktop app just updated to 5.0.0-b002 also. Haven't used it enough to see if it fixed the issues with distorted playback I was having as Audirvana+ just works so well.

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I have both Tidal and Qobuz as I managed to sign up for the US beta when it was open. They sound equally good to me. Some content I want to listen to is only available on Tidal. If you use Roon Qobuz is not yet compatible and some listeners claim they can hear watermarks on Tidal but not Qobuz. I haven't but something to consider. Classical selection is much better on Qobuz, but a downside is the Qobuz Windows 10 desktop app has been buggy, often started distorting after playing for ten minutes or so requiring a restart. I switched to using Audirvana+ with Qobuz and now have no problems. Overall if I had to choose just one streaming service I would drop Tidal and stay with Qobuz using Audirvana+.

[exdmd]

On 1/9/2019 at 6:02 PM, Peter Hyatt said:

Is there an estimate on how long the beta testing will continue for?

 

i don’t want my account disrupted!  

 

The sound & selection are on are the best these ears & eyes have experienced. 

 

When I signed up for the beta back in November I had to give a credit card and when the 30 day free trial was over my card started getting charged so I am now a permanent subscriber.

[exdmd]

Same here On Win 10 but I have not tried the web player. Using Wasapi exclusive mode sound on the version 5.0.2-b002 desktop app begins to distort after about five minutes of playing requiring a restart. Because of that I am using Audirvana+ for Qobuz instead of the app but go back occasionally to get the latest update to see if the problem has been fixed. Tried it again last night and distortion still present.

[exdmd]

6 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Hi,

 

Sorry never aware about this issue before. Do you have the same when playing on Wasapi without exclusive mode ? And why playing with exclusive mode ?

 

When you have this issue, is it with all track or the track you listen is longer than 5 minutes ?

 

Regards

 

Hi David,

 

We talked about this issue by PM back in November you might recall. The Qobuz app came configured to use Wasapi exclusive mode which is also what I use with Tidal. I can't finish a track without sound starting to distort. Switching to Wasapi (non exclusive mode) gets rid of the distortion but causes drop outs which get worse as tracks play. I also notice that on Wasapi non exclusive 24/192 tracks only play at 24/96 e.g Eric Clapton's Slowhand. These problems happen with all tracks. I have no playback problems when I access Qobuz using Audirvana+ for Windows 10 which is what I routinely use now. Others are also having problems with the Windows app as reported on other forums.

[exdmd]

1 hour ago, David Craff said:

 

Ok sorry lot's of PM and think to do  Thanks for the recall. I will investigate this issue again. Can you tell me your audio device ?

Regards

 

Windows 10 Pro on a HP laptop via USB to a Schiit Yggdrasil Analog 2 DAC.

[exdmd]

I will be dropping Tidal for Qobuz since playback using Audirvana+ is rock solid for me. I seem to be in the minority of Windows 10 users who are having sound quality problems with the Qobuz desktop app or there would be complaints all over the forums. I suspect that it is may be a hardware or driver latency issue with my brand laptop. Using the LatencyMon test my laptop fails, and this is with Win 10 Pro completely up to date, also all drivers updated using the HP support assistant.

[exdmd]

4 hours ago, rickca said:

 

 

Sorry I don't know how to get a screenshot of just the error message.  If you click on the image it will enlarge enough to read the error message.

 

Type snip into the search box and bring up the Windows snipping tool that will let you capture a portion of the desktop.

[exdmd]

Since I am a long time Amazon Prime customer I took advantage of the 90 day free trial to see what the fuss is about Amazon Music HD since the mainstream press is going on about how good it sounds at a bargain price.

 

I imagine Qobuz is too polite to criticize a competitor so it is up to us. Amazon Music HD launched without even having Wasapi exclusive mode integrated into their desktop app. I imagine that is the main reason sound quality is inferior to Qobuz. And having to go into Windows mixer and set the proper sample rate and bit depth for each song? Makes me think Amazon rushed to market or just does not care about ultimate sound quality and definitely is not targeting audiophiles.

[exdmd]

3 hours ago, goon525 said:

People might be interested to know that the UK magazine Hi-Fi Choice has just done a comparative review of pretty much all the streaming services, including the new Amazon HD, and the specialist classical Prinephonic. Qobuz was the overall winner, only one to get a full five stars, and sound quality was preferred to Tidal etc.

 

Did Hi-Fi choice comment on the lack of exclusive mode playback using the Amazon Music HD app?

[exdmd]

@MikeyFresh I have the same problem. It seems the beta testers were signed up on the Great Britain Qobuz site even though they live in the US. When you are logged in if you check the URL you will see you are transferred over to the GB site when you log in.

 

I opened a customer support ticket to get it sorted out. It looks like the lower pricing is only offered to US residents right now. Your other option would be to cancel your plan then sign up again on the US site using a different email and credit card. I would give the customer service option a try first.

[exdmd]

2 hours ago, alandbush said:

You could simply use the following link

 

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/music/streaming/offers

 

provided by The Computer audiophile from the Qobuz drops prices thread.

 

 

Does not work. When I log in from that link I am automatically redirected to the GB shop and my account shows I am associated with Great Britain even though I signed up for the beta from the US. Letting customer service sort it out, they will have to manually change my country of origin looks like.

[exdmd]

On 11/9/2019 at 9:52 AM, exdmd said:

 

Does not work. When I log in from that link I am automatically redirected to the GB shop and my account shows I am associated with Great Britain even though I signed up for the beta from the US. Letting customer service sort it out, they will have to manually change my country of origin looks like.

 

I have had a customer support ticket open 4 days with Qobuz with no answer to this. I will give them another day then cancel my subscription. I have been over paying in British pounds all along when I should have been charged in dollars. I may register a new account from the US or switch to Tidal for a while.

[exdmd]

31 minutes ago, MikeyFresh said:

 

I only waited about 24 hours with no ticket response from Qobuz support before just deleting my old U.S. beta tester account that was linked to their U.K. site.

 

Might have been nice if Qobuz had reacted to my support ticket (still nothing since Saturday afternoon), but no big deal, after deleting the original account I set-up a new one on the U.S. site and all is functioning properly now on Windows, Mac, and Android.

 

Thanks, nice to have confirmation that Qobuz needs to improve customer support. You would think they would respond faster than this.

[exdmd]

1 hour ago, MikeyFresh said:

 

There was an announcement yesterday on What Hi-Fi? that seemed to indicate the new subscription plan was now available in the U.K. for £14.99/mo. or £149/yr.

Still more expensive than in the U.S. when adjusted for currency valuation, however that's likely the best you will do with it.

 

If you VPN to London the price of Qobuz Studio at the /gb-en/ store is still £24.99/month. That is what they were charging me for the US beta. I had to cancel my subscription and sign up again at the US store to get the $14.99 price I got tired of waiting for customer service to get back to me.

[exdmd]

1 hour ago, Tinnitus Andronicus said:

Glad that David and Qobuz are listening to our complaints and requests and working on things (thanks, guys) but yeah, these various little issues can be frustrating and add up to diminished enjoyment of our discovery and listening experience. I have not noticed the above issue regarding search results but I have thought that this could be improved by adding tabs to the design, so you could click on anything in the search results and it would open in a new tab, while keeping the search page visible without having to hit the back button. I suppose that has already been suggested in the Qobuz feature requests thread (if not then it should be).

 

Streaming is a new thing for me. I've only been using Qobuz for three weeks now and I'm going to give it another month or two, and in the meantime I will check out Tidal for a couple months. It's amazing having instant access to so much music in hi-res or CD quality sound, but if I am running into too many obstacles and hurdles in the listening experience I may just give up the whole notion of streaming and go back to listening to my large local library in lossless sound on JRiver, where I have a stable playback environment without bugs or glitches that doesn't depend on internet performance either.

 

As it stands, with Qobuz I am limiting my listening to playing whole albums at a time, and the sound is spectacular and the only interruption is an occasional hiccup or the thing where it hangs at the end of a song and I need to manually advance to the next track. Annoying, and I'd like to be able to hear the music that is available in 24/192 resolution. If things don't improve in the next few weeks then I probably won't keep my subscription going. At least they are working on the problems...

We need to support Qobuz with the Amazon behemoth breathing down our necks. If you are annoyed at an occasional error on playback suggest you give the 15 day free trial of Audirvana player a go. It has always worked flawlessly with Qobuz for me.