Official Qobuz Issues Thread

[hsmeets]

5 hours ago, Sal1950 said:

Qobuz “unfolds” resolutions from 16/44 to 24/192 on any computer or capable device from FLAC files. 

 

I guess Qobuz should be very carefull with such statements. They should avoid the word 'unfold' as the black plaque. Also avoid leaving the impression that anything above 16/44 is merely an upsample by Qobuz software/player (although the file supplied by the label just might be that).

 

[mourip]

15 hours ago, David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist said:

Very true, but we're not close to finishing getting more hi-res files or getting the proper agreements for rights to stream hi-res files. A task that will never end.

 

Hi David,

I am looking forward to the US launch and have a question. I use JRiver Media Center on my music server to play through the Dante Virtual Soundcard driver out via my ethernet adapter to my Focusrite Rednet ethernet to AES converter. I am extremely happy with the sound quality and so am hesitant to change this configuration. Do you think that it is possible that you might consider partnering with JRiver?

 

To others reading here: Have any of you using a Dante based system been able to get Qobuz working on your music server directly via the Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS)?

[Sevenfeet]

5 hours ago, hsmeets said:

 

I guess Qobuz should be very carefull with such statements. They should avoid the word 'unfold' as the black plaque. Also avoid leaving the impression that anything above 16/44 is merely an upsample by Qobuz software/player (although the file supplied by the label just might be that).

 

 

True.  "Unfold" leads to associations with how MQA works and Meridian may have issues with that.  While I enjoy MQA and think it's interesting, I still think that it's a technology that isn't completely necessary in today's high bandwidth home internet landscape.  If you can stream a Netflix show at 1080p, you can also do uncompressed 24/192 music with no fuss.

[David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist]

1 minute ago, Sevenfeet said:

 

True.  "Unfold" leads to associations with how MQA works and Meridian may have issues with that.  While I enjoy MQA and think it's interesting, I still think that it's a technology that isn't completely necessary in today's high bandwidth home internet landscape.  If you can stream a Netflix show at 1080p, you can also do uncompressed 24/192 music with no fuss.

Sorry all. This was totally tongue and cheek. 

Qobuz sends flac files. 

[David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist]

13 hours ago, Sal1950 said:

I'm still trying to figure out what this means???

 

S&V: What differentiates Qobuz from other music providers, especially Tidal?
DS: Qobuz, is more like Apple Music, if it were high-resolution. You can stream and download music. Unlike Apple and Tidal, Qobuz will be the first streaming platform in North America that offers true high-resolution music, up to 24/192. There’s no need for a special DAC or server. Qobuz “unfolds” resolutions from 16/44 to 24/192 on any computer or capable device from FLAC files.

Read more at https://www.soundandvision.com/content/qobuz-coming-america#HwVbWAcRSMqKclvX.99

 

Hi Sal, Let me clarify.

 

It's like Apple in that you can download music that you can purchase on our site. If you belong to the top tier, it will cost about the same as an mp3 from Apple. 

 

With Tidal, you can offline only to your phone. With Qobuz, you can also offline anything on the site to your computer at the resolution on the site. When I say "true" resolution, there is no special encoding/decoding process other than rendering a FLAC file, so any DAC that will resolve 24/192 can playback in full resolution on any device that can do the same. 

 

All of the music is in FLAC, so when you play tracks, you get a full, bit-perfect recording. 

 

Hope this helps. 

[David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist]

Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I'll be out of the office all next week at CEDIA. If I'm a little slow on the uptake, please forgive. 

 

 

[wdw]

Hello David,

Do you have a timeline for introduction to Canada?

Thanks,
wdw

[David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist]

Just now, wdw said:

Hello David,

Do you have a timeline for introduction to Canada?

Thanks,
wdw

We're shooting for 6-8 weeks after the US. 

[wdw]

Just now, David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist said:

We're shooting for 6-8 weeks after the US. 

 

perfect.

 

Best

wdw

[austinpop]

23 minutes ago, David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist said:

Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I'll be out of the office all next week at CEDIA. If I'm a little slow on the uptake, please forgive. 

 

Hi David,

 

The big open question from me, Chris, and several others here - that you have not addressed - is the "incorrect" labeling of albums as "Hi-Res," when it turns out the stream content is not - either it is Redbook, or in some cases, just samples.

 

I say "incorrect" in quotes because perhaps this is a difference in perspective between us, streaming users, and say, download buyers. It appears in the cases cited, the content was indeed purchasable in high-res, just not enabled for streaming.

 

I understand the business forces that drive these - the question for you, and Qobuz, as you poise for launch in the US is this - what do you guys plan to do about this?

 

My perspective - I suspect it is shared by many potential subscribers - is that the content should accurately reflect what is streamable. An even better option would be to show both - the highest streamable format, and the highest purchasable format.

 

It sounds like you are swamped. I am hoping that you and Chris @The Computer Audiophile will have a chance to discuss this in person at Cedia. Chris, please update us.  

[David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist]

2 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Hi David,

 

The big open question from me, Chris, and several others here - that you have not addressed - is the "incorrect" labeling of albums as "Hi-Res," when it turns out the stream content is not - either it is Redbook, or in some cases, just samples.

 

I say "incorrect" in quotes because perhaps this is a difference in perspective between us, streaming users, and say, download buyers. It appears in the cases cited, the content was indeed purchasable in high-res, just not enabled for streaming.

 

I understand the business forces that drive these - the question for you, and Qobuz, as you poise for launch in the US is this - what do you guys plan to do about this?

 

My perspective - I suspect it is shared by many potential subscribers - is that the content should accurately reflect what is streamable. An even better option would be to show both - the highest streamable format, and the highest purchasable format.

 

It sounds like you are swamped. I am hoping that you and Chris @The Computer Audiophile will have a chance to discuss this in person at Cedia. Chris, please update us.  

 

Hi Austinpop, I have brought this to the attention of the engineers. they are looking into this mislabeling as it seems to be in a good number of places. I was in Van Morrison today and there was one mislabeled there too. They are aware of this and there's no bait and switch as reported in an earlier post. You see the sampling rate and word depth upon hitting play. This is a simple coding mistake and is being addressed. Thanks for your patience. 

[austinpop]

Hi David,

 

2 minutes ago, David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist said:

You see the sampling rate and word depth upon hitting play.

 

I hope you've appreciated why  from a streaming user's perspective, this is far too late? You want them to know before they hit play what resolution to expect... and the playback resolution should match what they've been shown on the display. Always.

 

2 minutes ago, David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist said:

This is a simple coding mistake and is being addressed.

 

Very encouraging to hear, although it will be good to understand what is being addressed - just making the labels accurate, or solving the underlying agreements with the content providers to allow hi-res streaming of their content. Both are necessary.

 

2 minutes ago, David.. Qobuz, Hi-Res Music Evangelist said:

Thanks for your patience. 

 

For now, definitely. We realize you are still pre-launch in the US.

[Cebolla]

6 hours ago, mourip said:

I use JRiver Media Center on my music server to play through the Dante Virtual Soundcard driver out via my ethernet adapter to my Focusrite Rednet ethernet to AES converter. I am extremely happy with the sound quality and so am hesitant to change this configuration. Do you think that it is possible that you might consider partnering with JRiver?

 

Have you approached JRiver to see if they'll consider providing direct access to Qobuz from the JRiver Media Center via a redesign? The Qobuz Application Programming Interface is already available for this purpose:

Qobuz official API documentation

 

For now, you should be able to get able to get your JRiver Media Center to play Qobuz's audio file tracks by using its built-in UPnP/DLNA renderer and so use its playback engine to output the audio to the Dante Virtual Soundcard driver, using one or more of the UPnP supporting applications that provide access to Qobuz.

 

Are you running JMC with the Dante Virtual Soundcard on a Windows or Mac machine?

Are you using a remote control app for JRiver (eg JRemote) on a handheld device with this setup and if so what is the handheld device?

[Miska]

I'm just curious, since Qobuz is not available in Finland I cannot try myself; has anyone tried streaming Qobuz to HQPlayer Embedded using UPnP? If Qobuz supports sending streams out to UPnP Renderer, it should work...

 

[EuroChamp]

50 minutes ago, Miska said:

I'm just curious, since Qobuz is not available in Finland I cannot try myself; has anyone tried streaming Qobuz to HQPlayer Embedded using UPnP? If Qobuz supports sending streams out to UPnP Renderer, it should work...

 

 

The Qobuz software does not, but 3rd party software does, like BubbleUPnP.

[Miska]

Just now, EuroChamp said:

 

The Qobuz software does not, but 3rd party software does, like BubbleUPnP.

 

Ahh, OK, I somehow have got a picture that Qobuz application would have UPnP capabilities. I know BubbleUPnP works with when used with Tidal, so Qobuz will likely work too.

 

[Cebolla]

The Qobuz desktop app did have (beta) UPnP control point capabilities, but apparently it has been (temporarily?) disabled due to it not behaving very well with the majority of UPnP renderers it has been tried with.

[mourip]

1 hour ago, Cebolla said:

 

Have you approached JRiver to see if they'll consider providing direct access to Qobuz from the JRiver Media Center via a redesign? The Qobuz Application Programming Interface is already available for this purpose:

Qobuz official API documentation

 

For now, you should be able to get able to get your JRiver Media Center to play Qobuz's audio file tracks by using its built-in UPnP/DLNA renderer and so use its playback engine to output the audio to the Dante Virtual Soundcard driver, using one or more of the UPnP supporting applications that provide access to Qobuz.

 

Are you running JMC with the Dante Virtual Soundcard on a Windows or Mac machine?

Are you using a remote control app for JRiver (eg JRemote) on a handheld device with this setup and if so what is the handheld device?

Thanks for the reply. I have not approached JRMC yet but that is a good suggestion. However from reading previous conversations online they do not seem very inclined to play with others and also seem to have now tentatively dipped their toes into online streaming themselves.

 

I use Win2012 R2 and control it from my iPhone using JRemote. Works really well. Sometimes I also use RDP to the server.

 

Another option is for me to use USB out from my server but that would require some manual switching on either my DAC or my Mutec 3+ USB to switch away from AES. Plus I have found Dante to be a lot better sounding than the USB implementations I have tried.

[shadowlight]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

I'm just curious, since Qobuz is not available in Finland I cannot try myself; has anyone tried streaming Qobuz to HQPlayer Embedded using UPnP? If Qobuz supports sending streams out to UPnP Renderer, it should work...

 

Right now I am able to stream one song at a time to HQPlayer Embedded with Qobuz desktop app.  I am waiting for Qobuz team to complete US rollout before I forward the logs to support.

[Cebolla]

On 8/25/2018 at 10:43 PM, left channel said:

The latest update to the Windows app seems to have removed the UPnP/DLNA beta, as David recommended.

 

On 8/26/2018 at 12:10 AM, shadowlight said:

On 8/26/2018 at 12:02 AM, left channel said:

After the update it took a short while for the option to disappear. I can still see my network players in Windows and other apps.

I will keep an eye out for it to disappear.

 

Ah, so it didn't disappear after all - should have checked for myself!

[shadowlight]

9 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

 

 

Ah, so it didn't disappear after all - should have checked for myself!

It has not disappeared for me yet.  I am still seeing it with desktop version 4.0.28-b015

[Cebolla]

2 hours ago, mourip said:

I use Win2012 R2 and control it from my iPhone using JRemote. Works really well. Sometimes I also use RDP to the server.

 

In which case you have the option of trying the MConnect Player Lite app on the iPhone, which as a standard UPnP control point should be able to control JRMC's built-in UPnP/DLNA renderer and also get it to stream from Qobuz. Don't forget to enable JRMC's UPnP/DLNA renderer if you haven't done so already.

 

Another option would be to try the Linn Kazoo app on the iPhone, though being an OpenHome control point you'll also need to run the BubbleUPnP Server on your Win2012 R2 box and configure it to create an OpenHome renderer for JRMC's UPnP renderer.

[left channel]

4 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Ahh, OK, I somehow have got a picture that Qobuz application would have UPnP capabilities. I know BubbleUPnP works with when used with Tidal, so Qobuz will likely work too.

 

 

One user did get HQPlayer partially working:

 

On 8/26/2018 at 8:04 AM, shadowlight said:

 

I am still seeing the option under mine and I am seeing HQPlayer Embedded based renderer and upmpdcli/mpd.

 

I have gotten it to work with HQPlayer Embedded but right now it only plays one song at at a time.  It is having a hard time sending the subsequent song from playlist.  I have not sat down and collected logs to forward to support, since David has said that the team is busy with US launch.  I will wait after the launch to run some debugging sessions and provide feedback.

 

David asked the dev team to withdraw the UPnP beta it until it's ready. It disappeared from my desktop app, but some are still seeing it. Maybe it just knows my devices aren't supported (an ultraRendu in MPD/DLNA mode, and several Squeezeboxes).

[shadowlight]

7 minutes ago, left channel said:

David asked the dev team to withdraw the UPnP beta it until it's ready. It disappeared from my desktop app, but some are still seeing it. Maybe it just knows my devices aren't supported (an ultraRendu in MPD/DLNA mode, and several Squeezeboxes).

 

I am more than willing to generate any debug logs that Qobuz would need, along with what Miska might need if there is something that needs to be tweaked under HQPlayer.

[asdf1000]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Ahh, OK, I somehow have got a picture that Qobuz application would have UPnP capabilities. I know BubbleUPnP works with when used with Tidal, so Qobuz will likely work too.

 

 

When UPnP output was available in the Qobuz desktop app (beta), I tried to play to HQP Embedded and it never worked.

 

I sent logs to Qobuz support (cc'ed you in the email also). They never replied though.

 

Hopefully when UPnP support returns later it does work and I'll try again.