Official Qobuz Issues Thread

[The Computer Audiophile]

50 minutes ago, Talisman said:

Qobuz will need to elevate their Search and Artist Bio game in the wake of the 2020 Grammy announcements. 

 

Album of the Year artists H.E.R. and Lil Nas X can't even be found in a search, although I did find H.E.R.'s nominated album "I Used to Know Her" by searching for the album name.

 

Qobuz has no bio for Lil Nas X, arguably the artist with the most press in 2019 and the only artist ever to hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remain there for 19 weeks. Also, Qobuz has no bio for Album of the Year and Best New Artist nominee Billie Eilish, nor eight-time nominee Lizzo.

 

As you go through the 80 Grammy categories, the holes in metadata pile up, and the missing artists are the opposite of obscure. I realize that it will take Qobuz some time to build out artist profiles and the music library — but the year's most acclaimed artists, songs, and albums are a good place to start.

I absolutely love the latest Billie Eilish album. 
 

Perhaps this is well known and I’m just behind the times, but how is this artist information populated in Qobuz? Does Qobuz use an external service and just ingest it or is it all manual entries of its own writing, or something else?

 

If Qobuz creates it all, I can see why newer artists’ bios are lacking, but the biggest acts of the year should have entires. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, rickca said:

Chrome and other browsers are moving to DNS over HTTPS, so DNS lookups will be encrypted.  But I think the DNS provider has to support the protocol.

And the biggest pushback has come from ISPs and those more interested in controlling this traffic. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, bobfa said:

@bobbmd

 

I will have to write up something to de-mystify the DNS setting.   This is something that you can ?NORMALLY? Change about your network.  Changing DNS is a very very good tool in your toolbox.  This is nothing to be feared.  

 

 

It’s like using a different mapping application on one’s phone. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

27 minutes ago, bobflood said:

AT&T fiber gateways prevent DNS change. If you want to use an alternate DNS server you have to put a third party router after it and put it in the IP Pass-through mode. The current firmware is stable in this configuration in my setup.

Wow. 
 

I have CenturyLink fiber and replaced it’s equipment as soon as I could. It may have the same DNS restrictions. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

To set your own DNS using Comcast/Xfinity hardware you have to disable Safe Browsing, or Protected Browsing, whatever they call it.  You still can't change it on the device, but when you change your computers DNS settings, it actually works rather than being re-directed to Comcasts DNS service.

Saw this at a gas station on 22nd and Lyndale yesterday 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, Sal1950 said:

Remember, as heavy as the competition stands now, you could be the sole provider. 

The sole provider to all four customers 😂

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, left channel said:

 

 

It's a small subset of the audiophile market, but partnerships with exaSound and whoever else makes multichannel DACs could help pull in another four or so every once in a while.

I’m with you. It was only a joke. I wish I had a multi channel setup. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Let's move the Windows 10 WASAPI (Exclusive Mode) conversation to this thread. I have the same issue, but it appear that @Tinnitus Andronicus won't be able to help in troubleshooting. I hope the issue is global, so a solution will help him and others as well. 

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, Polyglot said:

If it were a service I were personally providing I'd be extremely interested in learning users' frustrations with it. This is very valuable information that would help me correct details that I would not otherwise be aware of and which would incur high costs for me to identify on my own, thus being able to provide a better product and survive in the marketplace while profiting from it.

 

Regarding CDs, for someone who loves music and is not just looking for 'convenience', they are an enduring treasure, and I continue to purchase as many as I can. I will likely still be listening to them long after the current crop of streaming services has gone extinct as the market for music continues to evolve. Just the other day I was listening to Wetz's Violin Concerto on streaming and it suffered from a jarring break between tracks where the movement flows seamlessly into the next one. For thirty years of listening to music on CD before the advent of streaming I never experienced this, or the interminable amount of frustration new technology has made possible for us. Things simply worked flawlessly, all the time, and you didn't have to deal with endless, stupid technology issues. You introduced the CD, pressed play, and that was it. Perfect sound forever!

 

Oh well, back to troubleshooting, I hope all our eyes and ears can make Qobuz─certainly the best of all these streaming services─a better product for all of us to enjoy. Cheer up.

 

 

It seems like all the advantages of streaming just aren't for you. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

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...

Based on my experience, your choice of a Windows 10 music server is likely going to disappoint you forever with problems like this. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Polyglot said:

In any case, it seems people here are disinclined to discussion, so let's leave it at that

Given that this site has been around for 2 years and you've been here for about 1.5 year, I'd say you haven't seen most of the discussions. People here love to discuss everything. Too much! 

 

I'd say your comments above come off as pompous, patronizing, and like you parachuted in here to offer information that nobody other than you could possibly know. Followed by how you'd run the business if it was yours. Just my observation of your comments. Nothing personal. Perhaps I've misunderstood you.

 

The Qobuz team has been here since they launched and have listened to everyone. They didn't listen to you but decided to other larger issues first. 

 

Again, nothing personal.

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, Tinnitus Andronicus said:

The audio apps I use regularly on my Windows 10 desktop perform well and dependably

Which apps?

[The Computer Audiophile]

49 minutes ago, firedog said:

don't get the Windows comment either.

I think this thread is evidence that there are issues with Windows apps. It’s a general purpose OS. I don’t get the pushback. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

30 minutes ago, thyname said:

Yeah... Roon, then everything is taken care of. What’s all this fuss?!

Many people go that route. I use a little of everything, including a Windows 10 machine. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I wish there was a good way to contact these labels / bands etc... I'd love the Seger catalog, but don't look forward to spending hours finding the right people, crafting an email, and having it fall on deaf ears. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

50 minutes ago, goon525 said:

Probably not an issue at all for about 90% of us.

I’ll up it to 99% 😁

[The Computer Audiophile]

I agree, a change log would be really nice. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

54 minutes ago, deho said:

After months of trials to use mConnect Player HD and despite the latest update 3.3.25,  I still have problems when streaming Qobuz (or Tidal) HiRes files to my Technics SU-R1 network player.

• drop-outs and lags with HiRes files from Qobuz or Tidal, it works seamlessly with standard resolution files 
• the network connections do not appear to be the culprit since I have a stable high internet throughput of average 80-100Mb/s and all the system is connected through a gigabit LAN + wifi routed through a Synology Router RT2600ac
• the Technics SU-R1 network player buffer capacity doesn’t appear either to be the culprit since streaming Qobuz or Tidal HiRes file works seamlessly after installing BubbleUpNp on my Synology NAS and using on my iPad an OpenHome compatible control application like Lumin or Linn Kazoo.

After having contacted Technics products support, they made some trials with mConnect and answered me (I quote them) : " the quantity of datas sent by the mConnect App to the network player is very significant and overload its the capacity, which then provoke lags or abandon of the reading."

 

I'm quite surprised since it works well with other OpenHome applications. Does mConnect make some treatment to the streamed audio files which increase their size ???

Welcome to the world of UPnP, the most nonstandard standard in the audio world. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

 

It's to do with how the app directs the audio file player to stream the audio file tracks from Qobuz's online server over http, rather than anything to do UPnP.

Huh?

[The Computer Audiophile]

35 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

 

 

It's not really anything to do with UPnP or OpenHome as such, but how the the network player streams the audio file data. as an http client, from the http server that the audio file tracks are originally being supplied from, ie, Qobuz's online server:

 

- The mconnect Player app supplies the network player with the audio file track URLs that resolve (directly) to Qobuz's online server;

- The BubbleUPnP Server's create an OpenHome renderer function supplies the network player with audio file track URLs that resolve to its own (proxy) http server. It is the BubbleUPnP Server that is actually fetching the file tracks directly from Qobuz's online server, so it is buffering them for the network player.

 

Note: the BubbleUPnP Server's create an OpenHome renderer function 'tricks' the OpenHome controllers into controlling it as the OpenHome renderer, not the associated network player the OpenHome renderer was created for. The BubbleUPnP Server translates the OpenHome controller commands into standard UPnP controller commands, which it then sends to the associated network player - so the network player is still being controlled by a UPnP controller, albeit the BubbleUPnP Server's own private internal one!

Also, bear in mind true OpenHome network players, like those made by Linn and Lumin, also stream the audio file tracks directly from Qobuz's online server.

 

 

It looks like Technics SU-R1 is ok when receiving Qobuz's hi-res audio file tracks when they are being buffered by the BubbleUPnP Server running on your Synology NAS, but has problems when receiving them directly from Qobuz's online server.

 

It's possible that the buffering of the audio file tracks by the BubbleUPnP Server on its own is what is helping the SU-R1 or, as I mentioned in my last post, the BubbleUPnP Server may be set (in its Advanced settings) to alter the hi-res file track data itself by transcoding to a lower sample rate and/or bit depth and this is what is actually helping it.

Doesn’t this have everything to do with how UPnP works, in that it doesn’t set actual standards? Roon’s RAAT doesn’t have this issue, neither do USB connected devices. It’s a protocol thing and UPnP is the Wild West. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

36 minutes ago, deho said:

feel less stupid about UpNp and streaming today : thank you all for your explanations.

Here is something I wrote 7 years ago. 
 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, al2813 said:

I am in shock. Just realised I cannot find a whole bunch of Dylan’s classic albums including highway 61, Blond and others. This is using BlueOS app. How is it possible? 

I see them via the Qobuz app. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, al2813 said:

I am in shock. Just realised I cannot find a whole bunch of Dylan’s classic albums including highway 61, Blond and others. This is using BlueOS app. How is it possible? 

Also in the BluOS app. 
 

[The Computer Audiophile]

23 hours ago, Norton said:

My query was addressed to Qobuz, so unless you are a representative of Qobuz your reply is neither helpful or relevant (of course if you are a representative of Qobuz then your reply is just the former of these). In the case of both these labels the original recordings for the SACD releases I have in mind were made in either DSD or hi res PCM and I was thus asking  that Qobuz source 24/96 or 24/192 material from the label, instead of 16/44 if possible.

Hi Norton, please keep in mind people are only trying to help and doing so by giving their valuable free time. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Qobuz app says 63 releases from Metallica. But, I see zero.