Official Qobuz Issues Thread

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1 hour ago, mansr said:

That likely means the Tidal Hifi version is MQA-44/16 whereas Tidal Master is MQA-48/24.

 

But there is only one album. Tidal normally makes two versions available, one 44.1/16 and one Master. This is an MQA album, playing through non-MQA and MQA apps regardless.

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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.

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18 minutes ago, wklie said:

 

Please confirm you're using Fast Rolloff filter of your DAC.  Perhaps retry the different settings of Distortion Compensation.

 

Filters are automatically disabled in MQA mode, and there's no way to turn off MQA mode. Enabling or disabling Distortion Compensation has no effect on this problem.

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1 hour ago, Mark Dirac said:

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

 

The slowness of the Qobuz app for Windows? Not worth speculating about at this point, as they have all our reports and are working on an update. I'm now focused on the MQA problem, and am wondering which albums have caused dropouts for you. This is another Windows app defect, as I can play the same album through a third-party Qobuz app with no serious problems, though only Tidal fully decodes it.

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The link to the web player seems to have disappeared from the Qobuz US website, but it's still available via play.qobuz.com

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On 3/20/2019 at 9:17 AM, mourip said:

 

So this brings a question to mind...

 

Roon allows many devices/endpoints and the ability to play from more than one endpoint at the same time with different material.

 

Given that Qobuz can be accessed via a Roon account how does that work?

 

 

I believe that, as with LMS, Qobuz sees only one client on your end: your server, or what is known in the Rooniverse as the core.

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@sockpit I would be impatient if it didn't work with my system too, but remember Qobuz is a very small company, with about 60 employees on LinkedIn vs. Tidal's 260 (and Apple's 200 thousand), and under the new ownership their growth costs seem be managed very conservatively unlike their competitors who are bleeding red ink.

Yamaha is actually listed on the Qobuz app partners page, though that may be for specific recent products. Also someone at Qobuz tested MusicCast on a few Yamaha products a couple years ago, but that article is confusing.

DTS Play-Fi is a big one. and they've been in there for about two years, since about the same time Play-Fi was upgraded to handle 24/192. I don't know why it's not listed on the partners page by itself, but it is in many of the products there including Anthem.

 

I own an Anthem preamp, but I find Play-Fi too clunky so I've been using the LMS plugin for Qobuz, through a Sonore ultraRendu, computers, and Squeezeboxes, and only rely on the official Qobuz apps for single-device use.

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1 hour ago, jvvita said:

 

What is this LMS plugin? Does it cast directly to the ultraRendu?

 

LMS = Logitech Media Center, formerly SqueezeBox Server.  Download and install the free LMS server on Win/Mac/Linux, and Squeezelite from the list of apps on the ultraRendu. LMS will serve local downloads/rips, internet radio, and with the help of free plugins much more including Qobuz. Control via any number of apps including Squeezelite-X for Windows 10, Squeezer for Android, a web app with an optional Material Skin, and others.

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22 minutes ago, jvvita said:

Thanks. But as I understand, it connects itself to Qobuz, and does not use the Qobuz client. Is that so?

 

Correct. Like Roon, but free.

 

Edit: I almost forgot, because I don't use it this way, but you can also activate Squeezebox Server on the ultraRendu itself, then install the Qobuz plugin and control it via the web or a phone app. The Material Skin plugin is also recommended. Local file storage is limited in a 'Rendu of course, but streaming should work fine.

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1 hour ago, jvvita said:

Does anyone know any solution that allows to cache/download the Qobuz song, and then stream it offline, without depending upon the Qobuz client?

 

As far as I know, neither audirvana, or Roon, allows for this. 

 

And this is my real pain point from the inability to dlna from the Qobuz app to ultraRendu. 

 

25 minutes ago, jvvita said:

But does it cache the song for offline playing?

 

The Qobuz app will cache a song for offline playback through only the same Qobuz app. If you want to play it offline through another app, you should buy and download the song from the Qobuz download store.

 

If you somehow manage to get another app to read the Qobuz cache, it will be an un-indexed mess. The offline cache does not contain "downloads" in the normal meaning of the word.

 

LMS and, as far as I know, other third-party apps do not cache Qobuz streams for offline playback.

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My Qobuz app for Windows just received a major update. Thank you, Qobuz team!

 

Changes include "Displaying Hi-Res logo based on streaming rights only".  I now see "Only available in download" above the Hi-Res logo for an album that downloads in 24/38 but streams in 16/44.1. That wording is not exactly clear, as it is not "only" available as a download, and will also stream in low-res. Also, this does not appear to fix the meta data that third-party apps like LMS rely upon. In LMS I still see "Hi-Res" tag in the title of an album that will stream only in low-res.

 

Another change, "Upgraded all libraries used by the application" may mean performance improvements. I will test that soon too. There's the full list from Account > About > Versions:

 

[Release 5.0.3]

    Displaying 'display name' for username instead of 'login'
    Displaying 'display name' for playlist owner instead of 'login'
    Displaying Hi-Res logo based on streaming rights only
    Added right-click browse link on the download page
    Improved display of tracks, works and versions
    Fixed: security vulnerability node.js
    Fixed: changing of the track order of a playlist not available when deleting a track
    Fixed: the link to the playlist does not work, in the track addition confirmation popin

    Fixed: cache error when reading track sample
    Fixed: crash when leaving application on Mac Os Mojave
    Another fix for buffer issue when listening
    Improved application performance
    Upgraded all libraries used by the application

 

 

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Typo, too late to change: "downloads in 24/48 but streams in 16/44.1".  Not "24/38"...   🙂

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I tested the "upgraded all libraries" change for performance improvements. Startup and navigation do seem faster, but still take twice as long as in the Tidal app. That difference is significant on slow computers like my Celeron streamer. And on that PC, the delay before playing each track is still so slow as to make the app unusable. Tidal has no such problem. That little fanless PC is primarily for streaming from LMS to Squeezelite-X, but we often bring up the Tidal app for written content and videos (and to argue about Masters:).

 

Also re Hi-Res download vs. streaming, over on the slimdevices forum I've posted a request that Michael look for any changes under the hood which may allow the Qobuz plugin LMS to know about this as well.

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It seems my "24/38" will live on in quotes forever... 🙂

 

Let's see, does that refer to a handgun caliber?  A bible verse?

Ah yes, Matthew 24:38, "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,"

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7 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

That was redacted from the Aramaic original, which says "... until the day when Noah entered the ark and first heard MQA."

 

😇

 

Further redaction restoration and exegesis of Matthew tell us that upon hearing of MQA, Thanos decreed: "Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day" the Infinity War between Tidal and Qobuz "is coming".

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1 hour ago, Peter Hyatt said:

is website down?

 

After purchasing 3 releases, the download link is dead and "my account" reverts to "Beta version" main page 

 

The download store seems to be back up in the US.  But "My Account" takes me to the main page, because I think they are replacing it with the account menu that displays your username, and haven't finished all pages yet. From that menu, I can get into My Account by selecting "My profile".

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On 4/2/2019 at 8:30 AM, left channel said:

Changes include "Displaying Hi-Res logo based on streaming rights only". 

 

On 4/2/2019 at 10:05 AM, left channel said:

Also re Hi-Res download vs. streaming, over on the slimdevices forum I've posted a request that Michael look for any changes under the hood which may allow the Qobuz plugin LMS to know about this as well.

 

I'm happy to report that this is now fixed in LMS too! Michael did fast work. Only albums that are actually available for streaming in Hi-Res will have "(Hi-Res)" appended to the title in Squeezebox/Squeezelite/etc. players.

Next I'll ask the developer of UAPP to investigate the same issue. UAPP still displays the Hi-Res Audio logo on any album that can be downloaded in Hi-Res, regardless of streaming rights.

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12 hours ago, left channel said:

 

 

I'm happy to report that this is now fixed in LMS too! Michael did fast work. Only albums that are actually available for streaming in Hi-Res will have "(Hi-Res)" appended to the title in Squeezebox/Squeezelite/etc. players.

Next I'll ask the developer of UAPP to investigate the same issue. UAPP still displays the Hi-Res Audio logo on any album that can be downloaded in Hi-Res, regardless of streaming rights.

 

6 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Thanks for your help

 

You can send us that API documentation is updated https://github.com/Qobuz/api-documentation#hi-res-in-api

 

Thanks David! The developer of UAPP has solved the problem too. The fix will be in an upcoming update.

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49 minutes ago, Daverz said:

Is anyone else having problems with playback skipping forward to the next track?  It's been happening a lot lately.  I'm using the LMS Qobuz app.

 

That's not happening to me in LMS or the official apps, and I use them all regularly. I haven't seen reports of that in the LMS forum Qobuz plugin thread either. As you're probably planning, if you only see it in LMS then I would post a question there.

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16 minutes ago, abvolt said:

Anyone having issues after the last update a few days ago ? I sure am issue after issue, the latest is the bar at the bottom indicating how much time is left on a song, sometimes I like to rewind a little to hear part of a piece over and after this last update almost every time it crashes the app when I do that never did that before. Wish Qobuz had their own forum's really weird not to now days.. 

 

I can't reproduce that and am not experiencing other issues with version 5.0.4 for Windows, but it will help Qobuz if you report all problems via https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/help/contact

 

 

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On 6/16/2019 at 11:05 AM, Polyglot said:

I started my trial of Qobuz, however I am having a problem streaming high definition albums. When streaming a high definition track pops can be heard until after a few minutes the track becomes altogether distorted and unlistenable. The laptop I am using for streaming is old and underpowered, however it runs Tidal perfectly and operates under Windows 10. I have no issues on my main computer. Anyone has any idea on how to fix this? I do not wish to get a new laptop at this moment, so unless this can be corrected I will have no option but to cancel my Qoboz membership, whose main attraction is the high definition offering, seeing how Tidal offers a vastly greater catalogue of CD-quality titles. Any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

The Qobuz app is unusable on a low-power Celeron I use as a streaming endpoint. The Tidal app works OK there.  But I normally access both of them via LMS/Squeezebox (with the new Material skin), which runs smoothly on that PC and all other devices here.

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On 6/17/2019 at 5:00 PM, Polyglot said:

 

 

Thanks for your replies. I really do not wish to spend more money on services or equipment at the moment, so Tidal alone will have to do for now. I'd rather invest on some CDs.

 

LMS is free. You would lose the Qobuz written content, though there is an LMS plugin that pulls in AllMusic.com content as well as lyrics from other sites. Still, the main point we're all making here is that the Qobuz folks really need to re-write their desktop app.  

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3 hours ago, Mike48 said:

a professional cataloging specialist (librarian) to devise a workable metadata system and a method for applying it.

 

Good point. Just want to add that nowadays they call that type of person an "information architect".

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On 6/18/2019 at 11:40 PM, RichardSF said:

 

Send a private message to @David Craff of Qobuz and ask about their Windows pre-release test app that addresses this issue.

 

On 6/19/2019 at 7:22 AM, Cebolla said:

As has already been mentioned, Qobuz have already identified the "very slow W10 Qobuz app" issue and a couple of weeks ago supplied a test release with a fix, for willing volunteers with the problem:

 

Thank you @RichardSF & @Cebolla! I've been so busy recently, I thought I'd missed the opportunity and that the most recent 5.0.4 update was already that version. But the test release is 5.0.5, and I am playing with it now.

 

Vast improvement! Even on my low-power Celeron streamer, the performance speed is now mostly smooth and responsive. On my i7 workstation, the performance is even better. There are bugs of course, but of a type to be expected, and I have provided a full report with console logs to David. @_JL_ have you had a chance to try it yet? 

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41 minutes ago, Peter Hyatt said:

5.0.5 ?

 

I'd like to try!

 

Send a PM to @David Craff to request the test version, and let us know how it works for you!