Qobuz Feature Requests

[jacobacci]

In my view the only way to enjoy (I'm explicitly not saying "use") Qobuz in high end quality  is by running the destop app on OSX or Windows and then connecting directly to the DAC. This gives me

• access to all the information Qobuz provides about the music
• easy browsing (no 500 favorite albums limit, full track grouping information for classical), as Qobuz intended it
• lossless reproduction via USB or SPDIF

I am not always close to my DAC with my laptop, so I need to resort to Volumio or some other streaming endpoint and use their Qobuz interface. Sound quality is excellent, but the browsing experience is not.

 

I am looking for a way to use the Qobuz app on an Android or iOS tablet as a remote control for a streaming device or DAC. I know I can connect an iOS tablet via OTG / USB to a DAC, but having to use a wired connection kind of defeats the purpose of remote. With android no dice at all.

 

Streaming to Chromecast Audio is provided for and almost solves the problem, but 

• CCA is EOL
• CCA does not do gapless
• CCA does not do 24/192kHz
• CCA is optical out only

So here's my Christmas wish:

Please build a lightweight streamer running on Raspberry Pi 4 that can be remote controlled from the Qobuz app (Win, OSX, Android, iOS).

 

You probably already have 90% of what it would take. In the Qobuz app for OSX you have both the browsing and the streaming part which communicate with each other through some protocol. Simply take them apart and put the streaming bit on an RP4 and send the commands to it over WLAN / LAN. OSX is basically Linux, so the port should be easy.

 

To me the lack of a server / streaming client architecture in Qobuz is the main reason I play Qobuz through Roon exclusively (and have to miss out on the browsing experience). 

 

[jacobacci]

50 minutes ago, left channel said:

On the other hand, they have been working on adding a UPnP solution in the desktop apps. Have you played with the beta? Account icon → Music playing → Listening preferences. Any UPnP endpoints it finds will then be listed in Audio Output at the lower right.

 

Thanks for pointing to the UPnP functionality of the desktop app, Left Channel. Yes, I have tried it and thrown it to the bin. It is simply awful (at least with my hardware). Forget gapless, forget metadata. The UPnP function of BubbleUPnP is heaven in comparison. And the tablet apps do not have the UPnP functionality at all, which leaves me back where I started.

 

I am not advocating Qobuz to get into the hardware or software business. That would be an insane move for them. What I am suggesting is either a plugin for dietpi (probably the simplest solution) or a Qobuz image for Raspberry Pi that acts as a simple Qobuz renderer, controlled by the Qobuz app. The functionality for that is there in the (linux based) OSX app. The quality of such a plugin would be much easier to ensure than the quality of the partner implementations (such as Volumio, LMS Qobuz plugin, mconnect etc.). Most of the partner implementations have bugs that impact the user experience significantly.  The most blatant ones being

• the 500 favorites albums limit (that Volumio to date still has not remedied)
• the display of track groupings for classical (which most of them still struggle with)

With their own "official" renderer plugin,  Qobuz would have end to end control and a way to stream the service to DACs in high quality.

[jacobacci]

19 minutes ago, David Craff said:

This feature is in the backlog

 

Now that would go a long way towards my christmas wish!

[jacobacci]

On 11/4/2019 at 5:37 PM, left channel said:

But Qobuz does offer their API and support to third-party devs, at no charge as far as I know (though the API is no longer public due to some abuse out there).

Yes, Volumio, mconnect and co use the API in their apps for the Qobuz client. That means these companies need to build their own UI using the API. This also means (almost) all stumbled over some ascpects of the API such as the retrieval of more than 500 favorite albums.

A nice sideffect of an official Qobuz renderer plugin would be that it would allow other streamers to use the plugin within their own app.

And the biggest advantage would be that it requires minimal hardware (wouldn't mind it being limited to armv7 / Raspberry) and would allow full remote control via the Qobuz app.

 

[jacobacci]

2 minutes ago, left channel said:

 

The 500 favorite limit was fixed for LMS by one guy in about one hour, so I don't know what the holdup is on those other platforms. But Qobuz is a small company with a very long backlog of dev work ahead of them. If this fix were on their list too, that one hour might not happen until a decade from now... 🙂

Unfortunately not everyone has someone like Michael ….

😀

[jacobacci]

I have just received a customer survey regarding usefulness of features and requested new features.

At the top I have put the ability to remote control the Qobuz desktop app.

Why? Streamers attached directly to a DAC are usually headless. No screen, no keyboard, no mouse. I use a NUC for this purpose and connect to my DAC via USB. For me it is a hassle to have to use my laptop to control Qobuz Dekstop on the NUC via Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop on a tablet or phone is virtually unusable. 

@David Craff , you have stated before that this feature is on the roadmap. Any visibility on ETA?

[jacobacci]

Tidal streams Dolby Atmos material. I listen to it on my Samsung Tab S5e (which is Dolby Atmos capable and has four speakers). Sounds extraordinary, obviously with limited bass though.

I was surprised not to find "Atmos" mentioned in this thread. Has Qobuz looked into streaming Dolby Atmos?

 

[jacobacci]

I have been trying to get 'Amor', a 2x HD remastered album by Amanda Martinez in DXD here in Europe. Not possible. ProStudioMasters deliver only to US and Canada and nativeDSD indicated the album is mastered in DXD, hence does not qualify for the nativeDSD shop.

So my last hope is Qobuz and here's my feature request.

Please offer DXD albums for purchase and download. This should be doable without needing any investment into the streaming platform. That can stay limited to 24/192kHz.

This is the album in question:

https://www.prostudiomasters.com/search?cs=1&q=Amanda+martinez#x

Thanks for listening

Rudi

 

[jacobacci]

14 hours ago, firedog said:

Just use a VPN to register

Worked like a breeze, thank you

[jacobacci]

On 9/17/2022 at 12:24 PM, hopkins said:

I could be wrong, but it seems to me very little has changed in the past few years I have been using Qobuz. I am very much looking forward to a Connect feature, for example. 

Also eagerly awaiting the availability of Qobuz Connect. The only way to get the full multi-level Qobuz track info is via the Qobuz App. See the following two screenshots of Volumio and the Windows Qobuz app:

 

Volumio does not retrieve all Qobuz track information - Volumio Development / Bug reports - Volumio

 

With every new design feature Qobuz introduce in the Qobuz app, all the other Streaming software providers using the Qobuz API have to play catch up. Best solution to do away with all this would be Qobuz connect.

[jacobacci]

I know it has been discussed forever that BBC Radio 3 is streamed in the UK @320kbps and outside the UK @96kbps. I can very well understand the reasons why the BBC is imposing this limitation. It’s servers would implode if suddenly the whole world would stream the proms at 320kbps.

Now what if Qobuz were to offer a 48kHz (derived from the original 320kbps AAC BBC stream) live stream of BBC Radio 3 to its customers?
With a Qobuz stream, the situation would be completely different. BBC would have one link to Qobuz, providing the live signal. Whether that one link is 320kbps or 96kbps makes no difference server capacity (or cost) wise to BBC.
Qobuz could really stand out from the crowd if it negotiated a deal with the BBC allowing it to redistribute the 320kbps original signal to its (paying) customers outside the UK.
The fact that the 320kbps signal is available in DVB-C MPEG2 via cable networks outside the UK (Switzerland in my case) proves that this is possible. BBC does enter into agreements like this.

[jacobacci]

Not really feature request but a question. I noticed that some albums and tracks on Qobuz have a small E symbol in a circle. What does this symbol mean?

Searching for E has not really yielded anything.

[jacobacci]

@David Craff I am still confused. Some Albums have two versions, one with 'E' and one without. Are the explicit bits covered with beeps in the 'non E' version? See the sttached examples: