Qobuz Windows 10 WASAPI Exclusive Mode Issues

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - I noticed some others have had issues with using the Qobuz desktop app on Windows 10 with WASAPI Exclusive Mode. I have the same issues and want to start this thread to work through them with some help from @David Craff from Qobuz. If you have the issue please jump into the thread. 

 

Issue: Qobuz will not change the sample rate of music playing while using either WASAPI or WASAPI (Exclusive Mode). Here are some screenshots. 

 

 

Qobuz playing a 24/192 file right away before playing anything else, using WASAPI. Sample rate is at 1x (48 kHz).

 

 

 

Qobuz switching (after the track above) to a 44.1 KhZ file and not change of sample rate. 

 

 

 

 

 

Restarted Qobuz, with WASAPI (Exclusive Mode) selected prior to restart. Playing a 44.1 track looks good. 

 

 

 

 

 

Switched to a 24 / 192 track and the sample rate is still at 1x (44.1 kHz). I know Qobuz has exclusive control over the audio device because I can't access it via any other software and the driver's app even says it's being controlled by another app (Qobuz)

 

[Tinnitus Andronicus]

Thanks for starting this thread. In order to limit my typing due to a hand injury, I copy and paste my post from the official Qobuz issues thread here:

 

I signed up for the free month trial a couple weeks ago after they lowered the price to $14.99 for the hi-res streaming. Liking it so far but there are some issues, which I've already reported to Qobuz and got replies from Sebastian about. Yet to be resolved, though...

 

The big one is that even though I am using WASAPI exclusive output to my Rega DAC which supports up to 192kHz audio (works fine with files of that rating when playing local library via JRiver Media Center USB exclusive WASAPI or ASIO), I cannot get proper playback of anything above 96 on the DAC. With 192 or 176.4 files in Qobuz, the sound is slowed down and mangled with digital noise. I tried changing my Qobuz output to the same DAC via ASIO and although it does play the files properly, it is not stable and the program keeps crashing and opening JRiver. So that won't work. It should work as long as JRiver which also has exclusive access to the same DAC is not running in the background, and I have verified that it is not running unless the app is launched and open on my Windows 10 desktop. I would like to be able to listen to the highest res files on my Qobuz app in their native bit depth and sampling rate, but for now I must set my Qobuz playback preferences to 96kHz so that if I play a file with higher sampling rate it does not sound like crap.

 

The other issues relate to playing playlists with varying sampling rates. Some songs in the list are 44.1, some are 96 or 88.2, and when it switches between different songs with different rates, it either upsamples or downsamples and does not play the file at the listed rate. Whereas the same file will play at the native resolution when playing it as part of the album. This needs to get fixed. While I most often like to listen to a full album, I would like to be able to listen to favorite songs or playlists with each track playing at the correct sampling rate.

 

The last issue is that sometimes the player hangs. It stops near the end of a song in an album and I have to manually skip ahead to the next song using the player on my desktop.

 

So let me know if these are known issues and if they're working on fixing any bugs or if there is anything i can do to get it to play right. I am not interested in trying the browser player or any method that doesn't give exclusive audio output to my DAC because shared mode with Windows processing the stream will not give me bit perfect playback at the native bit depths and sampling rates. Exclusive audio output is a must for me, it is why I decided not to try the new Amazon HD streaming service, they don't offer exclusive DAC output as an option.

 

I am pleased to say that the sound quality of 16/44 and 24/96 streaming via the Qobuz app is fantastically good, and I really want to keep this subscription going if they can get the bugs worked out. But I can only get that great performance when playing full albums on the Qobuz desktop app.

[Tinnitus Andronicus]

For the record, I just installed a trial version of Audirvana for the sole purpose of streaming Qobuz music, and all of my Qobuz playback difficulties are gone! It's going to cost me $75 as a long-term solution to Qobuz streaming, but that beats all the hangups and frustrations I was dealing with using the Windows Qobuz player.

 

Even better, there is a deal where if I choose to purchase Audirvana I get three free months of Qobuz and/or Tidal, so if that works out then it brings my cost down.

[exdmd]

Ha! I started using Audirvana a couple years ago when Qobuz on Windows was not as stable as it is today. My only complaint with Audirvana is the metadata is limited and it is not as pretty as the Qobuz GUI. On the flip side Audirvana can use VST3 plugins for EQ.