On a recent podcast hosted by Chris Connaker, the Qobuz team more than hinted at Canada becoming the next service region, and it's now sounding at least somewhat more imminent, otherwise they likely wouldn't have discussed it at all.

I had heard previous conjecture that 2nd half of 2021 was likely, however I'm now a bit more hopeful for those in the GWN that it very well could be sooner, assuming all of the bullshit legal hurdles and hoops to jump through presented by the lawyers for the record labels can actually be sorted.

You can hear that specific commentary at the 16:30 mark of the podcast, though the entire cast is informative and worth listening to if you have the time. Total runtime is about 53 minutes, and covers the history of Qobuz, and streaming in general going back to the first decade of the 21st century, plus other very interesting comments including the "thorny" subject of artist compensation, the status of DLNA/UPnP integration with the Qobuz desktop app, Apple CarPlay integration, internet radio integration, search improvement, and more.

This podcast is available using the link above, or from your favorite podcast platform. Don't be immediately scared off by the 53 minute runtime, it isn't boring if you are interested in Qobuz.
Earlier in the thread Dan had indicated licensing and resources needed for expansion were considerations, I recalled last September they raised 10M euros so I am quietly hopeful.
 
I see brief mention that Australia recently became the newest service region added by Qobuz, not Canada as was hinted at in a February podcast.

The odd thing is there appears to be no big press release, in fact almost no mention anywhere, and even the FAQ section of the Qobuz website still does not list Australia as a service region, however the page qobuz.com/au-en/music/streaming/offers does yield Australia subscription information including pricing.

Studio Premiere is $24.99 AUD/mo. (or the equivalent of $18.97 USD/mo. at today's exchange rate). As with the U.S. plan, they offer a 25% discount on that if subscribing for 1 year upfront at $229.99 AUD (about $174.65 USD). Both are just a bit higher than the U.S pricing.

I'm a little surprised given Canada has a rather larger total population, and a slightly higher average purchasing power/standard of living than Australia. Perhaps it comes down to other factors such as the cost of doing business in each country, including potential differences in music licensing costs, which can even dictate the size of the music catalog ultimately made available.

Hopefully for those in the GWN, Canada is next for Qobuz, and/or swiftly added by Spotify whenever their recently announced HiFi tier actually becomes a reality.
 
I have decided to give Quobuz a go again. May try it for the free month and a bit to see if it is worth having both it and Tidal. I get the Veterans discount for Tidal so it doesn’t make much sense to lose it. And I am one of the few who happen to like that anger inducing three letter word. I will admit that the HiRez files on Quobuz are also very good and I am hard pressed to find which I prefer. I am also not really trying though. Just enjoying the options.
 
Some time ago I read about the Qobuz partnership with Quebecor, who provide a streaming platform called QUB musique. Looking at the QUB site I got all excited that it was open to all Canadian residents. This platform is Quebec focused but has the 70M tracks from Qobuz available.


So that could be a legit subscription, but sadly they limit the streams to 320k.
 
My previous late March post mentioning a subscription page going live in Australia and New Zealand is now official, and also adds the Scandinavian countries Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, as part of this launch, increasing Qobuz's reach to 12 countries total.

Surely Canada must be next.
 
I just signed up and am listening to it. I don't quite understand the differences in their tiers but I'm on Studio Premier. I don't really understand what sound quality advantage if any I get by going with Studio Sublime? Or is it just access to cheaper download purchases?
 
I just signed up and am listening to it. I don't quite understand the differences in their tiers but I'm on Studio Premier. I don't really understand what sound quality advantage if any I get by going with Studio Sublime? Or is it just access to cheaper download purchases?
It is only that, there is no difference in the streamed tracks at all, just a big discount to Sublime subscribers who wish to actually purchase, download, and own any particular album for inclusion on their own local library server.
 
It is only that, there is no difference in the streamed tracks at all, just a big discount to Sublime subscribers who wish to actually purchase, download, and own any particular album for inclusion on their own local library server.
That was my assumption, thank you. I'll stick to the Premier level, though Iately I've been moving back more towards owning than streaming. I'll see how it goes.

Sound quality seems good. Varies a lot album to album, as expected, and their higher res files do sound great. There's a refreshing lack of BS to the whole thing, seems very transparent as to what I'm listening to. I've run across some gaps in their library already, though.
 
Welcome aboard! I got hip to Qobuz in the fall of 2019 at the NY audio show. Every single room was using it and I was hooked right there and then. It doesn't have the intelligence of Spotify (yet) but the catalog is huge and the HD tracks really do sound spectacular. I will have to make a choice when Spotify finally gets the CD quality tier rolled out as it's still fairly easy to justify having both right now.

I discover on Spotify and use it everywhere that isn't my music room. But in that space, the extra quality is easily heard. I'll warn anyone heading down this rabbit hole...be prepared for your CD and LP collection to gather dust.
 
I too find the gaps in library
Especially with some of the Texas artists I like, but also across all genres I listen too.
I like the service and sound quality overall
 
I just got hit up for my monthly and will eventually subscribe. Going through some self inflicted woes with my streamer though. So there is that.
 
I've run across some gaps in their library already, though.
Certainly this will always be the case to one extent or another, and sometimes what you had previously been able to listen to can sometimes then vanish, if a short term access deal expires and new terms can't be reached. I also know you can make requests with Qobuz and if the label or artist involved is easy to work with, they can sometimes add something in relatively short order.

I too find the gaps in library
Especially with some of the Texas artists I like, but also across all genres I listen too.
Another thing to note is the search function isn't perfect, and Qobuz admits that, so always try a number of different searches to see if you can get it to come up one way but not another... artist name, or album name, even the name of a single song, give all of that a go and sometimes weird stuff happens.
 
I just signed up and am listening to it. I don't quite understand the differences in their tiers but I'm on Studio Premier. I don't really understand what sound quality advantage if any I get by going with Studio Sublime? Or is it just access to cheaper download purchases?
It's a steep discount on hi-res purchases. When they lowered the price of the Premier subscription, though, they keep the price of Sublime the same. So the gap between the two is $100 rather than $50. In my experience, based on what I buy (and a huge backlog of titles I want to buy), the average savings on hi-res is about 50%. So I'd have to buy at least 12-15 titles before I'd break even. (One artist alone, there are at least a dozen I want to get--the hi-res masterings are the best digital versions I've heard.) What really rocks with new releases is that if Qobuz offers it in CD-resolution or hi-res, you can buy the hi-res version cheaper than the CD version with the Sublime subscription. I think what might happen here is I'll save up a big list, get Sublime for a year, do as much of my purchasing as I can, then move back down to Premier after the year is up. And I'm torn, since I really want to get a family Qobuz subscription so others here can use it, but I can't afford a Family Sublime subscription!

Sound quality seems good. Varies a lot album to album, as expected, and their higher res files do sound great. There's a refreshing lack of BS to the whole thing, seems very transparent as to what I'm listening to. I've run across some gaps in their library already, though.
All services have gaps and honestly, there is now very little I have trouble finding on Qobuz. Early on, they were still negotiating a lot of the higher-profile record labels and distributors to get rights to stream in the US, so it was spotty when they first went live. (A big deal for me was when ECM Records finally opened up for streaming, and I believe they appeared on all of the streaming services around the same time.) If something is lacking, it doesn't hurt to touch base with Qobuz and/or the artist--again, a lot of it is up to labels or distributors, and depends on what can be negotiated.

For me to not find something now, it's a rarity on some obscure label that may not even have any current CD releases. That said, there is such a volume of music I've never heard before that there's no way I could ever listen to even a fraction of the Qobuz catalog in my lifetime.
 
Another thing to note is the search function isn't perfect, and Qobuz admits that, so always try a number of different searches to see if you can get it to come up one way but not another... artist name, or album name, even the name of a single song, give all of that a go and sometimes weird stuff happens.
QFT

Even with Roon, the search function of both Qobuz & Tidal can be wonky, but once you find something you have searched for, it seems to find it again, easily. Even if you don't add it to your collection.

... sometimes weird stuff happens.

Double Quoted For Truth.
 
The search function does seem to be lacking, and it doesn't get any better here when filtered through BlueSound's even more wonky interface. I wish it would function like Spotify does with BlueSound, where you can access the player through the Spotify app. I assume Roon would get around this but then its yet another thing to pay for. I'm about drowning in subscriptions to things.
 
The search function does seem to be lacking, and it doesn't get any better here when filtered through BlueSound's even more wonky interface. I wish it would function like Spotify does with BlueSound, where you can access the player through the Spotify app. I assume Roon would get around this but then its yet another thing to pay for. I'm about drowning in subscriptions to things.
I resemble that drowning remark.....
 
I’m really enjoying the quality of sound. What the catalogue is currently lacking is made up for by how the high resolution tracks sound. My wife for whatever reason wanted to listen to Burt Bacharach this morning, because we’re stuck in sixties lounge life, and the album “Reach Out” is there in 24/96. Sounds very close to the vinyl. Very ’analog’ sound. Great stuff!
 
QFT

Even with Roon, the search function of both Qobuz & Tidal can be wonky, but once you find something you have searched for, it seems to find it again, easily. Even if you don't add it to your collection.



Double Quoted For Truth.
With regard to search, and playing around with it, I'm also now seeing reports that sometimes when neither the artist, nor the album title yields a result, entering both does. So artist + album in some strange cases might be the only way to find something via search. I'm sure this aspect of Qobuz will be improved over time, but right now it is definitely a work in progress and end users need to be aware of that.
 
With regard to search, and playing around with it, I'm also now seeing reports that sometimes when neither the artist, nor the album title yields a result, entering both does. So artist + album in some strange cases might be the only way to find something via search. I'm sure this aspect of Qobuz will be improved over time, but right now it is definitely a work in progress and end users need to be aware of that.
Its very odd. I was searching for a Walker Brothers song this morning and first I just searched for Walker Brothers, which led to somebody else. Just searching for Walker worked, though.

I don't understand how Spotify is the only service to figure out user interface, especially search including figuring out something even if you guess or spell it wrong.
 
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