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Qobuz - help!
#11
(11-Jan-2017, 10:24)KIBM Wrote:
(10-Jan-2017, 22:11)PhilP Wrote:
(10-Jan-2017, 12:20)KIBM Wrote: ...

Soundwise I found it very interesting. It is tonally lighter than Roon (or Roon is a wee bit richer) but significantly more detailed (decay etc) at the top end. I would say a tad drier in the mid. With some streams I found it a bit sharp - glare is probably the right word. Is this due to better transparency of A+ or is A+ doing some processing I don't like??

The thing is that when I played the same streams via the Qobuz player straight from the Mac (no A+) it was more like Roon - richer. 

Mmmm....

I agree with your comments about A+ sounding a bit sharp when streaming Quobuz and usually use Qobuz Desktop instead - even though that means I lose A+ Remote functionality.

However, in my system I prefer A+ to iTunes for playback of local rips...

Phil - agree that it might appear to be an A+/Qobuz thing as Qobuz desktop is much more like Roon in my system.

Incidentally, I tried Tidal/Roon last night - very good indeed and not far off Roon/NAS for quality. Like Qobuz it is unbeatable for sheer quantity and diversity of material. Very impressed. Roon might even be better than Qobuz for my musical tastes (rock, pop, jazz, electronic).

Anyone want to buy a CD Transport  Smile

K

That good eh? Last time I tested Tidal I got a bit fed up with the SQ, at times sounded more like MP3s than CD quality. Think I should revisit it then?

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#12
(11-Jan-2017, 10:34)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(11-Jan-2017, 10:24)KIBM Wrote:
(10-Jan-2017, 22:11)PhilP Wrote: I agree with your comments about A+ sounding a bit sharp when streaming Quobuz and usually use Qobuz Desktop instead - even though that means I lose A+ Remote functionality.

However, in my system I prefer A+ to iTunes for playback of local rips...

Phil - agree that it might appear to be an A+/Qobuz thing as Qobuz desktop is much more like Roon in my system.

Incidentally, I tried Tidal/Roon last night - very good indeed and not far off Roon/NAS for quality. Like Qobuz it is unbeatable for sheer quantity and diversity of material. Very impressed. Roon might even be better than Qobuz for my musical tastes (rock, pop, jazz, electronic).

Anyone want to buy a CD Transport  Smile

K

That good eh? Last time I tested Tidal I got a bit fed up with the SQ, at times sounded more like MP3s than CD quality. Think I should revisit it then?

Guillaume
Actually Guillaume I have often found with Tidal (and Qobuz) that there is more than one copy of an album and that one of them definitely sounds better than the other! I wonder if there is a mix of mp3 and 16/44? I can't seem to find out what sample rate is playing on Tidal - at least with Qobuz it tells you if lower fidelity material is playing. In the past I have also found that a really good mp3 can sound better than a poor 16/44, which is confusing! Also who does the ripping/transfer of material to Tidal/Qobuz, and how? I would say that from my limited (2 nights) experience Qobuz is more consistent than Tidal - I'm just not getting on with this glare problem via A+. I have selected the HiFi quality (FLAC) option on both the Tidal and Qobuz trials so would be disappointed If I'm been fed lower quality material. As I said Tidal/Roon is not far off Roon/NAS in my system but the latter probably has the edge on dynamics and weight. The only way to tell with a new toy is to listen for a week or so and then go back to the old way to see if it is better or worse - immediate A/B comparisons do my head in!

Kevin
Devialet 1000 Pro; Magico A5 loudspeakers; Metronome T3a Signature CD Transport; dCS Network Bridge; Kuzma M turntable; Kuzma 4Point14 tonearm; Koetsu Sky Blue; Benzmicro LPS; Audioquest Vodka Ethernet; Transparent Reference Digital RCA-RCA; Transparent Reference XL MM2 speaker cable; Transparent Reference mains cable; PS Audio P5 PowerPlant; Artesania and Finite Elemente equipment racks 
North Somerset, UK     
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#13
(11-Jan-2017, 10:34)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(11-Jan-2017, 10:24)KIBM Wrote:
(10-Jan-2017, 22:11)PhilP Wrote: I agree with your comments about A+ sounding a bit sharp when streaming Quobuz and usually use Qobuz Desktop instead - even though that means I lose A+ Remote functionality.

However, in my system I prefer A+ to iTunes for playback of local rips...

Phil - agree that it might appear to be an A+/Qobuz thing as Qobuz desktop is much more like Roon in my system.

Incidentally, I tried Tidal/Roon last night - very good indeed and not far off Roon/NAS for quality. Like Qobuz it is unbeatable for sheer quantity and diversity of material. Very impressed. Roon might even be better than Qobuz for my musical tastes (rock, pop, jazz, electronic).

Anyone want to buy a CD Transport  Smile

K

That good eh? Last time I tested Tidal I got a bit fed up with the SQ, at times sounded more like MP3s than CD quality. Think I should revisit it then?

Guillaume

I could not agree more. I did a trial of Tidal last year and it was addictive and great to have all that music at your fingertips, but the sound quality was poor in my opinion. Like thin and a tad bright, just lacked that full sound I like. I remember thinking it was not that much better than spotify in my set up.
Devialet 200 -- Roon Nucleus-- Sonus Faber Olympica 2 -- Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cables --
Chord Qutest -- Niimbus US5 Pro Headphone amp —HifiMan HEK, Abyss 1266TC
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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#14
(09-Jan-2017, 14:13)KIBM Wrote: Hi All,

Played with Qobuz this weekend for the first time - excellent. 

Streamed via AIR3 and sounds pretty much the same as my NAS rips via AIR3 and Roon.

One problem - can you run it headless via iPad control on a MacMini?

I've tried it via VNC, and it works, but it is a rubbish experience and caused me to swear a lot.
...

Just one other thought...  You might be way ahead of me here, as I haven't yet set up my headless Mac, but I've read that it's a good idea to an HDMI display emulator plug (like this: www.amazon.co.uk/d/B00JKFTYA8).  Apparently that improves the experience of using a remote display client such as VNC.
Roon (Mac Mini), Wilson Benesch Full Circle, Expert 1000 Pro CI, Kaiser Chiara
Warwickshire, UK
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