I’m talking about Qobuz.
So I assume it is Qobuz via Mosaic with network connection to your dCS unit. Have you tried Connect and did you find any difference?
I don’t know exactly how you made the comparison but the territorial specifics of Qobuz mean that you may not have been comparing like with like even if the repertoire appears to be the same superficially.
my vote for Qobuz - SQ wise and if you’re in the Classic or Jazz camp!
I will try Connect next weekend. I’m super busy during this week. It’s Qobuz and Tidal via Roon and the Innuos PhoenixNET switch and via Mosaic.
Play this track. Turn up the volume a bit and close your eyes. See if you can sit still in your chair between 1:25 and 1:50. The Qobuz version sounds muddy on my system. With the Tidal version not only can I not sit still in my chair, it gives me goosebumps.
I’m no longer a Tidal subscriber, but I am intrigued… 
It may be worth the one time $11/€11 for one month to compare.
Could be location and/or system (no Roon), however to my ears over here Tidal sounds a tiny little bit grainy…
…while Qobuz is just a little bit more crisp and clear.
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Pete, there is no difference in sound quality between Qobuz via Mosaic, and Qobuz Connect. None whatsoever. The two are just different ways (Control Points) of telling the dCS Streamer to pull down the appropriate album/tracks from Qobuz Servers. Regardless of which control point one uses, it’s the same album/track on Qobuz Servers, streamed via the same protocol to the dCS. No difference.
If you haven’t read dCS’ updated Streaming Guide, I highly recommend it; https://dcsaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/22144834486812-dCS-Guide-to-Streaming
So, Qobuz played via Mosaic will have the same sound quality as Qobuz played via Qobuz Connect. The dCS unit still gets the music file from the internet and plays it back directly in the same way – the different app choices you have for playback are just different ways of telling your dCS system to play back the same music.
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Same for me, for what it’s worth…
From Qobuz the sound seems more detailed and articulated, especially in the bottom end where I found the track somewhat a bit bass shy when played from Tidal.
@Donald_D , take no offense here, but I just have a look at the picture of your system you published on the forum and was wondering if you could retry your comparison by placing your powered speakers by a feet or two more distant from the front wall: the muddy effect you hear with the track played from Qobuz might be due to the extra bass I hear comparing the same tracks on my system… For most speakers, the closer to the front wall, the more bass but also the fuzzier and muddier the sound can be.
Again, for what it’s worth, as we’re definitely not comparing apples to apples here (not same system, not same room, …)
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It could be, although in the speakers‘ manual it says: „ Due to the controlled dispersion characteristics of the horns the speaker will excite significantly less unwanted reflections from the room walls compared to conventional speakers. Thus they can be positioned closely to back walls or corners (both or only one
speaker in the corner!).“
I can’t move the speakers without taking them off the bFly base. Moving them with the base would damage the feet according to the manufacturer. It would be a major hustle.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. At this point I’m inclined to think that it’s possibly a regional difference.
I too I use Qobuz and like how it sounds. I mostly use Qobuz Connect. I have several beefs with them though which I have had regular correspondence with them about:
- They lack the variety in their library that Spotify sadly has so I still subscribe to both albeit trying to move away from Spotify in time. They are clearly still building the inventory but they are slow.
- The search engine is awful (they agree it needs work) - the slightest spelling error and it fails to find what you’re looking for
- Try sharing a single track from an album with a friend. It always sends the whole album. They have admitted this is an issue and are trying to fix it. Their work around is to create a new playlist, add the track and send the playlist.
- Their meta data can be horrendously inaccurate. One example of many … try searching for ‘Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts’. Artist not found. Search their album title and there it is. In that listing ‘and’ is replaced with ‘&’ (which is not as the band use it) but search that format for the band name and it still says they don’t exist.
One big positive for me though is that they actively search out and remove AI generated music
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thanks PETE I have come to the same conclusions. I let my TIDAL subscription lapse and I primarily use my vast VD/SACD collection and Qbbuz