Qobuz App update December 1st 2020

[Richard Barrett]

what is known today as "Studio" - which is now the only Streaming Plan they do

I guess that answers my puzzlement then.

As for design: we're pulling in a stream of bits from the internet, and after buffering exactly the same stream is sent out to our D/A converters, right? Where can the differences be? I'm not saying I don't think there can be any, just that I don't understand how the whole process works well enough to say anything authoritative.

[Bryn]

Some time in the middle of this morning I think.

Would I be right in assuming you were using a Mac? The problems I had were with a Windows laptop.

[Richard Barrett]

Would I be right in assuming you were using a Mac? The problems I had were with a Windows laptop.

I was and (let me just check) still am.

[jayne lee wilson]

No, you're right, they are there. I was just playing albums for which booklets aren't provided. However, they don't pop out as separate pdfs which I find a particularly useful feature in Qobuz, especially in the android app, with the "liquid" reading mode that's now being rolled out by Adobe.

Of course, integer mode is only available on Macs. For PCs you have to choose whether to use Wasapi or the DAC's own proprietary software, which is what I continue to do.

Integer Mode is surprisingly useful, even used through the DAC filter choices... I usually use I-2, the warmer setting...

[jayne lee wilson]

I guess that answers my puzzlement then.

As for design: we're pulling in a stream of bits from the internet, and after buffering exactly the same stream is sent out to our D/A converters, right? Where can the differences be? I'm not saying I don't think there can be any, just that I don't understand how the whole process works well enough to say anything authoritative.

I only wish I could explain it..... when I still took downloads, the difference between JRiver - starkly analytical, almost skeletal - and the smoother warmer Audirvana+ (on any setting) was obvious on repeated comparisons..... I did hunt around to see if anything was switched on that shouldn't be, but to no avail...

There's a parallel with CD Transports, but there you have power supplies, transport/laser design/integrity etc., so there are potentially more variables...

So I just report what my ears told me. File under... "more things in Heaven and Earth" ...

[Bryn]

A further update, today, appears to have gone smoothly.

[Sir Velo]

Ah but you should have used the desktop app for windows or Mac which has many more customisable features, not the web player!

Having said that, I've taken the (enforced) opportunity to "road test" (appalling expression!) Audirvana and have so far been impressed with the interface, though I'm not noticing any notable improvement in sound quality over and above the Qobuz desktop app. Of course, you don't get access to the "booklets" on Audirvana so one has to keep a tab open on the browser for Qobuz in order to get the additional recording documentation.

I have actually just received a reply to my original help request from the support team at Qobuz. Unhelpfully, the tenor of the response suggests that Qobuz are themselves unaware of the issue as they've asked me to provide screenshots of the error messages I'm receiving (there aren't any; it just crashes) as well as the standard queries as to version and OS (all of which I provided on the submission form already ).

Apologies in advance to Bryn for going OT here but having trialled Audirvana for a couple of weeks I thought it might be useful to share a few observations.

Clearly there are significant differences between the Mac and Windows versions; for example, the integer mode of which jlw speaks so warmly, is not available on Windows. However, connecting the IUSBAudio ASIO driver to my Audiolab MDAC+ I have access to my DAC's own digital filters, which exhibit similar characteristics to the integer mode (eg optimal transient; optimal spectrum, minimal phase etc). As I remarked earlier, for Windows users there is no difference to the Qobuz desktop app in terms of connectivity. Both offer Wasapi or ASIO, and therefore sound quality is unaffected. However, I have noted that listening through Audirvana one gets fewer of those annoying moments one experiences in Qobuz at the end of tracks where playback unaccountably stops.
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One of the much vaunted features of Audirvana is the ability to play both music stored locally and streamed tracks, and for them to be visible in the same UI. However, I was confounded to note that certain albums in my local drive were not being recognised by Audirvana in the library. This appears to be a fairly common complaint judging by postings to the company's own user forum. Following this, I decided to check the files' metadata and noted that the issue appeared to be localised to those files which contained characters such as ":" or"-" in the album or album artist fields. Deleting these characters enabled Audirvana to recognise the albums and consequently they were added to the library. While ":" and "-" do not feature often in album titles or artists' names I have to say this does appear to be a glitch with the software, particularly when Roon or Spotify have no such similar issues in detecting the same files.

So, overall I think Audirvana probably has more to offer the Mac user or one who does not have a sophisticated dedicated DAC to interface with streaming services such as Qobuz or Tidal. Having said that, I may purchase the licence as it is undeniably useful to be able to access both local files and streaming services from the same UI. Moreover, Audirvana also has a mobile app which works fairly effectively as a remote control, enabling the queuing of local or streamed tracks as desired.