QOBUZ app not working on Macbook

[Ein Heldenleben]

Some interesting views/comments there. I can well believe that Netflix and Amazon and others distort video and audio, though a couple of nights back we watched a bit of the Met Opera's streaming of Rodelinda, which was actually quite good. Streaming video quality can be very variable and I agree that some is poor - though maybe it doesn't matter for much of the material.

I generally don't like streaming audio, other than for sampling new releases - though sometimes it can be OK - even from Napster on occasions. Sometimes I use Spotify (free) or Youtube.

Your comment about R3 FM makes me wonder if I should reinstate my FM tuner - which I always thought had a really good sound - though it is probably highly signal/aerial dependent.

Perhaps I've not got anything better to do for a few months .....!!

The Met streams are of exceptionally high video quality possibly because they don’t have so many people streaming at once or maybe they’ve bought a lot of server capacity. The audio often sounds a bit crushed but without resurrecting another strand I suspect they are compressing in the sound cubicle or in the edit. The Royal Opera have had no end of problems with their live streams - so much so they took down the comments strand recently as they were getting so much online flak. The problem with live is every one is streaming at the same time of course.

[jayne lee wilson]

This is what happened with the Berlin DCH a few years ago. It was originally possible to listen at 320kbps aac live with excellent HD video (Oh, I had a great time then, took it almost every week, with very few problems...), but as it became more popular around the world, the very high video quality was too demanding on domestic reception and the usual problems resulted, blurring, dropouts or inability to access or failure of the stream.

So they reduced to 192, then 256, but sadly took out the manual choice of 320 even if your speeds could support it. It remains at 256 aac live, but you can still get the obviously superior 320 in the archive (i.e identical to Radio 3 - I think the only two European digital services to still offer this level).

[Ein Heldenleben]

This is what happened with the Berlin DCH a few years ago. It was originally possible to listen at 320kbps aac live with excellent HD video (Oh, I had a great time then, took it almost every week, with very few problems...), but as it became more popular around the world, the very high video quality was too demanding on domestic reception and the usual problems resulted, blurring, dropouts or inability to access or failure of the stream.

So they reduced to 192, then 256, but sadly took out the manual choice of 320 even if your speeds could support it. It remains at 256 aac live, but you can still get the obviously superior 320 in the archive (i.e identical to Radio 3 - I think the only two European digital services to still offer this level).

Yep - it’s the dark side of streaming . The picture quality on some video streams is so poor that it’s nonsense to in any way imply it’s HD. There should be less reason to reduce the audio quality on video streams though shouldn’t there it takes up so little of the total data ? unless the outgoing server doesn’t have the capacity to handle 000’s of simultaneous or near simultaneous requests and automatically downgrades everything . I suspect that’s where the problem is but there is no way of telling there are just so many things between your computer and the source.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yep - it’s the dark side of streaming . The picture quality on some video streams is so poor that it’s nonsense to in any way imply it’s HD. There should be less reason to reduce the audio quality on video streams though shouldn’t there it takes up so little of the total data ? unless the outgoing server doesn’t have the capacity to handle 000’s of simultaneous or near simultaneous requests and automatically downgrades everything . I suspect that’s where the problem is but there is no way of telling there are just so many things between your computer and the source.

I don't know about a dark side....who is the Darth Vader or The Emperor in this scenario? ....
The problem with the specific examples above is all to do with fitting the HD video in for a large number of recipients.

In fact, when I stream at 320 kbps from the DCH Archive now, there are few problems with either sound or picture and you can still check that you are getting the highest quality. The DAC reads 48khz as the sampling rate. It was very stable when I used it with a free pass over Christmas - usually late at night of course, which may well help. This thread has inspired me to revisit Rattle's archive very soon! A 7-day pass is still good value. Have a Berliner Philharmoniker Week....back in the day whenever I did have problems, they were always very helpful and generous with free concerts and so on.

Most if not all of these troubles dissolve away with HQ Audio-only streaming, given good broadband and at least as it works on Qobuz/Audirvana+ and doubtless other such combos too. Remarkably stable and reliable and excellent-sounding. And your DAC will always give you the readout on what exactly you are getting (24, 48, 96, 192 etc)....

[Ein Heldenleben]

I don't know about a dark side....who is the Darth Vader or The Emperor in this scenario? ....
The problem with the specific examples above is all to do with fitting the HD video in for a large number of recipients.

In fact, when I stream at 320 kbps from the DCH Archive now, there are few problems with either sound or picture and you can still check that you are getting the highest quality. The DAC reads 48khz as the sampling rate. It was very stable when I used it with a free pass over Christmas - usually late at night of course, which may well help. This thread has inspired me to revisit Rattle's archive very soon! A 7-day pass is still good value. Have a Berliner Philharmoniker Week....back in the day whenever I did have problems, they were always very helpful and generous with free concerts and so on.

Most if not all of these troubles dissolve away with HQ Audio-only streaming, at least as it works on Qobuz/Audirvana+ and doubtless other such combos too. Remarkably stable and reliable and excellent-sounding. And your DAC will always give you the readout on what exactly you are getting (24, 48, 96, 192 etc)....

The dark side are the Netflix’s , Amazon’s etc who have managed to persuade viewers that the viewing experience they offer is superior to DTT and DSat and in particular the cinema when technically it’s much much worse . It’s one of the great marvels of the age . A lot of the time it’s not even up to SD standard. Oh yes and some of them are making more money than you can possibly believe .l

[jayne lee wilson]

The dark side are the Netflix’s , Amazon’s etc who have managed to persuade viewers that the viewing experience they offer is superior to DTT and DSat and in particular the cinema when technically it’s much much worse . It’s one of the great marvels of the age . A lot of the time it’s not even up to SD standard. Oh yes and some of them are making more money than you can possibly believe .l

My own experience of Amazon Prime Video is using the firestick to access either The Premiership (all fine there, takes a few seconds to settle into HD mode as aforementioned, very stable afterward) or Disney+ for The Mandalorian. Very happy with both HD video quality and stability.

One detail - when I first accessed the football that way, I had poor and unstable video quality. Checking the firestick settings I found the connection to the router was 2.4Ghz. I had overlooked the choice. Correcting this to 5Ghz was the fast and durable solution.

[Anastasius]

How's Audirvana , H ?

[Ein Heldenleben]

How's Audirvana , H ?

I’m still waiting for Qubuz to get back to me. After asking for my IP address they then said they wanted my IPv4 address which appears to originate in Falmouth though I’m in Devon. In one of your earlier posts you implied that to install Audinirvana I have to upgrade my OS ; yet their website says it works with 10.11 onwards which is what I’ve got . As you know I don’t want to upgrade and possibly lose a £300 video edit system called FCP7.
Don’t laugh but will Audivarna still produce a useable analogue output from the headphone jack? Cos that’s what I use.

[Anastasius]

I’m still waiting for Qubuz to get back to me. After asking for my IP address they then said they wanted my IPv4 address which appears to originate in Falmouth though I’m in Devon. In one of your earlier posts you implied that to install Audinirvana I have to upgrade my OS ; yet their website says it works with 10.11 onwards which is what I’ve got . As you know I don’t want to upgrade and possibly lose a £300 video edit system called FCP7.
Don’t laugh but will Audivarna still produce a useable analogue output from the headphone jack? Cos that’s what I use.

Wasn't my intention to imply an upgrade was needed, H.

Headphone jack? No chuckles this end because that was exactly why I got it in the first place. The Qobuz app is, as you've found out, 'quirky'. One of its quirks was that it stopped driving the headphone socket on my iMac after upgrading to Catalina. Audirvana kicked Qobuz's quirk into touch. Headphones work just fine.

I wouldn't bother waiting for Qobuz to get back to you TBH.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Wasn't my intention to imply an upgrade was needed, H.

Headphone jack? No chuckles this end because that was exactly why I got it in the first place. The Qobuz app is, as you've found out, 'quirky'. One of its quirks was that it stopped driving the headphone socket on my iMac after upgrading to Catalina. Audirvana kicked Qobuz's quirk into touch. Headphones work just fine.

I wouldn't bother waiting for Qobuz to get back to you TBH.

Thanks very much - must have misread that .I’d come to the same conclusion re Qubuz customer help! I think I’ll try the audivarna trial . It’s a 4gb download though - slightly worried it might slow my ageing MacBook down . The other option is Primephonic that some think better than Qubuz . Have to say I’m very impressed with Q - the only problem is the gaps between bands on the web browser ...

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks very much - must have misread that .I’d come to the same conclusion re Qubuz customer help! I think I’ll try the audivarna trial . It’s a 4gb download though - slightly worried it might slow my ageing MacBook down . The other option is Primephonic that some think better than Qubuz . Have to say I’m very impressed with Q - the only problem is the gaps between bands on the web browser ...

Don't worry H - gapless play in Audirvana+/Qobuz....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Don't worry H - gapless play in Audirvana+/Qobuz....

Thanks Jayne for the confirmation. Just need to get over my download fear . Particularly as my IT consultant (son ) is 300 miles away. Still managed to download Qubuz on phone and iPad with no probs .

[Ein Heldenleben]

Latest -
Good news - downloaded Audivarna ok
Bad news -it won’t connect to my Qubuz account (keeps showing vertical white block and error message )on MacBook air

Good news - Qubuz app works on iMac which runs High Sierra
Bad news - iMac is in ofifice at top of house , hi fi is on ground floor

Old news - I can’t upgrade MacBook Air as Apple typically won’t let FCP 7 ( a pro video edit system ) run on High Sierra let alone El Capitan...
New edit system FCP X is £300 (both made by Apple incidentally)

Hmmmm....

[jayne lee wilson]

Have you tried....

In Audirvana+, go to Preferences>Streaming>Qobuz Promotion/Trial....
But I've only ever used these things on MacAir or MacPro, never on iPad iPhone...so YMMV....

[Bryn]

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/t...issues-thread/ is worth signing up to a d keeping an eye on.