Qobuz: Qobuz music streaming service

There has been a lot of talk lately about how music streaming platforms, such as Spotify, change the way we listen to and engage with music. As a sound engineer, it’s disappointing when the music I’ve worked on ends up sounding worse after it gets uploaded to Spotify. Their compression algorithms – designed for faster streaming and lower data usage – result in a noticeable loss of sound quality. Not to mention that their questionable business practices have promoted AI-generated music while actual musicians receive very little income. All these reasons led me to try out Qobuz, an alternative streaming service geared toward audiophiles who are looking for something different. Qobuz stands out from other platforms by focusing first and foremost on sound quality. They have a library of over 100 million tracks that are streamed in CD-quality lossless FLAC (16 bit/44.1 kHz) or hi-res (24 bit/192 kHz). Qobuz made it really easy for me to transfer my library of music over to their platform. As I listened to some of my favorite tracks from the past year, I could definitely hear the difference between Qobuz and Spotify. The tracks in Qobuz sounded clearer and more detailed. They felt like they had more life in them. I listened to some songs that I had worked on in the studio, and they sounded exactly as I had hoped. The transients were still as clear as they were in the original mastered tracks, and the low end was defined rather than overly compressed and muddy. Aside from sound quality, I appreciated the way Qobuz creates a more curated experience for music fans as opposed to the usual data-driven, playlist-centric model. In the Qobuz app, there’s a Magazine tab that lets you scroll through a variety of editorial content, including music news, interviews, and editor’s picks. I found myself getting absorbed by the interviews and curated lists. Instead of just shuffling through, it made me slow down and appreciate the albums even more with newfound context. It feels more like a music blog or magazine, where the focus is on quality and curation rather than perfunctory engagement with the same old songs. They also offer the option of purchasing albums, which is a great way to support artists and permanently collect your own library of hi-res music. It’s refreshing to see a platform making an effort to find more ways to support artists. Qobuz also pays artists significantly more than other streaming platforms (Qobuz pays $0.018732 per stream versus Spotify’s estimated $0.003 to $0.005 per stream). Qobuz still lives in the streaming world, but it feels like a platform that genuinely values artists and respects their craft – it feels like a more thoughtful way to stream music. If you're an audiophile, or just someone who is tired of the limitations of platforms like Spotify, Qobuz is worth a try.