2023-10-10 19:56:00
Since Qobuz arrived in Brazil, Tidal subscribers have been in doubt regarding which of the two streaming services would be more worth it. Although many only look at the price charged for the plans, it is important to evaluate other features such as the variety of music in each platform’s library, the interface, playback features, among others. If the application is not properly configured, this will also influence the experience obtained, which is another aspect to be considered as well.
Which has the best music library?
Qobuz or Tidal would be more worth it in terms of music library, interface, audio quality, price, among other aspects. Source: Vitor Valeri
Tidal currently has a library of approximately 100 million songs, according to page regarding the company. Qobuz already has 90 million songs, according to the article titled “The Qobuz experience” on the company’s support page. However, it is not correct to compare platforms only by quantity, as there are unknown albums and artists that I found in one application, but not in the other and vice versa. Furthermore, as each person has different tastes, the task of determining which is the best track library becomes even more complex.
If you want to know if the songs you “liked” (“favorite”) and/or have saved in playlists, simply use dedicated services to transfer this information from one streaming platform to another. In our tutorial we teach you how to do this procedure.
What are the differences in the application interface today?
The home page of the Tidal and Qobuz mobile apps clearly has different proposals when viewed at the top, which is the user’s view when opening the app. While on the Qobuz app you can see that the content is aimed at discovering new artists and albums, on Tidal you come across songs that were recently played highlighted, with a section called “for you” right below. In my opinion, this really exemplifies the objective of each of the platforms, as I realized that I discovered more musicians and albums using Qobuz while Tidal I started to use more to revisit already known works.
Tidal home screen on the left and Qobuz on the right. Source: Vitor Valeri
On the playback screen, the impression I had was of a “cleaner” look on the Qobuz app while on Tidal it is “polluted” with several options to select. While this doesn’t mean that one is better than the other, it is something that may or may not please those who like to enjoy the album cover that is currently playing. In fact, the art on the Qobuz app for Android is larger than on Tidal.
Qobuz playback screen on the left and Tidal on the right. Source: Vitor Valeri
If you want to access the credits of the artist, band or group, Tidal is better in this sense. The “i” information symbol on the playback screen makes it clear that the credits for what is being played will be accessed there. On Qobuz, the user has to guess that when they touch the arrow discreetly pointing downwards, located at the bottom of the screen, the song credit will appear.
Another point to take into consideration is access to the buttons add playlist, share, view album, view artist, among others. To access this menu, the three vertical dots are best positioned on Tidal, where they are located in the middle of the screen on the right side, close to your thumb’s reach. In the case of Qobuz, these points are on the bottom right side.
Options shown when selecting the button with three vertical dots – Qobuz on the left and Tidal on the right.
In the case of the button to change the playlist being played, there simply is no such option on the Qobuz playback screen. Only on Tidal is it possible to access the feature directly from the playback screen using the button with three horizontal lines. In the case of Qobuz, you need to exit the playback screen, select “my Qobuz”, tap “my playlists”, choose the one you want, tap the three horizontal dots and select “change tracks”.
Options for changing the playlist that will be played – Tidal on the left and Qobuz on the right.
Access to the music library, albums, artists and playlists is different on Qobuz. Instead of everything being in the same section, playlists have a page dedicated to them, separate from favorite artists, songs and albums. In the case of Tidal, everything is together.
The filter options for finding album titles, songs or artists are similar on Qobuz and Tidal, being able to choose in alphabetical order, artist and release date. However, every time I select to go back to “My Qobuz” in the tabs, the app shows what I had previously accessed, instead of accessing the main menu. On Tidal, there is no such problem.
Display of albums, artists and playlists for each service – Qobuz on the left and Tidal on the right.
Which gives better recommendations for songs, albums and artists?
As I said at the beginning, I found Qobuz’s selection of songs, albums and artists better than Tidal’s. The biggest reason for this superiority is the playlists created by Qobuz’s human curation, that is, instead of using algorithms to choose songs (in the case of Tidal), people select what they think is best to listen to according to their preferences. playlist theme.
To find out how to discover new music and artists on Qobuz and Tidal, there are two articles showing the best way to do this, where the form of the first streaming service is different from that of the second.
Is there a way to store offline music locally on both services?
Yes, both apps allow offline music storage on the logged in device. This way, you can listen to them even when you are not connected to the internet. However, it is important to note that they will only be available on the device that was downloaded, that is, if you download the tracks on your cell phone, they will not appear on your notebook.
Are there differences in the Android version of Tidal and Qobuz?
Yes, while Tidal can natively reproduce music in bit perfect on cell phones (Android and iOS) and computers (Windows and macOS), Qobuz requires the USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) application to reproduce tracks without interference from the Android operating system.
Which has the highest music quality? Qobuz or Tidal?
After correctly configuring the applications on Qobuz and Tidal on a Windows computer, I noticed that Qobuz presented higher mid-highs, giving more “air” and “sparkle” to the music, while the low-mids were more recessed, removing the bass fill and impact present in the track. I discovered this when doing an A/B with the same track being played on the MusicBee app, where in this case the file was “ripped” to FLAC by me through the physical media I purchased. When playing the same album on Tidal, I noticed a greater similarity in the sound of the file played on the MusicBee player, which played the FLAC tracks ripped from the physical CD.
Price
Considering the price of Tidal’s most basic plan, Qobuz is at a disadvantage, because while it charges R$25.90/month for the individual plan, its competitor charges R$21.90. However, on Tidal’s most affordable plan, the quality is equivalent to that of a CD (16-bits/44.1 KHz) while on Qobuz you have access to tracks with up to 24-bits/192 KHz. Only by subscribing to Tidal Hi-Fi Plus, which costs R$33.80/month, will access to “FLAC Hi-Res”, recently implemented by the company to replace the MQA format, be granted.
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