I tried both. I prefer Qobuz. The sound quality on both is great, but MQA is bullshit and I also prefer the human made playlists and articles of Qobuz over the algorithms of Tidal.
MQA sounds like BS to me also, why additional processing/filtering? My DAC does MQA decoding (unfolding) but I don't think I'll ever use it.
I tried various tracks I know very well on the following chain:
- CD (MOFI) Theta Transport to Theta Gen V Pro DAC
- CD (MOFI) to Sony ES moded CD inboard DAC
- CD (MOFI) to Sony ES moded CD as transport to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC, to Lexicon onboard DAC
- CD (MOFI) to Sony ES SACD (DVD DVD A player) as transport to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC, to Lexicon onboard DAC
- Amazon HD to Wiim Pro to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC to Lexicon DAC
- Qobuz HD to Wiim Pro to Theta DAC, to Topping DAC to Lexicon DAC
Not surprised that the Topping is better than my old Theta. Amazon HD does not sound as good as using my transports and physical media. However, Qobuz is superior to all.
Is it that they have more modern mixes? It does have higher sampling rate.
So far I think Qobuz its worth it; however the recommendations from Amazon (IMHO) are more complete.
It would help if Qobuz would allow for searching by sub-genre. In my case, i like Prog and I have to sift through all Rock to find prog.