The Buz Is On
After seeing Qobuz continually flex its hi-res music streaming prowess across the Pond for the past decade, we audiophile listeners in the good ol’ USA have finally gotten our own chance to hear just what all the buzz on Qobuz has been about. This fall, the French streaming service opened its virtual doors to the ever-hungry U.S. market and has burst out with hi-res guns a-blazing.
In an interview that appeared in the September 2018 issue of, Qobuz’s Chief High-Res Evangelist David Solomon laid out the company’s mission in no uncertain terms. “Unlike Apple and Tidal, Qobuz will be the first streaming platform in North America that offers true high-resolution music, up to 24/192,” Solomon declared. “There’s no need for a special DAC or server. Qobuz ‘unfolds’ resolutions from 16/44 to 24/192 on any computer or capable device from FLAC files.” In other words, the MQA codec is decidedly not part of the Qobuz streaming picture. Also, Roon integration is promised by the end of the year.
