Qobuz’s 24-bit Music Streaming Service Will Arrive Stateside In 2018

There are some who are particular about their the audio quality when it comes to listening to music, which is why many audiophiles tend to snub their noses at the MP3 format, and while listening to sources like vinyl or CD might be preferred, it’s hard to ignore how digital music plays such a huge role in today’s society.

This is why music services such as Tidal exist, where one of the ways they differentiate themselves from the competition is through a higher-quality music tier. It looks like Tidal might have some competition soon because French music streaming service Qobuz has confirmed that it will be arriving stateside later this year.

For the most part Qobuz will be your typical music streaming service, except that like Tidal, they will offer users higher quality audio streams in the form of 24-bit/192kHz quality. This is versus the majority of today’s streams which utilize 16-bit/44.1kHz streams. Whether or not you’ll be able to tell the difference depends on how well you’ve trained your ear.

In terms of pricing, a report from Sound & Vision has confirmed that the company will charge the same that they are in Europe, except that it will be in dollars. This means that it will be priced at $9.99 a month for the base tier which they call “Premium”, and this will offer MP3 streams at 320kbps.

Next is the Hi-Fi tier at 16-bit/44.1kHz at $19.99 a month, followed by the Sublime tier which offers Hi-Fi quality along with downloads of Hi-Res 24-bit at MP3 prices, and this will cost $219.99 a year. Last but not least is the Sublime+ tier which will offer Hi-Res 24-bit FLAC up to 192kHz, along with up to 60% discount on the majority of Qobuz’s catalogue, and this will cost $349.99 a year.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Audio, General
Tags: Entertainment, Music