If you’re a fan of high-quality digital audio, you now have another option when it comes to streaming music services. French company Qobuz, long known for its excellent collection of hi-res tracks, launched in the U.S. with four different price plans:
Tidal subscribers will be the obvious market for Qobuz as it looks to get a toe-hold in the U.S. market, because of that service’s previous exclusivity in the hi-res streaming game. Not only does Qobuz boast 170,000 albums in hi-res format (Tidal has not disclosed the size of its hi-res catalog), all of those tracks are available for streaming or purchase, something Tidal does not offer. Whether or not music lovers will be willing to spend the extra $5 per month for access to all of those tracks is something we’ll have to wait and see. Tidal’s $20 per month Hi-Fi plan is all you need to access its Masters hi-res collection, but the same quality costs $25 per month on Qobuz for its Studio plan.
Another difference is the technology used. Tidal provides all of its hi-res music in MQA format, which greatly reduces the file sizes (and thus the bandwidth) needed to reproduce music in 24-bit detail. Qobuz uses the older FLAC format, which uses considerably larger files to achieve the same quality. When using Wi-Fi — especially if you don’t have to worry about data caps — the difference is largely meaningless. Mobile users may feel differently.
Speaking of mobile users, it’s worth noting that even though Qobuz delivers hi-res audio with its Studio and Sublime+ plans, you still need a compatible device to actually hear the improved quality. Using the Qobuz app on an iPhone (whether using AirPods or wired earphones) will down-convert hi-res files to 16-bit/44.1 KHz, unless you’re using a dedicated, external DAC via the lightning port. Support for hi-res FLAC files on Android devices vary by manufacturer and model, but many of them can do it.
But even Qobuz’s entry price may be enough to woo Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play Music subscribers. A standard component of the Qobuz offering is access to digital booklets for each album, from within the Qobuz app — something Apple offers, but only within the iTunes app on a PC or Mac. The service curates custom playlists, has artists interviews, and an interactive feature format it calls Panorama. Qobuz claims it has a catalog of over 40 million tracks. That is 5 million more than Spotify’s claimed library, but 5 million less than Apple’s.
If you’re curious to try it out, Qobuz offers an industry-standard 30-day free trial period on all of its plans except Sublime+.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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