Qobuz Connect - Anybody Heard Any Updates

[Brantome]

This is a regular question ion the Qobuz Club forum. No response to date from the company.

I’d take whatever David Craff on audiophilestyle says as pretty accurate as he’s supposedly the Qobuz product manager for Connect, and I think WiiM’s contact.

 

[bradavon]

On 27 October, David Craff, the Qobuz product manager, made the following statement about Qobuz Connect:

ETA is: from now to the end of the year; Technical validation with HiFi partners (beta phase)

Technical validation with 3rd parties can take ages. Qobuz will want it to "just work" with the all myriad of hardware out there.

Its not like Qobuz is like Apple and also sells the hardware.

I personally can't wait. I'm using Amazon Music for High Res audio but don't think it's close to Spotify as a music service. I'm keen to checkout Qobuz but currently its reduced functionality compard to Amazon. Unless you use the Device's own app which doesn't really interest me.

Good news it's progressing though.

 

[Witterings]

I'm on Amazon as well and my years subscription's due soon hence one of the reasons for asking at this time, tempted maybe to switch to a monthly and see where it goes.

Wonder if Qobuz Connect will be gapless as well or if that may be phased in at a later stage the same as Amazon was.

 

[Pcryan5]

Technical validation with 3rd parties can take ages. Qobuz will want it to "just work" with the all myriad of hardware out there.

Its not like Qobuz is like Apple and also sells the hardware.

I personally can't wait. I'm using Amazon Music for High Res audio but don't think it's close to Spotify as a music service. I'm keen to checkout Qobuz but currently its reduced functionality compard to Amazon. Unless you use the Device's own app which doesn't really interest me.

Good news it's progressing though.

Has the Amazon app improved over the last year?

 

[Balthazar B]

I'm on Amazon as well and my years subscription's due soon hence one of the reasons for asking at this time, tempted maybe to switch to a monthly and see where it goes.

Wonder if Qobuz Connect will be gapless as well or if that may be phased in at a later stage the same as Amazon was.

Haven't seen any word on gapless. It should be technically feasible, but the lack of public knowledge about Qobuz's current infrastructure, application environment, etc., makes it impossible to say whether it can be achieved in terms of affordability. There would need be changes, obviously, but there's no way to know how extensive -- and expensive -- they would be.

It could also be the case that some endpoints will be able to support gapless -- depending on processing power and memory available, e.g., WiiM, perhaps -- while others will not, especially older streamers that aren't well-supported.

All just speculation of course. We'll know more by and by.

 

[Brantome]

David Craff of Qobuz has just posted “We'll be a few months late, but 2024 will be the launch year for Qobuz Connect.
We're already in contact with HiFi brands, and testing will begin shortly, but as it's a big project for a small team (yes, Qobuz is a small company) it's taking us longer than we thought.”

 

[timiambeing]

That’s excellent news, they are doing their best and I whole heartedly support Qobuz - it will arrive when it does and I bet when it does Wiim will be one of the first to update their range

 

[Brantome]

All independent, set on each device

 

[ratty]

Interesting that Eversolo are now claiming Qobuz Connect support.

Eversolo DMP-A6-Specs

www.eversolo.com

 

[Brantome]

Interesting that Eversolo are now claiming Qobuz Connect support.

Eversolo DMP-A6-Specs

www.eversolo.com

Like they did for Roon Ready? Jumping the gun more than an over eager sprinter

 

[Brantome]

From the audiophilestyle Qobuz thread, looks like Denon / Marantz may have their nose in front: David Craff has just said “this is probably the most important brand for Qobuz and this project, so we're working closely with them to get it done as quickly as possible.”

 

[ratty]

From the audiophilestyle Qobuz thread, looks like Denon / Marantz may have their nose in front: David Craff has just said “this is probably the most important brand for Qobuz and this project, so we're working closely with them to get it done as quickly as possible.”

D/M will surely have considerably more dev resources to devote to the project so could turn around new test builds more quickly.

 

[Brantome]

D/M will surely have considerably more dev resources to devote to the project so could turn around new test builds more quickly.

Having said that I always found their HEOS bug fix rate pretty slow when I had a Heos Link HS2. Plus do they even support Qobuz on their kit currently?

 

[DRC]

Plus do they even support Qobuz on their kit currently?

I do not think that HEOS supports Qobuz. Coincidentally, there is a new version of HEOS available now that modernises the look of the app (not before time).

 

[Smartplug]

If they have Elon musk fortune, this project will be done at break neck speed as he has resource to produce necessary things to get things done to meet the demand of his customer. Yes, it’s small company so it’s understandable.

 

[Mrz7kN]

I do not think that HEOS supports Qobuz. Coincidentally, there is a new version of HEOS available now that modernises the look of the app (not before time).

Can confirm that Heos does not integrate Qobuz. Just looked at the new App, thanks for the hint. I like the idea of the Dashboard - but Tidal integration looks still ugly as hell to me without being changed.

 

[CrystalGipsy]

From the audiophilestyle Qobuz thread, looks like Denon / Marantz may have their nose in front: David Craff has just said “this is probably the most important brand for Qobuz and this project, so we're working closely with them to get it done as quickly as possible.”

That’s interesting as they don’t have it in Heos or support Tidal Connect either. Heos as an app is awful but I use Roon to it on my Model 40n using a community extension based on the old LMS2UPnP plugin. He’s added lots of Heos mulitroom stuff to it as well.

 

[Brantome]

I do not think that HEOS supports Qobuz. Coincidentally, there is a new version of HEOS available now that modernises the look of the app (not before time).

Yeah I got rid of my Heos Link HS2 as it didn't support lossless casting from the Amazon Music app and Alexa, plus I couldn't actually talk about the Heos app without including the word execrable…

 

[CrystalGipsy]

Oddly update Heos today and this showed up in Roon. Many other Marantz and Denon users reporting similar for their different amps and Heos Speakers. Somethings a foot or a big cock up. Big news though as this is a major player to add to come on board.

 

[Balthazar B]

A few months gone...any news about QConnect? In the Qobuz Club it gets mostly silent if this comes up.

Qobuz Connect is #1 on my wish list. Outside of Qobuz, only insiders at WiiM/Linkplay and Masimo would definitely know specifics, and they're under a strict NDA. If Qobuz is sharing info with anyone else, the same NDA would be in force.