{"slug": "qobuz", "name": "Qobuz", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Music streaming service and download store offering high-resolution lossless audio.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 9, "warners": 0, "score": 6.132, "rising": -0.64, "first": "2026-01-03", "latest": "2026-10-23", "why": "HN commenters recommend Qobuz as a Spotify replacement that pays artists more per stream and offers hand-curated discovery of obscure music.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Spotify alternative", "Artist payouts"], "caveat": "Recommendations", "short_quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.qobuz.com", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Qobuz"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters recommend Qobuz as a Spotify replacement", "cites": [{"id": 782909377, "item_id": 48931836, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931836", "by": "DuncanCoffee", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "spotify (which I want to replace with Qobuz)", "excerpt": "I remember Emule, with its IRC client we discovered by chance, or BearShare, which had a whole social network, you could search for people based on age, country and whatever. We used to get together at a friend's house because he had decent internet, in front of a CRT monitor, chatting with people around Europe with our broken english. Music piracy also changed the course of my life, thanks to a DVD full of music I d", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}, {"text": " that pays artists more per stream", "cites": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}, {"text": " and offers hand-curated discovery of obscure music.", "cites": [{"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}, {"text": " No single complaint dominates; criticisms include weaker recommendations and a quirky webview app", "cites": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}]}, {"text": ", gaps for some niche tastes, and a playback bug when switching networks.", "cites": [{"id": 803343024, "item_id": 50208939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208939", "by": "fier", "date": "2026-10-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.", "excerpt": "I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.I hope they continue to grow because I love the idea of leaving Spotify.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier"}, {"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Spotify alternative", "summary": "Several commenters switched or plan to switch from Spotify to Qobuz.", "quotes": [{"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}, {"id": 782909377, "item_id": 48931836, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931836", "by": "DuncanCoffee", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "spotify (which I want to replace with Qobuz)", "excerpt": "I remember Emule, with its IRC client we discovered by chance, or BearShare, which had a whole social network, you could search for people based on age, country and whatever. We used to get together at a friend's house because he had decent internet, in front of a CRT monitor, chatting with people around Europe with our broken english. Music piracy also changed the course of my life, thanks to a DVD full of music I d", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}]}, {"label": "Artist payouts", "summary": "Commenters say Qobuz pays artists better than other streaming services.", "quotes": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}, {"label": "Curation and catalogue", "summary": "Manual curation and a strong catalogue help users find obscure music.", "quotes": [{"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}, {"label": "Audio quality", "summary": "One commenter calls its audio quality the best of all streaming platforms.", "quotes": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}]}, {"label": "Multi-platform clients", "summary": "It has desktop, mobile and Android Auto clients, plus Connect for switching playback devices.", "quotes": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}]}, {"label": "Buying music", "summary": "One commenter names it one of the two best places to buy music.", "quotes": [{"id": 743618129, "item_id": 46476133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476133", "by": "ravachol", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp.", "excerpt": "Hi, I'm the developer of kew which works for linux, macOS, Android and FreeBSD. The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp. https://github.com/ravachol/kew I encourage you to go check out my app.", "context": "", "use_case": "buying music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Recommendations", "summary": "Algorithmic recommendations are weaker than Spotify's, though slowly improving.", "quotes": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}]}, {"label": "App and UI", "summary": "The app uses a webview rather than a native client, and its UI is somewhat quirky.", "quotes": [{"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}]}, {"label": "Niche catalogue gaps", "summary": "One commenter finds their niche music tastes less available than on Spotify.", "quotes": [{"id": 803343024, "item_id": 50208939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208939", "by": "fier", "date": "2026-10-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.", "excerpt": "I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.I hope they continue to grow because I love the idea of leaving Spotify.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier"}]}, {"label": "Playback bug", "summary": "One user hit an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to mobile data.", "quotes": [{"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}]}, {"label": "Fewer features", "summary": "It has far fewer features than Spotify, which one parent saw as a plus for kids.", "quotes": [{"id": 747477744, "item_id": 46717359, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717359", "by": "internet_points", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For my youngest, I installed Qobuz, which has all the music, but much fewer features.", "excerpt": "This looks very nice, I love that you're making a real solution to avoid the dark patterns of companies like Spotify. I used Subsonic for a while as a simple way to curate music for kids and keep them off Spotify, but eventually my oldest got past the \"listen to the same album over and over again\" stage, and adding everything to Subsonic became a chore, so we succumbed to giving her an account. Yet I really don't lik", "context": "parent", "use_case": "music streaming for kids", "switched_from": "", "story": "2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev \u2013 lessons learned"}]}], "who": [{"by": "frakt0x90", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "date": "2026-05-01"}, {"by": "internet_points", "context": "parent", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717359", "date": "2026-01-22"}], "tags": ["for Spotify switchers", "for buying music", "for kids", "for hi-fi listeners"], "use_cases": ["music streaming", "music streaming playback", "music streaming for kids", "buying music"], "compared": [{"slug": "spotify", "name": "Spotify", "co": 6, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46406311", "title": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50205934", "title": "Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49517448", "title": "Fastpotify", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48930454", "title": "The lost joy of music piracy", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763790", "title": "24-bit/192kHz music downloads and why they make no sense", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744655", "title": "The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803343024, "item_id": 50208939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208939", "by": "fier", "date": "2026-10-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.", "excerpt": "I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.I hope they continue to grow because I love the idea of leaving Spotify.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier"}, {"id": 792290784, "item_id": 49518174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518174", "by": "zcrar70", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms", "excerpt": "Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms (better even that Tidal imho). They have desktop, mobile and android auto (and presumably carplay) clients, and an equivalent to Spotify Connect whereby streaming can be switched to a different client. Downsides are no native client (same webview approach as Spotify), not as strong recommendations", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 782909377, "item_id": 48931836, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931836", "by": "DuncanCoffee", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "spotify (which I want to replace with Qobuz)", "excerpt": "I remember Emule, with its IRC client we discovered by chance, or BearShare, which had a whole social network, you could search for people based on age, country and whatever. We used to get together at a friend's house because he had decent internet, in front of a CRT monitor, chatting with people around Europe with our broken english. Music piracy also changed the course of my life, thanks to a DVD full of music I d", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 780267984, "item_id": 48766749, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48766749", "by": "rz2k", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I do not notice any difference in fidelity when I use the Qobuz software player on my Mac or use Qobuz Connect", "excerpt": "Some people have claimed to hear an improvement with an external clock on a Wiim Ultra, but I do not think it is possible to re-clock the WiiM Amp Ultra with an outboard clock. When I play from the computer, I'm not sure whether it is using the clock on my Mac, the clock on the optical interface, or the WiiM's clock. However, I do not notice any difference in fidelity when I use the Qobuz software player on my Mac or", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "24-bit/192kHz music downloads and why they make no sense"}, {"id": 779967906, "item_id": 48747994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747994", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I also have Qobuz: they're not mutually exclusive", "excerpt": "Not a bad TFA but half of the author's issues would be solved by not using Windows (all the first bullet points he complains about are Microsoftisms). Then half of the other half would be solved by taking some agency back: self-host stuff. I can disconnect my LAN from my router --which I often do-- and be fully operational. I can dev. I've got servers, VMs, containers, etc. I can rip audio CDs I own, I can play my mu", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore"}, {"id": 767671344, "item_id": 47979459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979459", "by": "frakt0x90", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.", "excerpt": "Too late for me. I was on Spotify since 2013 and switched to Qobuz due to AI, bad recs, and dislike for the company. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI. Mainly due to not relying on recommendation algos anymore. I'm sure there is still AI in there. Only issue I've encountered is an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to data.", "context": "former Spotify user since 2013", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI"}, {"id": 747477744, "item_id": 46717359, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717359", "by": "internet_points", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For my youngest, I installed Qobuz, which has all the music, but much fewer features.", "excerpt": "This looks very nice, I love that you're making a real solution to avoid the dark patterns of companies like Spotify. I used Subsonic for a while as a simple way to curate music for kids and keep them off Spotify, but eventually my oldest got past the \"listen to the same album over and over again\" stage, and adding everything to Subsonic became a chore, so we succumbed to giving her an account. Yet I really don't lik", "context": "parent", "use_case": "music streaming for kids", "switched_from": "", "story": "2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev \u2013 lessons learned"}, {"id": 743619664, "item_id": 46476229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476229", "by": "jzellis", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.", "excerpt": "I switched to Qobuz a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm gonna cancel my Spotify subscription soon. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better. Aside from that, I've got my entire music collection backed up on multiple drives (mostly by accident) and I bought an iPod Classic last year, upgraded the battery and storage, and I've got it all on there too, and it'l", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}, {"id": 743618129, "item_id": 46476133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476133", "by": "ravachol", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp.", "excerpt": "Hi, I'm the developer of kew which works for linux, macOS, Android and FreeBSD. The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp. https://github.com/ravachol/kew I encourage you to go check out my app.", "context": "", "use_case": "buying music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}]}