Qobuz
Music streaming service and download store offering high-resolution lossless audio.
HN commenters recommend Qobuz as a Spotify replacement123 that pays artists more per stream45 and offers hand-curated discovery of obscure music.67 No single complaint dominates; criticisms include weaker recommendations and a quirky webview app8, gaps for some niche tastes, and a playback bug when switching networks.910
Why people recommend it
Spotify alternative · 3
Several commenters switched or plan to switch from Spotify to Qobuz.
“Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.”
“It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.”
Show 1 more
“spotify (which I want to replace with Qobuz)”
Artist payouts · 2
Commenters say Qobuz pays artists better than other streaming services.
“Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms”
“It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.”
Curation and catalogue · 2
Manual curation and a strong catalogue help users find obscure music.
“Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.”
“It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.”
Audio quality · 1
One commenter calls its audio quality the best of all streaming platforms.
“Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms”
Multi-platform clients · 1
It has desktop, mobile and Android Auto clients, plus Connect for switching playback devices.
“Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms”
Buying music · 1
One commenter names it one of the two best places to buy music.
“The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp.”
Caveats and dissent
Recommendations · 1
Algorithmic recommendations are weaker than Spotify's, though slowly improving.
“Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms”
App and UI · 1
The app uses a webview rather than a native client, and its UI is somewhat quirky.
“Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms”
Niche catalogue gaps · 1
One commenter finds their niche music tastes less available than on Spotify.
“I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.”
Playback bug · 1
One user hit an annoying playback bug when switching from wifi to mobile data.
“Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.”
Fewer features · 1
It has far fewer features than Spotify, which one parent saw as a plus for kids.
“For my youngest, I installed Qobuz, which has all the music, but much fewer features.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s? 2 mentions
- Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier 1 mention
- Fastpotify 1 mention
- The lost joy of music piracy 1 mention
- 24-bit/192kHz music downloads and why they make no sense 1 mention
- The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore 1 mention
Data: qobuz.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 9
“I try Qobuz out every year but my dumb niche music tastes aren't as available there.”
“Qobuz have the highest per stream payout rate for artists [0], and have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms”
“spotify (which I want to replace with Qobuz)”
“I do not notice any difference in fidelity when I use the Qobuz software player on my Mac or use Qobuz Connect”
“I also have Qobuz: they're not mutually exclusive”
“Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music and have encountered 0 AI.”
“For my youngest, I installed Qobuz, which has all the music, but much fewer features.”
“It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.”
“The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp.”