onsdag, 21 april 2021 16:26

Audiophile.no intervjuer Qobuz

Skrevet av

I forbindelse med introduksjonen av Qobuz i Norge fikk vi anledning til å stille spørsmål til nøkkelpersoner i Qobus i Frankrike. Av praktiske grunner ble dette for vår del gjennomført skriftlig, og her presenterer vi de svarene  i har fått fra Qobuz.

Det var tre sentrale figurer i Qobus som stilte seg til disposisjon for intervju i forbindelse med norgeslanseringen av Qobuz, strømmetjenesten som er kjent for å være tidligst ute med HighRes FLac. Georgens Fornay har lang erfaring i underholdningssektoren, og er utdannet i Paris Dauphine University. Han har nå overtatt som leder i Qobuz.

Marc Zisman er den personen som har lengst fartstid i Qobuz, og har vært sjefsredaktør siden starten. Han skal sørge for at Qobuz har et redaksjopnelt innhold av høy kvalitet.

Axel Destagnol har vært i Qobuz i to år, og er produktsjef.

I tillegg til dette skriftlige intervjuet som vi presenterer nå, vil vi komme tilbake med en bruksrapport av Qobuz når vi har fått noe erfaring med strømmetjenesten. VI vil da sammenligne Qobuz med andre ledende strømmetjenester, som Spotify, Tidal, Dezeer, Apple Music og Youtube Music.

 

Skriftlig intervju med Qobuz

 

Audiophile.no: The audiophile part of the streaming market in Norway has been waiting for Qobuz to be available in Norway. What is the reason we had to wait

Qobuz: Qobuz was available in 12 countries until last week. Each country has its specificities and it’s important to have the right resources to make sure our platform is ready and relevant to a new country audience. Today, we feel confident in our capacity to succeed in opening and developing these six new countries, the time has come!

Audiophile.no : How big part of your music collection will be available in HighRes (above 16bit 44.1Hz), and what resolution will these albums have?

Qobuz: The Qobuz catalogue is available in CD quality (also referred to as HiFi or HD) and  most of the major releases are also available in Hi-Res, going  up to 24bit 192kHz. Our HighRes catalogue is the richest on the market today.

Audiophile.no: Is there any difference between TIDAL and Qobuz when it comes to level of integration with Roon?

Qobuz: Both services offer the same in-app experience, however Qobuz is easier to use since Roon will only do the first MQA unfold and you need a specialty DAC with Tidal.

Audiophile.no: Could you say something about the fresh agreement between Sonos and Qobuz in Norway?

Qobuz: Qobuz is the first streaming service to deliver 24-bit Hi-Res audio streaming on Sonos devices. We are very excited about this partnership, it brings Hi-Res music to a wider audience of music lovers. This service will soon be available to Qobuz customers in Norway.

Audiophile.no: Is MQA a format that Qobuz will be considering?
Qobuz: We have decided to stick to source audios and don’t see any reason to switch to MQA. MQA requires compatible devices, Flac works everywhere.

Audiophile.no: Is Qobuz into multichannel music, like Dolby Atmos or Sony 360. Or eventually, what are your thoughts about the market for multichannel / 3D music?

Qobuz: We are very interested in immersive formats. Qobuz currently distributes releases in 5.1 on our store. Although Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 are not yet available, we consider implementing them. However, we prefer not to rush since there are still significant limitations in terms of compatibility, for Apple users in particular.

Audiophile.no: What do You think of the future for music streaming?

Qobuz: Music streaming is the main growth driver today. It accounts for 13.5 billion dollars of the total market size, which reached 21.6 billion dollars in 2020. It grew by +20% in 2020 and this growth seems to continue as current streaming forecasts predict a 100 billion dollar turnover in 2030. 

Audiophile.no: How big role do you think the Hi-Res music will have in the market?

Qobuz: Hi-Res is the highest quality audio, often referred to as studio quality. It is the sound as it was created and recorded in the studio by the artist. Qobuz was founded with the idea to offer music lovers a high-end musical experience. Our vision is to offer an ad-free music experience, including music content and recommendations from experts, and  extended metadata to show credits for each release and track. Hi-Res audio is the key ingredient, because it is true to the original work of artists.

Audiophile.no: What is the number of titles in the Qobuz catalogue, and how does this compare to Spotify and Tidal, and other major streaming services?

Qobuz: With over 70M tracks available, our catalogue is among the largest in the world. The main difference between Qobuz and other providers is our Hi-Res music offer, for both streaming and download. We pride ourselves in having the richest Hi-Res catalogue on the market, all genres combined.

Sist redigert mandag, 19 juli 2021 10:57
Karl Erik Sylthe

Redaktør i Audiophile.no

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