Qobuz connect announced !
Answered
It seems that Qobuz will release its connect function soon. Please make sure that BluOS will get this functionality!
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Well... Why NAD, Bluesound or PSB would have any interest in Qobuz while they bought MQA some time ago? Maybe this is just on purpose.
Again, just thinking...
Anyway, hopefully all these feedback may change Bluos development roadmap and change priorities a little.
I love my node and doesn't really want to go anywhere else.
But, Qobuz is really good and I want the best of both!2 -
List of Qobuz Connect Ready Manufacturers copied and pasted directly from Qobuz website without the link, since Bluesound appears highly concerned about unverified links:
Aavik
Arcam
Atoll Electronique
Audiolab
Auralic
Aurender
Autonomic Controls
AVM Audio
Axxess
B Audio
Cary Audio
Convers Digital (mConnect)
Dan D'agostino
dCS
Denon
Dynaudio
Esoteric
Eversolo (Zidoo)
Focal
Gold Note
Hegel
Heos (Marantz, Denon...)
Inklang
Innuos
JBL Premium Audio
Kalista
Libre Wireless Technologies
Lindemann
Lumin
Luxman
Lyngdorf Audio
Marantz
McIntosh
Metronome
Moon
Nagra
Naim Audio
Octavio
Rose HiFi
Rotel
Ruark Audio
Shanling
Silent Angel
StreamUnlimited
Teac
Volumio
Wadax
Wattson Audio
Wiim4 -
So all these brands are on the support list but no blueos. Damn disappointing that blueos is so far behind on this.
Was going to update home system to icon and move old node to another system but may have to change those plans.
Aavik
Arcam
Atoll Electronique
Audiolab
Auralic
Aurender
Autonomic Controls
AVM Audio
Axxess
B Audio
Cary Audio
Convers Digital (mConnect)
Dan D'agostino
dCS
Denon
Dynaudio
Esoteric
Eversolo (Zidoo)
Focal
Gold Note
Hegel
Heos (Marantz, Denon...)
Inklang
Innuos
JBL Premium Audio
Kalista
Libre Wireless Technologies
Lindemann
Lumin
Luxman
Lyngdorf Audio
Marantz
McIntosh
Metronome
Moon
Nagra
Naim Audio
Octavio
Rose HiFi
Rotel
Ruark Audio
Shanling
Silent Angel
StreamUnlimited
Teac
Volumio
Wadax
Wattson Audio
Wiim6 -
Wow thank you for sharing Leo, seeing that list and BluOS lacking on it is quite depressing/aggravating...
Andrew, can you confirm Giovanotti's message from Germany's customer support that nothing will be released this year?
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There is absolutely no good reason for Qobuz Connect to not be available for BluOS already. Please make this the #1 priority.
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After much frustration due to this delay on Qobuz Connect I decided to put on sell my new BS Icon and return to my previous Innuos streamer. Qobuz Connect just landed on my Android and BS is the one missing in the brands listed. Eagerly waiting to make the sell !
Vasco
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Andrew, can you confirm Giovanotti's message from Germany's customer support that nothing will be released this year?
Hi Mathijs - our good friends at DALI GmBH are excellent distribution partners but at the end of the day are our distributors and don't necessarily have insight to our Product Development Roadmap. As Andrew stated, Qobuz Connect will be coming, and we will share timelines on this once we have them.
Also, keep in mind that Qobuz is not deprecated in BluOS and is still readily available using the BluOS App, as it has been for the past 10 years.
Thanks for your continued patience and for #LivingHiFi.-1 -
Hi folks, I'll add that we have a large multi year project that is coming to a close soon. Once that is completed then Qobuz Connect is and was always next on the list. Connect models themselves take time to ensure quality, reliability and consistent audio. As we now have now over 90 devices in the platform there will be a significant testing cycle. Qobuz is a good partner of BluOS and Lenbrook, and we want to support both their new functionality and to offer it to you the folks that buy our products.
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Hi Tony.
Qobuz woks within the BluOS app, but the user experience in not in any way as good as in the native app. Actually It’s mostly frustrating, forcing me to play Qobuz in other ways.I would have liked to see you at Bluesound take us seriously and present an action plan for how you will accommodate us consumers.
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To have such limited features available for Qobuz after it has been in the BluOS App for 10 years says it all. The only feedback we are getting is that "it will be coming", you shouldn't require the patience of your customers - we payed good money for your product and we deserve better service than this. It's time to move on from Bluesound, and I would caution the company that for the small number of people commenting on this thread, there will be many times more who will silently move from your products. I have monitored this thread since the beginning but only created an account to share my frustration, I encourage all customers to make their voices heard.
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This^^^^
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Andrew H,
When the multi-year project is finished, will you announce whatever it is or when it is finished so we know when y'all start the process of integrating qobuz connect into your streamers?6 -
I know that had Andrew H led with his most recent much more detailed response, I would have not been nearly so taken aback. It felt as if the customer base was being blown off from earlier Bluesound responses based on the tone of the messages. Giving the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
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Maybe the multi-year project will be announced in Munich at audio show. Maybe it will be an MQA streaming audio service by Bluesound. Maybe that explains the focus on something besides Qobuz Connect. Maybe that focus was misguided?
Or maybe I’m out to lunch :)
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Seriously thinking of selling my Node and moving to another brand that supports Qobuz Connect - plenty to choose from! Statements such as "Qobuz Connect will be coming, and we will share timelines on this once we have them" is all I need to know... it hasn't even been planned! I would be surprised if Qobuz Connect is available on Bluesound devices before 2027. Truth is that BluOS doesn't come close to the Qobuz app in terms of functionality and user experience, and now that Qobuz Connect is out why wait any longer.
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Multi-year projects aside, it's clear that Bluesound is losing ground relative to the competition. Let's take HEOS as an example. About 12-18 months ago they didn't have Tidal Connect. No Qobuz. Same for Roon Ready compatibility. And their platform was looking tired and lacking in features. They pretty much had nothing on BluOS.
Since then they had a number of releases improving the overall experience and functionality, including adding a global search function (across all linked services) which is something that has been requested in BluOS but dismissed. They added Tidal Connect as well as Roon Ready certifications for many of their devices. AND now they also have Qobuz Connect!
Yes, Bluesound added room correction, which is commendable, but for some of us on 2i and older gen hardware it's not really part of the equation. I've been on the fence expanding my Bluesound ecosystem waiting for ageing Pulse updates. They are nowhere to be seen, and with Qobuz Connect being months away (best case scenario), I'm obviously going to reconsider my options.
Lastly, the news broke the other day that HARMAN, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung, is purchasing Sound United (Marantz, Denon, B&W, etc) from Masimo Consumer. I see this as a good thing and it changes my view on directing my dollars towards these HEOS brands. Make what you want out of it, just think about the opportunities it opens up across Samsung's amd its brands' portfolio of products, including SmartThings home integrations.
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Qobuz was the last major music service to come with Connect. All other big players have had this for years. Was this a problem? Apparently not really. The sound quality and layout of Qobuz is very good and we took it for granted that there was no Connect yet. Bluesound users use a good free BluOs app that is reliable and clear. If you want even better, you end up with Roon or Audirvana. For years, BluOs users were treated to updates and the system became more and more mature. Now Qobuz Connect has been rolled out with years of delay and BluOs is not immediately ready. Despite the information that Bluesound will also soon come with an update, people are suddenly screaming bloody murder. Impatience, indecency and childish threats to switch to another brand are posted daily. Were you also busy with Qobuz in all those years without Connect? In the meantime, my system has been built from high-quality components with a Denafrips DDC and DAC as a basis, to which a beautiful, flawlessly working N130 is attached, which now also has DIRAC, for which I bought a nice Dirac license at a discount thanks to Bluesound. Which brand also has Dirac for this price? In this setup it sounds very good and you have to spend lot more money on to have a better streamer as a source. For me, Bluesound remains fine and I have no reason to complain.
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Also, keep in mind that Qobuz is not deprecated in BluOS and is still readily available using the BluOS App, as it has been for the past 10 years.
Hi Tony,
First of all, I respect the time and effort you and your engineering team put into the Bluesound hardware and software. Developing software is never easy, as I know from experience. Things are always more complex than they seem for the end user. But I don't think it helps you to overlook the fact that the BluOS app has some serious user experience issues.
Let me give you one example of why I would rather use Qobuz Connect than the Qobuz integration in the BluOS app. The BluOS app (at least on iPhone) makes no distinction between albums, EPs & singles, and live albums when you browse the albums for an artist in the Qobuz integration. They are not sorted by release date or in alphabetical order (what is the sorting order?).
In order to find the latest album of an artist in the BluOS app, I would have to go through every single item in the Albums list to determine if it is indeed an album, and not a single or EP, and check the release date to find out if it was released recently. I am not going to do that, so instead, I go over to the Qobuz app, find the latest album there, add it to my favourites, go back to the BluOS app, tap on Favorites under Qobuz in the Most Used section and play the album. I think you would have to agree with me that this is not a good user experience. And this is just one example.
It's not only the Qobuz integration. Right now, there is now way for me to create a new BluOS playlist. I can tap Add to playlist... in the overflow menu of a song in Library. It shows me an empty list of BluOS playlists to select because I have none yet, but the button to create a new playlist is missing. I mean, this is basic stuf.
I recently bought the NODE N132 and I love the sound quality and the compact design. Also, I think the visual design of the app is great, far better than most other audio device companion apps. So there are many positives too, but I can confidently say that for many of us the user experience of the BluOS app is an important part of the whole Bluesound experience. And right now, to be completely honest, it feels like the app is in an early beta testing phase. I don't mean this with disrespect, but that is how it feels. I can give many more examples of user experience issues, but that would make this already long post far too long. Reading that the Qobuz integration has been around for 10 years and knowing that this is the state of the user experience now doesn't help either.
Thanks for reading and reacting to these posts and good luck with finishing up that big project.
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I would like to add some context to my previous comment so as not to be misconstrued as simply impatient or unduly critical of Bluesound.
I began contacting Bulsound support over my frustrations with the limited features available using Qobuz in BluOS in July 2020. The response was to blame Qobuz for offering Bluesound only limited API, I contacted Qobuz and was told this was incorrect. Bluesound support assured me: “we are always working to improve the experience based on customer feedback. The App itself is always being worked on and updated. Rest assured that we will be taking this purposed request and will be forwarding this request to our QA Team as well as the BluOS Development Lab for review.”
Five years later and none of the issues I and countless other Qobuz users have are being addressed and with no clear plans to do so.
For whatever reason, Bluesound clearly seem unwilling to properly integrate Qobuz into BluOS, and I am totally fine with that. My issue is with vague communication that hints at improving the Qobuz user experience yet provides no timelines. Communication seemingly just to placate us and keep us using their product while they have no actual concrete plans to address our issues. If they were upfront and told me that Qobuz integration isn’t a priority for them I would respect that and would have moved on to a different product five years ago and would have avoided this frustration and feeling of being led on.
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Would be grate for this to happen, I have been invited to try it as early access but neither my Node nor my Primare support it yet.
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James, I have received the notification as well and this is feeling like shaking the knife to be honest!
They have delivered everything to all manufacturer to implement and test during 10 months of Beta, and since most of manufacturer (with exception of Bluos) did the job they have release the official connect feature.2 -
I completely agree with James and Pierre! I am not able to try Qobuz Connect either on my NAD.
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Although the other notable manufacturer which hasn't implemented yet is Sonos
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Darko has an article on his website titled: "At last! Qobuz Connect debuts on WiiM streamers", saying :
"The French streaming service isn’t a big name in the mainstream, especially when sat next to Apple Music and Spotify, but it’s popular with hifi people, and all streaming hardware manufacturers should brace themselves for an onslaught of “Does it do Qobuz Connect?”-type enquiries."4 -
Did I want to drop a few hundred dollars on a Wiim Ultra? No. Did this cause me to do so? It sure did. Maybe the grass is greener and I’ll be back, but I wouldn’t necessarily bet on it at this point.
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I highly prefer bluesound over wiim, and my devices are roon ready, but not having qobuz connect before wiim is a miss. hopefully they finish their years long project soon and we can get qobuz connect soon.
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Qobuz Connect has been released two days ago on their iOS app in BETA version. Once it is stable, Bluesound, I give you three months to make it available! In the meantime, the app looks already good, but please improve the speed and UI of the integration, which works better and looks nicer on WiiM. I own an expensive M10 V3 and a Node nano; the app is my remote, so please release more improvements and Qobuz Connect soon. Please.
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Sir Fabio. Its not BETA anymore.
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I thought it was from the update notes (three days ago on iOS):
Version 9.0.0
Here's what we have been working on:
Initial release of Qobuz ConnectI misunderstood initial release for beta.
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I wish Bluesound prioritized this a bit more but okay, let's move on to what can actually be done further on.
What I would like to know rapidly is the list of devices that will be compatible with Qobuz Connect and a timeline. The beta has been running long enough for Bluesound to have some knowledge here. I own a Node 2 (2015) and I am looking forward to benefitting from this feature. I like my Node but I really don't like BluOS, and don't really need it either as Qobuz is my only streaming source.
TL/DR: give us some visiblilty.
Thank you
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