The Cambridge Audio CXN100 is the latest streamer to offer Qobuz Connect..
Qobuz Connect is coming to your favorite brand.
Cambridge Audio is the latest of our brands to roll out Qobuz Connect, so it's a good time to take a closer look at this new, yet familiar, way of accessing streaming music.
When a manufacturer offers Qobuz Connect, it means that the Qobuz app on your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop, can now directly control its products. You can bypass the factory app, such as BluOS or Aurender Conductor, and enjoy Qobuz's slick interface and detailed editorial content.
Unlike Roon, which uses a proprietary streaming protocol called RAAT, Qobuz Connect uses the device's native playback path, avoiding the extra processing needed for the RAAT layer. Also, you don't need an extra core computer or an additional subscription (beyond the Qobuz account, of course).
Advantages of Qobuz Connect over Manufacturer Apps
- One App: You can have the same app and interface (and queues and playlists) across all your streaming venues, whether you're using Bluetooth in your car, playing on a small office system, or listening on your main rig.
- Great Interface: Most manufacturer apps are utilitarian and, often, quirky. You now get a modern, high-quality interface as well as access to Qobuz's excellent band, artist, and label information.
- Desktop Control: Many customers want to run their control app on a desktop or laptop, and not all manufacturers allow this. Now, you can have that control station with large touchscreen setup in the listening room.
- Trial Period: Some customers who are new to streaming love that they can install and get familiar with the interface before their new source arrives. Manufacturer apps will not work if they can't see the device on the network, but the Qobuz app can play music on your phone or computer.
- UX Consistency: This is perhaps the most important advantage. As more manufacturers offer Qobuz Connect, you are no longer factoring app quality into a streamer purchase—you can focus solely on sound and features.
Disadvantages of Qobuz Connect
- Qobuz Only: If you subscribe to Tidal or Spotify as well as Qobuz, or you're a regular internet radio listener, you will need to switch apps to access these services.
- No Legacy Library: While you can download and store music from Qobuz locally (including on a NAS), the Qobuz app is not designed to browse or integrate your existing music files on a NAS. To combine streaming with a legacy NAS library, you generally need workarounds.
- No Party Mode: Multi-room is not directly supported, meaning you can't use the Qobuz app to initiate synchronized playback on multiple systems. But, you can have a common set of playlists, and even your current queue, across these systems.
- Maybe No Low-Level Access: Relevant only to our most committed audiophiles with quiet listening rooms, the factory app could still offer the highest quality, since it has the deepest access to caching and other optimizations.
Where Does This Leave Roon?
Roon is still the playback software of choice for the advanced user, especially audiophiles with large music servers, multiple streaming services, and/or multi-room playback needs. Roon also offers extensive DSP, including parametric EQ and speaker placement compensation. And finally, Roon's rich, intuitive interface is hard to beat. With its detailed editorial content, Roon makes for the best "liner notes" experience. Discovering new music through Roon's extensive hyperlinks between bands, musicians, engineers, genres, and record labels is a hobby unto itself.
Grimm Audio builds its MU1 streamer and MU2 streaming DAC around a Roon Core..
Brands with Qobuz Connect
These Upscale brands offer Qobuz Connect: Arcam, Auralic, Aurender, Cambridge Audio, Bluesound, Denon, Eversolo, HiFi Rose, Lumin, Marantz, NAD, Naim, T+A, and Technics.
While Tidal Connect is not as widely implemented, here are our Tidal Connect brands: Bluesound, Cambridge Audio, Lumin, Naim, Cabasse, and NAD.
This covers an incredible selection of products, from budget favorites to reference flagships. One of our digital specialists loves how Qobuz Connect has truly connected him across his home. "I can control Qobuz on every single device," he says. "I no longer have the special hi-fi control app that's tied to a tablet, and then a regular app for the rest of the house."
But his favorite aspect of Qobuz Connect for Upscale Audio customers is that they no longer need to choose a streamer for its software. "You pick performance because functionality is now consistent."