Music streaming service is a very common app we have today and chances are you have at least one of them in your phone. Competing with each other, these services need to stand out among its peers and among them, Idagio Vs Qobuz are alternatives to classical music listeners and better audio quality. These services are indeed different from the rest and if you are wondering which of them will worth your money and subscription the most, see below about what they can offer.
In this article, we are going to give you information about:
- What to Look in a Music Streaming Service
- What are Idagio and Qobuz
- Are Idagio and Qobuz Expensive
- Are Idagio and Qobuz Easy to Use
- How are Idagio and Qobuz for Classical Collection
- How are the Audio Quality of Idagio and Qobuz
- Idagio Vs Qobuz
Contents
Music Streaming Service
In modern days, music has become an inseparable part of our lives that we always bring everywhere we go. In fact we listen to them for several hours a day and in our personal case, we actually spend 8-9 hours wearing our earphones during the day and this does not even count the night YouTube adventure we do when bored and can’t sleep yet. In the past, we still remember bringing an iPod everywhere because our phones can only stock so many songs and we don’t want to burden the battery.
Nowadays, the smartphone’s battery is still a struggle for modern users but there is a trend shifting from physically storing the song in a device to saving them in the cloud. Storage is a very important part to consider in almost any device and this solution just fixed our problems that we have faced for so many years. The result is now you can find so many streaming platforms that offer their collection and service so we can have our music, anytime, anywhere, as long as we have our device with us.
When it comes to streaming service, there are so many factors we have to consider because these are paid options and many are not even providing free experience besides during the free-trial period. The factors themselves vary among users but for the consumers in the United States, it seems that listeners are placing both audio quality and price point as the top consideration when they are looking or planning to subscribe for a streaming service. This is not surprising because audio quality affects listening experience the most.
Our hardware such as speakers, earphones, and headphones are important too but they won’t do much when the audio quality itself is poor since we are here to pay for the better experience than our old ripped albums. Next is the price and this is where companies are competing with each other blatantly yet, comparing from the amount of services and their price, it also seems that they started to have this standard cost that is similar or even the same for almost every app.
The best thing about streaming services is you can have as many songs as you want and access them anytime you are in the mood as well. Making a playlist is another important factor we consider as it is essential to keep track of what we want to hear which can be based on anything like artists, genres, years, theme, etc. so we can shuffle or listen to them conveniently. In addition, for those who are always up to date, the ease of discovering new music will be a great plus.
About Idagio and Qobuz
The factors that matter personally to you may be the same or different so these are highly varied among one user to another. If you are here then it means you also have a specific taste in classical music and different from those who are more into mainstream music, the available platforms for this genre is not as many but, it doesn’t mean there is no company who aimed at the segment yet. There are actually few services catering to these specific listeners and it seems they are very reliable as well.
One of the most popular is probably Apple Music that you can check on our YouTube Music Vs Apple Music here since they boast a wonderful amount of songs compared to many other similar streaming services. But, if you want to go more specific, Idagio and Qobuz are what many classical music listeners often end up subscribing to. Both of them may not be as popular in the mainstream market for the general listeners but the rising trend of the soft genre surely brings their names on top of the list.
Idagio is a taken from Adagio which is the musical direction for a slow, and gentle piece and it does correctly describe this music service. The service itself has been released since 2015 in Europe but just entered the US market in 2018 to widen its coverage for the classical music listeners in further places. Knowing that classical genre is the 4th most listened to in the US, UK, Austria, Denmark, Mexico, and South Korea, even more popular than the R&B, the market seems very promising for this company.
On the other hand, Qobuz was released earlier, or far earlier than the many mainstream music services today as it has been around since 2007 yet, they are only starting to be available for overseas users in 2013 when it becomes the first CD-quality streaming service in the UK before Tidal joined the game few years later. Overall, both of these companies are approaching the mainstream market but in our opinion, if you are specifically in the classical genre, Idagio is still the best among others including Qobuz.
Idagio and Qobuz Pricing
As paid service, the first thing we always pay attention to is their plan cost and back then this is what makes many are shying away from Qobuz but today, there are many discount offers which makes their plans have better values. As for today, they only offer two plans; the Studio Premier at $14.99 per month or $149.99 per year and it also has what’s called Sublime+ account that cost $249 per year but give many discounts for music download purchase.
For Idagio, the one that we love so much from their service is the free account itself; just like Spotify. The paid service starts from $9.99 per month, the same to many mainstream streaming services and if you want to get the better audio, they offer Premium+ plan for $12.99 per month too. With the free plan you will listen to 192Kbps audio and ads every now and then while the paid version will give you 320Kbps and the most expensive plan offers lossless FLAC audio quality.
Idagio and Qobuz Interface
Moving further, let’s see what Idagio and Qobuz can offer, starting with their interface first. With Idagio, if you are used to Spotify or Apple Music, their welcome page is too simple and less attractive with lots of text based menu but, there should not be any confusion since every function such as Discover, Browse, Mood, and Recently Played are all easy to find. Below them you can see the further list of Tracks, Recordings, Playlists, and Albums. Similar to Spotify, you will also get Playlist for the day and Weekly Mixes or Featured New Albums.
The desktop version of Qobuz is not far different from Idagio but it does have some colors here yet, the background is still plain white which personally is not attractive at all. But, all the functions we often use such as Discover, My Playlist, Favorites, Purchases, and Offline Library are clearly displayed at the front page menu. Similar to Weekly Playlist, they have The Taste of Qobuz with Ideal Discography and Qobuzissime which to put simply are their automated top picks.
Idagio and Qobuz Classical Music
When it comes to services meant for the classical music listeners, in comparison Idagio and other similar services like Primephonic will outshine Qobuz because it doesn’t give the best convenience if you are trying to look for work based on genre, forces, composer, and period of the piece. With classical music focus services, these categories can be found that will ease your way to find the certain song and in addition, the collection is not as wide as Idagio so you may not find some classical pieces from their catalog.
Idagio and Qobuz Audio Quality
The last point we want to talk about is their audio quality because it is necessary to have the best from what Idagio and Qobuz can offer. Free Idagio is already amazing as it gives you 192Kbps (compared to Spotify 96Kbps), the paid service gives up to Lossless or CD-equivalent 16-bit and 44.1KHz sample rate. Qobuz is also the same since it can offer the 44.1KHz CD quality while the High-Res or Studio Master quality is usually from 48 to 192kHz at 24 bits.
Idagio vs Qobuz
Both of them are amazing for your music streaming companion but the thing that makes Idagio and Qobuz more similar is the high quality audio itself. In terms of price Qobuz is more expensive while when it is about classical music Idagio will have much more option in its catalog and when it comes to audio quality, even though both are much better than many mainstream services, Qobuz is still among the very few that can give you the 192KHz at 24 bits which only available for some new recordings.
| Idagio | Qobuz |
|---|---|
| - Classical music focus | - Mainstream focus |
| - Cheaper | - Expensive |
| - Audio up to 16 bit, 44.1Khz | - Audio up to 24 bit, 192Khz |
| - Free account | - Paid account only |
Conclusion
You can choose any of them based on which sits best in your personal listening preference. If you are here for classical music, Idagio is the better option but if you invest in high-end audio gear and want to get the best experience, Qobuz certainly lived up to its hype.