Qobuz proves once again it's the hi-res music lovers' choice with DSD audio downloads

2 weeks ago 7

The Rolling Stones' Let it Bleed album in DSD, on Qobuz

(Image credit: Rolling Stones / Qobuz / DSD)

Any time I try to explain the merits of Qobuz to a friend who's not quite so obsessed with music quality as I am, I keep coming back to this: Qobuz does things in hi-res for everyone, and it has been doing things a little differently since 2007 (although it didn't choose to branch out into the US until 2019 I grant you – see 'differently' in my point above).

And now Qobuz has added Direct Stream Digital (DSD) and Digital eXtreme Definition (DXD) audio formats to its high-fidelity download platform. Beginning today (Thursday, October 10) listeners can enjoy more than 22,500 tracks now available mainly in DSD format, adding to the more than 100 million songs already available on the streaming service.

Yes, that emphatically makes Qobuz one of the best music streaming platforms I know for hi-res audio. Spotify is the popular choice, of course, but popular taste doesn't always echo that of the connoisseur, does it? Qobuz doesn't go in for AI DJs or Wrapped-style roundups. But unlike the big green streaming machine, it does offer hi-res music in abundance, along with human-curated playlists, a download store you don't have to be a member to use (although you get up to 60% discounts if you do have a subscription), and an online community forum called Qobuz Club that's nearly 18 months old filled with actual humans giving each other advice, kudos and tips.

Intrigued? Excellent, feel free to discover Qobuz' DSD catalog and its DXD catalog DXD catalog – you're very welcome.

Why you need DSD audio in your life

We've got an audio file format explainer if you need further clarification, but in a nutshell, DSD and DXD are high-resolution audio formats that are distinctly different from the traditional PCM system used in formats like WAV, FLAC, ALAC, and AIFF. Why? Sony and Philips actually co-designed DSD in the 1990s as an archival format (imagine warehouses of cassette tapes, all gradually going back to nature) based on 1-bit Sigma Delta Modulated (SDM).

So where CD-quality is often said to refer to "16-bit recordings", DSD only ever uses "single-bit" values, at a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz. This is 64 times that of 44.1 kHz, aka CD audio sampling rate, but with 1-bit samples instead of 16-bit. DSD is the format used for Super Audio CD (SACD) releases (hey, they were big for a moment), and many CD players support SACD now – although not all.

Other high-resolution audio formats, like PCM, sample sound at rates up to 192,000 times per second (192 kHz). DXD pushes this even further, sampling at 352,800 times per second, offering even greater detail. However, DSD goes beyond both, with an astonishing 2.8 million samples per second. So, it's good quality? Yes, although it also can make for pretty big file sizes – and I love the detail I hear in them.

If you've got (or are considering getting) one of the best hi-res audio players to make the commute easier, you'll want to get the most out of it with some hi-res music. Prefer to listen at your desk? A good headphone DAC plugged in to your laptop and a set of the best wired headphones or best wired earbuds is the way to go. Cue up a hi-res Qobuz album and boom, you're ready to unlock the joys of audio as you've rarely heard it – and if you're downloading, there's no need to worry about wi-fi.

Know this: for the music portion of this recipe, I cannot recommend Qobuz's hi-res catalog highly enough.