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HIGHRESAUDIO, Qobuz and Tidal: who runs them, what artists get, what you hear

· 10 min read

Checked on 2026-11-02 against each service's own pages, help centre and press releases, and the Norwegian register of companies. Prices are those shown that day, and they change. HIGHRESAUDIO's formats were read from its catalogue's own search, on my test box, the same day; the sources are listed at the end.

On this page11

Three services stream music in lossless high resolution: HIGHRESAUDIO from Germany, Qobuz from France, and Tidal, a Norwegian company with an American owner. They reach much the same quality; what sets them apart is what they are. One is a shop of albums in their native resolution that also streams, one is a catalogue of over a hundred million tracks with a download store beside it, and one is a catalogue that has just begun to sell music from independent artists. Here is how they compare: who is behind them, how big they are, what they stream and sell, what they cost, how you listen, what they say they pay, what they do about music made by AI, and which suits what.

A phone lying on a dark table, in black and white, playing Come Away With Me by Norah Jones, the album's cover above the pause button

Photo: Vu Nguyen, on Unsplash.

Side by side

HIGHRESAUDIO Qobuz Tidal
Country Germany France Norway, US owner
Behind it Its founder Xandrie, since 2015 Block, since 2021
Catalogue Not counted Over 100 million Over 180 million
Countries By licence 26 61
Streams FLAC, to 352.8 kHz FLAC, 24/192 FLAC, 24/192; Atmos
Sells FLAC, DSD, DXD… Albums, some DSD Self-uploads, US
To the hi-fi UPnP, AirPlay 2 Qobuz Connect TIDAL Connect
Streams at once 1 1 per account 1, plus 5 offline
One listener €159 a year €14.99 a month, France $11.99 a month, US
Per stream Not published $0.01873, 2023–24 Not published
AI music No policy found Albums tagged Tagged, unpaid

Who is behind them

HIGHRESAUDIO is German. The company is HIGHRESAUDIO UG (haftungsbeschränkt), a limited company registered in Berlin, in the Tiergarten district, and its founder, Lothar Kerestedjian, is its managing director. Its site says it is "designed, edited and operated in Berlin and Hamburg", and dates itself from 2010. It began as a download shop, and added a streaming subscription in 2018.

Qobuz is French. Founded in 2007, it has been owned since 2015 by Xandrie SA, which signs its site from Pantin, on the edge of Paris, and which Qobuz describes as "a private, primarily French family-owned group". In June 2026, Qobuz reported 1.2 million monthly active users, and revenue up 45.7 % in 2025.

Tidal is Norwegian by its company and American by its owner. Its pages are signed by TIDAL Music AS, a limited company registered in Oslo, and its help centre says: "Tidal is part of Block, Inc.", the group behind Square and Cash App. Square, as Block was then called, announced on 4 March 2021 that it would buy a majority stake for $297 million: JAY-Z joined its board, and he and the other artists who held shares stayed co-owners.

How big they are

Tidal counts "over 180 million songs", and Qobuz "more than 100 million tracks". Both count everything they carry, and neither says how much of it is in high resolution. On Tidal, a track plays in its best version only if that is what the artist delivered: HiRes FLAC first, then FLAC at CD quality, then AAC.

HIGHRESAUDIO gives no count. It works the other way round: it offers "only albums in its native sampling rate from 44.1kHz up to 384kHz", and "doesn't offer any up-sampled, technically manipulated and tweaked recordings". It is a selection of recordings checked for their resolution, not all the music there is.

What they stream, and what they sell

HIGHRESAUDIO sells albums "in FLAC, ALAC, DSD, DXD-FLAC and MQA format". Its streaming plays FLAC: its catalogue's own search lists the formats it holds, from 44.1 kHz to 352.8 kHz in stereo, and multichannel versions at 48, 88.2, 96 and 192 kHz. Whether a 352.8 kHz album streams at that rate was not tried: my account had no subscription that day. Each album streams at its native resolution, with no adaptive streaming, no re-encoding and no volume normalisation, as StereoNET reported in May 2026. What you buy can be streamed without being downloaded, from what it calls the VirtualVault, even with no subscription: an account with purchases and no subscription played them in full when I tried it, on 2026-08-28.

Qobuz streams in "FLAC 24-Bit jusqu'à 192 kHz", its Studio quality. Its download store sells albums one by one, and its Sublime subscription, from €16.66 a month, lowers their prices. A purchase can come with a digital booklet, downloaded with the album when there is one. Some albums are sold in DSD, but Qobuz never streams DSD: an album bought in DSD streamed on 2026-10-28 as FLAC 24-bit / 96 kHz, and its DSD came only as a file to download.

Tidal streams at three levels: Max, HiRes FLAC up to 24-bit / 192 kHz; High, FLAC at CD quality, 16-bit / 44.1 kHz; Low, AAC up to 320 kbps. Some music is also in Dolby Atmos. In 2026 it began selling music, but not as a store: its Direct-to-Fan Sales are open to artists based in the United States, who upload their own music and own all its rights. Fans can buy in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the European Economic Area.

Until 2024, Tidal's best level was Master, in MQA. On 24 July 2024, Tidal stopped playing MQA, and Sony's 360 Reality Audio with it: an MQA track in a listener's collection was replaced by the best FLAC version Tidal had. It chose FLAC because it is open, so that "any artist can deliver their music in high quality directly to Tidal without the involvement of a third party". A few tracks had only ever been delivered in MQA: their FLAC is made from the MQA file, and some DACs still show it as MQA.

What they cost

For one listener, on 2026-11-02:

  • HIGHRESAUDIO has no monthly plan: €89 for six months, €159 for a year, or €220 for a year with 30 % off every download. A free trial lasts seven days.
  • Qobuz, in France: €14.99 a month, or €12.49 a month for a year paid at once, €149.88. For two people, €19.99 a month; for a family of up to six living together, €24.99; for a student, €5.99. The first month is free.
  • Tidal gives its prices in US dollars in its help centre: $11.99 a month for one, $19.99 for a family of up to six, $6.99 for a student, and $19.99 for its DJ plan. It says that they "may vary depending on your location": the price in each country is on its own pricing page.

How you listen

  • From the phone to the hi-fi. Qobuz Connect, launched on 15 May 2025, and TIDAL Connect turn the service's own app into a remote: a compatible streamer, amplifier or speaker plays the music from the service itself. Qobuz Connect came with "nearly 60 HiFi brands", up to 24-bit / 192 kHz. Tidal says that TIDAL Connect "supports the full range of audio quality available in the Tidal app", HiRes FLAC on the devices that take it, with the phone on the same network. HIGHRESAUDIO goes another way: its new iPhone app, announced for June 2026, sends the music to a player over UPnP, AirPlay 2 or Bluetooth, and the service is built into players from Burmester, NAD, Bluesound, AURALiC and Cocktail Audio, among others. What AirPlay carries: AirPlay to a Raspberry Pi: what quality actually arrives.
  • One stream at a time. Each account plays on one device at a time. Qobuz: "By logging in with the same credentials on two different devices, music streaming will not be possible"; its Duo and Family plans give each member an account of their own. Tidal: "1 device in online mode and 5 devices in offline mode", those five playing what they downloaded. HIGHRESAUDIO: signing in from a second player signs the first one out.
  • On a computer. Tidal documents an Exclusive Mode in its desktop app: it takes the DAC for itself, and the volume is then set in the app. With its Force Volume, the app stays at maximum, and the DAC or the amplifier sets the level.

What artists get

None of the three pays the artists of a released record directly. The money goes to the rights holders, labels, publishers and distributors, who pay the artists under their own contracts. Qobuz spells it out: it "does not directly pay artists", and "about 70% of the revenues generated are paid to rights holders".

  • Qobuz is the only one of the three to publish an average: $0.01873 per stream over the twelve months to 31 March 2024, reviewed by an outside firm, so $18.73 for a thousand streams. It gave the figure in March 2025 and repeated it in June 2026; there is no newer one. It also says that its revenue per listener was $135.90 in 2025, against a market average of $20.74, and that it leaves fraudulent streams out of the royalties.
  • Tidal publishes no average. Distributors estimate one: around $0.013 per stream in 2026, says Ditto Music, which calls it an estimate. Since November 2025, Tidal Upload has let independent artists put their music on Tidal without a distributor, but those tracks earn no streaming royalties; what they can earn is through direct sales, on which Tidal takes no fee, the payment processor's own fees being deducted.
  • HIGHRESAUDIO publishes no figure, for streams or for downloads.

Music made by AI

  • Qobuz published a charter in February 2026: its Discover page leaves out AI-generated music, and its editorial choices are made by people. Since 24 September 2026, it tags the albums that include tracks it has identified as AI-generated, and keeps them out of its recommendations and editorial pages. It says those tracks make 0.38 % of its streams, and that its anti-fraud systems find 60 % of their streams fraudulent, which earn nothing.
  • Tidal published a policy on 29 June 2026: an AI badge on music it identifies as wholly AI-generated, from 15 July; no royalties for such releases; and the removal of AI music that imitates a real artist.
  • HIGHRESAUDIO has published no policy on AI that I could find.

Which one, for whom

  • Albums you buy, and keep playing. HIGHRESAUDIO sells in DSD and DXD as well as FLAC, and streams what you bought even without a subscription. Qobuz sells albums too, some in DSD, which it streams as PCM.
  • One catalogue for everything, with a shop beside it. Qobuz: over 100 million tracks, a booklet with some purchases, and the only one of the three to publish its pay per stream.
  • Recordings in their native resolution, nothing upsampled. HIGHRESAUDIO, a selection rather than everything.
  • Dolby Atmos, or paying an independent artist directly. Tidal, whose Direct-to-Fan Sales leave the artist the price, less the payment fees.
  • The hi-fi played from the service's own app. Qobuz Connect or TIDAL Connect, on a device that takes them.

With Audiogravity

The three services come with the Pro edition, in one library and one search with your own files, and play on the box's DAC, on a UPnP renderer, or through HQPlayer. Each one needs your own subscription.

In Audiogravity HIGHRESAUDIO Qobuz Tidal
Quality asked As sent Highest, 24/192 Highest, Max
Purchases Played, even unsubscribed Played; DSD as PCM Not offered
Favourites Yes Yes Yes
Your playlists Played, edited Played, edited Played
Connect — No Qobuz Connect No TIDAL Connect

Signing in to HIGHRESAUDIO from Audiogravity signs out your other HIGHRESAUDIO player. The details are in the manual: Library & streaming → Streaming services. To play the three on a Raspberry Pi with other software, see Qobuz, Tidal and HIGHRESAUDIO on a Raspberry Pi.

Sources