Qobuz moves to “Studio Premier” 1-tier pricing – Yes to Hi Res and No to MP3

The big news coming out of the NY Audio show wasn’t a new shiny loudspeaker, but rather a somewhat radical move by the high fidelity music streaming service Qobuz. Now reduced to only a single option, the monthly fee for high resolution streaming is down to $15 – undercutting their largest rival Tidal by nearly 25%.

The company will retain its Sublime+ option as well, a plan that includes discounts for downloads from the Qobuz storefront along with the full streaming capabilities of the Studio Premier tier. Perhaps most noteworthy however is the hard stance against MP3s Qobuz has taken in severe favor of CD and higher quality streaming capabilities. The new tier will not even include the “lossy” compression as an option.

Dan Mackta, Managing Director of Qobuz USA, gets straight to it with his comments on the subject: “MP3 is really bad for music, artists, and listeners – so Qobuz is saying ‘no’ to MP3 and now offers only real studio quality in one accessible plan. Studio Premier is a special offer we’ve been dying to make. With the new plan, we will be pouring gasoline on the growth that has been kindled by our unique relationships in the premium audio hardware and retail industries. Our unequalled editorial and curation in specialist genres, and our focus on the culture around music and audio will continue to create value for listeners. Qobuz does all this because our users’ passion for music is worth it!”

You can see more straight from the news livestream from the NY Show in the embed below. Interested parties can check out the refreshed website to get started | Qobuz.