Bryston Adds Qobuz Hi-Res Streaming Capability to BDP Music Players

Bryston has introduced native support for the Qobuz streaming music service as an available firmware update for Bryston’s BDP Music Players. With the update, users will be able to access Qobuz' high-resolution 24-bit/up to 192 kHz streaming service, and stream uncompressed content from a library of well over 40 million tracks representing every imaginable style including jazz and classical music. Qobuz first became available in Europe in 2007 and is now also available in the US.

It’s been a year since Qobuz announced at CES 2018 its impending entry into the US marketplace, with the ambition of becoming a heavy player in the hi-res music streaming market. Qobuz has the US audiophile set squarely in its sights, and it intends to deliver higher quality streams and a more complete experience than its competitors. At CES 2019, Qobuz confirmed it is now available for registration to US users as an open beta, and published the finalized pricing.

With the iPod and all the clone mp3 players now long gone and forgotten, music enthusiasts already deeply committed to music streaming services are looking again for ways to enjoy higher-quality and high-resolution audio options when out of home and on the move. Manufacturers like HiBy are responding with dedicated and affordable streaming music players like the R3, promoted as the smallest and lightest Tidal's Online Music Library Player. And now HiBy also confirmed MQA playback support for the R3.

In audioXpress we've published several stories about French music streaming provider Qobuz, soon to be launching in the US this Fall. The company claims to be "the world's highest resolution music streaming service," meaning they have more hi-res audio files to download than any other. But the interesting part is their claim that, with the launch in the US, they will be also providing a hi-res streaming option based on FLAC (lossless compression). A world first, which the company will be introducing at CEDIA Expo 2018.