Answers to frequently asked questions about Hi Res Quest. Resolution is explained on the Hi-Res page, the quality labels on Platforms.
Hi Res Quest audits your playlists: for each track, it identifies the best version available across all platforms (Qobuz, TIDAL, Deezer…), with its real quality (16/24-bit, sample rate) and its popularity by edition. Two paths: sync your library in its best version, or find the reference version of each track.
Yes. Hi Res Quest is an independent search engine: it belongs to no platform and no platform pays for its ranking. Versions are ranked by what can be measured — real resolution, authenticity, popularity, dynamic range — on the same scale for Qobuz, TIDAL, Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer. No version is sponsored, no advertising: HRQ lives on its subscriptions and credits. Some purchase links (Qobuz Store) are affiliate links, labeled "affiliate link": they change neither the order nor the price.
The visual demonstration on the Hi-Res page illustrates these tiers.
Further reading: Real hi-res or upsampled CD: how to tell on a streaming service (Hi Res Quest) · Qobuz — understanding audio quality (official guide) · TIDAL — Sound Quality (official) · Apple Music — lossless audio (official support) · Spotify — audio quality (official support) · Deezer — audio quality (official support) · Xiph.org — video demonstration (French subtitles available) · Wikipedia — sampling theorem · What Hi-Fi — the hi-res guide
Not as a rule. In raw data rate, SACD's DSD64 (5.6 Mbit/s) sits between 24-bit/96 kHz (4.6) and 24-bit/192 kHz (9.2); the exact perceptual equivalences are debated, and DSD also exists as DSD128, DSD256 and beyond. At this level, the master makes the difference — an excellent 24/192 beats an average SACD, and vice versa.
Further reading: Qobuz — understanding audio quality (official guide) · TIDAL — Sound Quality (official) · Apple Music — lossless audio (official support) · Wikipedia — Direct Stream Digital · NativeDSD — the specialist store · The Absolute Sound — the “all-DSD” approach
A CD file resampled to 24-bit with no real gain: the label goes up, the detail does not. It usually comes from the production chain of the editions. The Hi Res Quest audit flags it track by track, with a discreet indicator, and then recommends the verified version.
Further reading: Qobuz — understanding audio quality (official guide) · TIDAL — Sound Quality (official) · Apple Music — lossless audio (official support) · Wikipedia — oversampling · HydrogenAudio — the reference for blind tests · GoldenSound — independent measurements
Because they are two opposite uses of the same tool. A hi-fi upsampler (Chord, dCS…) works in your home, at playback: it helps the converter better reproduce what the file already contains — a technique born with the CD (the first Philips player, in 1983, already oversampled ×4). It adds no information: the mathematics of sampling guarantee it, just as zooming in on a photo does not invent details. “Fake hi-res”, on the other hand, applies the same operation before the sale: a CD master upsampled and then relabeled — same content, higher price. Hi Res Quest rates the file, not your system: the upsampler is downstream, like your amplifier. Then listen for yourself: choose the version that works best with your system and your ears.
Further reading: Qobuz — understanding audio quality (official guide) · Wikipedia — oversampling · Hi-Fi News — the Philips CD100 (1983) · 47 Labs — the opposite school, zero oversampling
The format is the container, the master is the content. The same track often exists in several masters (original, remasters, anniversary editions) whose quality varies more than that of the formats. That is why the Hi Res Quest recommendation points to a specific edition, not just “the biggest number”.
Further reading: Qobuz — understanding audio quality (official guide) · Spotify — volume normalization (official support) · Deezer — volume normalization (official support) · Wikipedia — the loudness war · Dynamic Range DB — 190,000 albums measured · Stereophile — “Winning the Loudness Wars”
Audit sources: Qobuz, TIDAL, Apple Music, Roon (playlist export), Spotify (via your playlist export) and any public Deezer playlist link (no account needed). Comparison: Qobuz, TIDAL, Deezer (read-only); sync: Qobuz, TIDAL — plus purchases (Qobuz, vinyl/SACD via Discogs). Under consideration: very-high-resolution platforms (DSD), see the next question.
It is Hi Res Quest's own scale: a single number, computed from the data rate actually transmitted (the amount of information per second), which brings all commercial labels down to one scale. Exponential weighting: on average, doubling the data rate multiplies the score by ×1.55. Reference points: lossy listening ≈ 10; CD 16/44.1 = 30; 24/96 = 49; 24/192 = 89; DSD128 = 98 (beyond that, off the scale). Two safeguards: the score says what is transmitted, not what your equipment reproduces (over Bluetooth, everything drops back to ≈ 10); and it rates the container, not authenticity — it is always read together with the authenticity badge (HRQ prefers an authentic CD at 30 to a fake 24/192 at 89). Details: our Resolution page.
Spotify streams in Lossless up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz — authentic CD quality, included in the Premium plan since September 2025 (supported markets), on almost the entire catalog: the widest lossless rollout on the market. 24/96 and 24/192 resolutions are the domain of the hi-res platforms (Qobuz, TIDAL, Apple Music, Amazon Music). From one track to the next, what changes is lossless availability (a few tracks remain lossy); remember to turn it on (Settings → Quality) and to listen wired or via Spotify Connect — over Bluetooth, the stream is recompressed.
Consequence: auditing the quality of a Spotify library is of little use, since resolution there is uniform (CD quality across the whole catalog). The real-quality audit (fake hi-res, best edition) is done on a Qobuz or TIDAL source. For Spotify, the point is the sync: spotting the tracks that exist in true hi-res elsewhere (above 44.1 kHz) and syncing them to Qobuz or TIDAL.
No major service streams DSD (PrimeSeat, in Japan, shut down in January 2023). Buying DSD files, however, is well established: NativeDSD (DSD64 to DSD1024), HDtracks, and the Qobuz Store offers DSD64 to DSD512 and DXD downloads. Hi Res Quest is looking into connecting these very-high-resolution platforms to its recommendation engine.
Further reading: Qobuz — understanding audio quality (official guide) · TIDAL — Sound Quality (official) · Apple Music — lossless audio (official support) · Spotify — audio quality (official support) · Deezer — audio quality (official support) · Wikipedia — Direct Stream Digital · NativeDSD — DSD64 to DSD1024 · What Hi-Fi — the hi-res guide
Through the ISRC code, the international identifier of a recording, extended by the MusicBrainz “recording family”: the same recording released on CD, reissue and hi-res is linked across platforms, even when the codes differ.
An unlimited annual plan at €49.99 / year, VAT included — that's €4.17 per month — unlimited audits and syncs, best version of each track with popularity index, all platforms. Without a subscription, credit packs valid for 1 month are also available (250 tracks = €7.99, 500 = €13.99, 1,000 = €24.99, 2,000 = €44.99, VAT included). On the waitlist: your first playlist free (20 tracks) and the founder price, €39.99 / year, VAT included (that's €3.33 per month), kept as long as your subscription stays active if you subscribe within 30 days after the end of your free trial. Details on the Pricing page.
Hi Res Quest never sees your passwords: connections go through the platforms' official OAuth (TIDAL, Apple Music) or a session token (Qobuz); Spotify goes through your playlist export, with no connection. Tokens are stored server-side, isolated per user account, and deleted when you disconnect the platform.
Yes. Without Qobuz, everything works directly on your phone: paste a public Deezer playlist link, connect TIDAL or Apple Music, or import your Spotify export — nothing to prepare.
With Qobuz, a single step is done on a computer (the Qobuz web player only provides its token there). After that, your phone benefits automatically. Here is how to proceed, written for first-timers:
Tips if something gets stuck:
A 40-track Qobuz playlist, audited as is: 40/40 tracks found in the catalogs, 11 tracks for which a higher edition of the same recording exists (for example 16-bit/44.1 kHz → 24-bit/96 kHz), and tracks labeled “hi-res” flagged “possible upsample” when the original pressings and the SPARS code contradict the label, or “no remaster found” when nothing documents a new transfer — with the detailed explanation on the track card. Each track is then handled with one click: Add, Replace, or Keep.
A 20-track Spotify playlist synced to TIDAL: 17 tracks added to a new TIDAL playlist — each in its best available version —, 2 not found on TIDAL (flagged card by card, nothing is lost silently), 1 track left out by choice. Three strategies to choose from: as is, adding the recommendations, or replacing each track with its best version.
Out of 185 monitored recordings (the tracks in a subscriber's saved lists), monitoring detected that 14 now exist in 24-bit when they did not at the time of the analysis. Result: a “Hi-res updates” badge in the account menu, and on the My playlists page, “N tracks in your list have a better edition” — with the analysis resumed in one click. Each recording is checked only once a week, for all the subscribers who have it.
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