Quboz is a French commercial music streaming and download service founded by Yves Reisel in 2007. Just like competitors, it offers a tiered-subscription service. If you are new to the service, they provide a limited streaming option as a trial. Currently, it’s only available in fifteen countries. Unlike their competitors, the lowest audio quality they offer is 128 kbps. If you’re traveling abroad or outside the countries that provide it, you’ll want to connect to a VPN. You’ll quickly be able to see why in a moment. First, we’ll ask you to look at the best VPNs with the Qobuz streaming service.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 160 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.4 | 87 | |
| 3 |  | 9.2 | 95 | |
| 4 |  | 9.0 | 110 | |
| 5 |  | 8.8 | 73 | |
Qobuz started in the same year that one of its competitors, Deezer, did. However, as we mentioned above, the service has different streaming rates. Those rates range anywhere from 128 kbps up to 320 kbps. The company offers all music in MP3 at 320kbps and high-res quality at 192 kbps for some music. The Codecs it uses are WAV, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, lossless WMA, and you can use WMA and AAC for standard quality.
If you’re worried about music variety, you have nothing to worry about. The service offers more than 80 million tracks and the best hi-res catalog globally. With so many options, if you’re not sure about an album or group, Qobuz has over 500,000 album reviews and artist bios. You can enjoy your favorites or find new ones to enjoy and download.
You can access the service via web player or with a desktop player for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Additionally, the service offers mobile apps for iOS and Android. That’s great if you are in one of the fifteen countries that offer the service, especially if you want to take your music on the go. What road trip would be complete without your favorite music?
Countries that offer Qobuz
These are the countries that offer this excellent streaming service. If you are not in one of these places, you can listen as long as you connect to a VPN.
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- Germany
- Italy
- Spain
- Austria
- Belgium
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- United States
- Denmark
- Norway
- Finland
- Australia
- New Zealand
Qobuz currently offers four different plans. These are Studio Premier and Studio Sublime, and the family variants of each that allow up to six users per account. The Studio Premier version can be month to month or a discounted annual plan. While the Studio Sublime version is annual only, you also get a discount on all music you want to download. In the US, the plans start at $10.83 a month. The one you choose really depends on what your needs are.
Considerations for VPNs with this streaming service
You need to look at several things when choosing a VPN to use with Qobuz. These are:
- Regional Access – Because Qobuz is only in 15 countries, being able to access servers in those countries access is essential. Of course, those are common countries. However, you’ll want to ensure you can get access to all of them. While the service may not tell you this, not all of the options are available in every country. Just as with international streaming services like Netflix, Qobuz may have different libraries, depending on the country. We suggest choosing one with at least 60 different countries.
- Different apps – Above, we mentioned you could listen to Qobuz on your favorite devices. You want to choose that will cover all of your needs. However, gaining access to the service on those devices won’t matter if the provider does not have apps for your devices.
- High speeds and a stable network – This one is helpful to stop your playlist from buffering in the middle of a good song, but it is also crucial for downloads. Although downloading songs these days borders on being instant, a disconnect at the wrong moment could stop your download before it finishes. We suggest choosing a provider that offers next-generation encryption protocols and has multiple servers in the countries that offer the service.
Here is a more in-depth look at our providers.
1. Best VPN for Qobuz: ExpressVPN
Get 3 months free with 12 months of our #1 rated VPN
Since ExpressVPN offers browser extensions for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, they have also included several privacy features to help protect you. That includes re-routing you to a more secure version of the website you entered, location spoofing so that your browser will match the IP address of the area you select, and WebRTC blocking. If you connect to a VPN without this feature, websites can still see where you are. Of course, you could always get another extension to resolve the issue, but having it inclusive is better.
Streaming media is one of the fun things you can do when you are using ExpressVPN. Because there are servers and locations in 94 different countries, you can use it to open your favorite streaming services. The biggest one, of course, is Netflix. The United States has the most extensive library, with some other countries getting closes in the number of titles offered. Since the libraries have different titles available, connecting to a VPN will give you access to your favorite shows and movies. The same is true for other streaming services in the US and beyond.
2. Best VPN for Qobuz: NordVPN
If you are a fan of a top-level sports team and happen to be in the city where they play, you already know that the broadcasters will stop you from seeing them online. That is usually because of licensing rights and they call them blackouts. Of course, you can watch them on TV, but some do not have TVs anymore. The solution to the problem is to connect to a VPN by using NordVPN. In this case, you simply need to select a server that is not in the market area. Then, you can watch your favorite team play.
3. Best VPN for Qobuz: PIA
Private Internet Access offers apps for a whole host of custom apps that you can install, depending on which device or operating system you have. Those include Windows 32 and 64 bit, macOS (64-bit), Linux (64-bit), Android, and iOS. Additionally, they have extensions for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and the Opera browser. If there is not an app for it, they have quite a few setup guides to help you configure several different types of routers like PfSense, Tomato, DD-WRT, and more.
4. Best VPN for Qobuz: CyberGhost
Some sports have international followings. However, countries have different levels of coverage. If you follow a sport that does not have the coverage you want, connecting to CyberGhost VPN is a good idea. When you do, you can access the coverage you want to see by connecting to a server in another region. Whether there is no easy way to watch the sport where you are, or you are looking for specific coverage, you can easily do that with a VPN.
5. Best VPN for Qobuz: IPVanish
For everyone concerned that the setup for your IPVanish account is going to be complicated or you will not be able to get it quickly and easily established, they offer several different apps to use. Those include apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV, Linux, and Chrome OS. Additionally, you will find easy setup guides for your router. Of course, you will find others available as well. As you can see, IPVanish has you covered, so whichever system you use will be smooth.
