So I was reading discussion and articles about about this yesterday.
Qobuz have promised it for a long time but it seems it is out there and in beta test working with wiim devices, and suggestion to Qobuz Club members to talk to their dealers and amp manufacturers to get on board with it.
So wondering if anyone has any Arcam news on this? Anyone heard anything? Should we start dropping an email to their support email address about it?
I emailed and got a response back already. As you would expect maybe, no news. Interestingly the response does not mention MusicLife
“ At this time, we do not have any information on Qobuz Connect for our units and would not be able to comment on if this feature will become available or not. As of right now, the only Connect features available on our units are, as you pointed out, for Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect. For Qobuz, the only ways we have to connect are via the Qobuz app using Chromecast or Airplay, via Qobuz through Roon, or via the Web GUI of our units.”
A friend has been beta testing Qobuz Connect on his WIIM device and says it is great and does gapless as well. That’s probably the main difference between QC and Chromecast. He also said it is quicker to transfer and sounds a bit better than Chromecast, but not sure if that is purely subjective.
Personally I prefer Chromecast to AirPlay (which I strongly dislike due to lack of handoff).
I have removed my Tidal and Qobuz accounts from my Roon set-up so it would be nice to have a QC implementation on the SA30,.as currently I am using LMS or BubbleUPNP for listening to those.
But when people use Tidal Connect and leave my SA30 locked to it I do find that quite annoying, so I am thinking we would have the same issue with QC
It seems Qobuz have relased a new version which supports connect & they do list Arcam is one of the compatible brands.
I have downloaded the update but have not got it working yet, also I am still on the last sa30 firmware.
Yep just shows the chromecast and airplay options for me.
Arcam support were very non-committal when I asked previously, I’ve sent them a follow up email to see what they say now.
I think the more people who ask about it the better 
I’ve emailed too. I also asked again whether users of the newest firmware might see Google Cast functionality returning. They said they’d get back to me on that a couple of months ago.
Sure the web client is better than Music Life, but it’s not a joyous user experience either.
And here’s their reply:
The release of Qobuz connect is very recent and in order to implement it a software update will necessary, this update is under development for our current products, however the SA30 is a discontinued model and there are no plans to further update it.
Yep. Got exactly the same, word for word. Followed by instructions on how to use web client. Interestingly again, no mention of Music Life, so I suspect they will drop that soon too, or else not support the SA30 with it
It’s do disappointing to have had some limited period of time in which the product is supported.
I will likely not buy Arcam (or sibling brands) again and certainly never a streaming amp. Despite the convenience and the Dirac I think I’d be better off going with a wiim as streamer/DAC and putting more money into an integrated analogue amp.
That being said, I don’t have any plans to get rid. Arcam have however left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth tbh.
@madfiddler … I’ve been saying that about them for a while and think they’ve done themselves a lot of damage with the whole SA30 software fiasco and along with you wouldn’t buy any f theor products in teh future which is a shame.
That said I’ve also always had WiiM streamers andmor erecently Bluesong Nano so a lot of the issue like the recent Tidal upgrade haven’t concerned me.
Yep, same here. I just wish I had bought mine at a steep discount. I did not. Then I helped the dicks get their dam firmware sorted out with beta testing. Never again. I will stick to McIntosh for my amp needs and use the latest cheap streamer. I will have to sort out the Dirac situation when the time comes. But yea, Arcam can stick it.
Ken
I suppose that if we had had stable s/w with the features needed/promised we would not be so bothered about the short lifespan of the product, I think we all appreciate it can’t be updated forever to whatever comes along next in the music streaming market. The trouble is we’ve had very little short period of things all working ok, and some of us not experienced that at all. To me, even with relatively few issues, it still feels like a new product and yet Arcam are done with it! 