Qobuz, the music lovers’ high quality music streaming and download service, is launching a new community platform designed to connect audiophiles and music lovers around the world: Qobuz Club. The interactive forum will allow Qobuz users to convene with like-minded listeners on topics like music discovery and recommendations, as well as hardware and Hi-Fi advice.
As part of their overall focus on creating the best music experience possible, Qobuz is launching Qobuz Club to add an even more social, human element to that experience for both casual listeners and serious audiophiles alike. While algorithms and A.I. can help with personalized recommendations, on their own they lack the emotional and social context that makes discovering music in a community setting so exhilarating – enter Qobuz Club. And in addition to offering users the abilities to connect on the music they love, Qobuz Club also facilitates a space for audiophiles to discuss complex topics like hardware, Hi-Fi advice, and more.
Check out and join the vibrant Qobuz Club community here: http://community.qobuz.com/
Designed with Qobuz customers’ music preferences and objectives in mind, Qobuz Club’s featured sections include Qobuz News, Music Clubs, Hi-Fi Spaces, and a Discussion Forum where members can talk directly with the Qobuz teams. The platform also has a “collector’s corner” for vinyl lovers; a beta testers space; and a help-and-suggestions space for future app improvements.
Joining the Qobuz Club is easy and open to all Qobuz account holders with no paid subscription needed. The platform is available on the web and will soon be available via mobile app to be accessible anytime, anywhere. Qobuz Club is currently available worldwide in English, and a French version will be released soon.
Other Audiophile Communities
While the audiophile hobby is often viewed as solitary—headphones on, lights dimmed, listening alone—the reality is that much of its evolution has been shaped by community. Long before YouTube reviews and social media influencer culture, audiophiles gathered in online forums to trade advice, ask technical questions, post system photos, and sometimes argue endlessly about cables, burn-in, and the merits of Class A amplification. These communities remain a vital part of the hobby, and whether you’re new to the world of hi-fi or a seasoned collector, they offer a mix of insight, opinion, and lived experience that you won’t always find in traditional media or sales literature.
AVS Forum is one of the largest and oldest home theater and AV communities on the internet. Originally focused on home theater projection systems, the site expanded over the years to cover virtually every aspect of AV: flat panel displays, surround sound systems, media servers, calibration tools, and of course, audio gear. While it leans more toward home theater than traditional two-channel listening, the depth of information is substantial, especially if you’re building a hybrid system that includes both music and movies. There are deep dives on room acoustics, subwoofer integration, and multi-zone setups, often with contributions from professionals in the calibration and custom install world.
Audioholics.com is another long-running fixture in the online audio world. Founded by Gene DellaSala, the site built its reputation on objective measurements, scientific analysis, and a healthy skepticism toward audiophile mythology. Audioholics hosts a combination of product reviews, technical explainers, and editorial commentary, and it’s backed by a highly active YouTube channel and Facebook community. The Audioholics Forum is where the more technical discussions take place—often blunt, occasionally combative, but grounded in measurement data and real-world engineering. If you’re someone who values test bench results and doesn’t have much patience for marketing jargon, this community can be a breath of fresh air.
AVScience is both a retailer and a community, originally growing out of the AVS Forum ecosystem before establishing itself as a separate presence. While AVScience operates more as a custom install and projection-focused shop, its forums and customer service team are known for their technical depth, especially when it comes to projector calibration, home theater processors, and surround formats. It doesn’t have the scale or traffic of AVS Forum, but for serious home theater builders, it’s a valuable niche community.
Audiogon.com, best known as a used gear marketplace, also maintains a longstanding forum. The culture here skews more traditional and gear-centric, with members focused on building systems, optimizing room setups, and comparing products. There’s less technical back-and-forth than you might find on Audioholics, and more anecdotal impressions—what a certain DAC sounded like in someone’s system, whether a particular phono preamp works well with low-output cartridges, and so on. The community tends to be older and more classically audiophile in orientation, with strong preferences for analog sources, tube gear, and well-established speaker brands.
Other notable forums include Steve Hoffman Forums, which is as much about music as it is about gear. Originally centered around mastering engineer Steve Hoffman and his remastering work, the forum has become a hybrid of music fandom, vinyl collecting, and system talk. Discussions often involve pressing quality, mastering comparisons, and opinions on how albums sound across different formats and reissues. For music-first audiophiles, this is one of the more content-rich places to hang out.
Head-Fi.org also deserves mention, especially for those in the personal audio space. It started as a headphone-focused site and remains the go-to destination for headphone amps, portable DACs, IEMs, and high-end headphone discussions. The community is younger and more global than some of the other forums, with an emphasis on gear that blends portability with performance. It’s also a launchpad for new companies and DIY modders, many of whom got their start sharing projects in the Head-Fi community.
Reddit has also become a player in this space, though with a more casual, less moderated tone. Subreddits like r/audiophile, r/budgetaudiophile, and r/headphones host quick-hit conversations and image sharing, with occasional threads that go surprisingly deep into amplifier topology or speaker design. The platform is faster-paced and less structured, but it appeals to newer listeners and those looking for quick answers or buying advice.
Despite differences in tone, format, and technical depth, all of these communities share something in common: a passion for sound. Whether you’re there to troubleshoot a hum in your signal path, get recommendations on a streamer under $1,000, or just see what other people are listening to on Saturday night, these forums remain essential to the hobby. They connect listeners across generations, budgets, and philosophies—and they’ve become the modern version of the hi-fi shop listening room.
