diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
index babd2024..89a1eeb0 100644
--- a/.jules/bolt.md
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -5,3 +5,7 @@
 ## 2026-03-20 - Non-blocking I/O in Deezer client
 **Learning:** `streamrip/client/deezer.py` uses the synchronous `deezer-python` library. Direct calls like `client.gw.get_track()` and `client.get_track_url()` block the entire `asyncio` event loop. While the metadata fetching methods (`get_track`, `get_album`, etc.) correctly wrapped these calls in `await asyncio.to_thread(...)`, `get_downloadable` missed this, causing heavy blocking during concurrent downloads.
 **Action:** Ensure all synchronous third-party API calls in async methods are wrapped with `await asyncio.to_thread(...)`.
+
+## 2026-04-02 - Short-circuiting Async Requests
+**Learning:** In `streamrip/client/qobuz.py`, `_get_valid_secret` was using `asyncio.gather` to test multiple potential API secrets. This forced the application to wait for the slowest secret test to complete before proceeding, causing unnecessary slow-tail latency and wasted network I/O.
+**Action:** Use `asyncio.as_completed` to yield the first successful valid secret immediately, and explicitly cancel the remaining pending tasks in a `finally` block to prevent background task leakage.
diff --git a/streamrip/client/qobuz.py b/streamrip/client/qobuz.py
index 734e2b82..32548131 100644
--- a/streamrip/client/qobuz.py
+++ b/streamrip/client/qobuz.py
@@ -409,14 +409,20 @@ async def _test_secret(self, secret: str) -> Optional[str]:
         return None
 
     async def _get_valid_secret(self, secrets: list[str]) -> str:
-        results = await asyncio.gather(
-            *[self._test_secret(secret) for secret in secrets],
-        )
-        working_secrets = [r for r in results if r is not None]
-        if len(working_secrets) == 0:
-            raise InvalidAppSecretError(secrets)
-
-        return working_secrets[0]
+        # ⚡ Bolt: Use asyncio.as_completed to return immediately when a valid secret is found.
+        # This prevents waiting for all requests to finish and cancels the remaining slow-tail tasks.
+        tasks = [asyncio.create_task(self._test_secret(secret)) for secret in secrets]
+        try:
+            for future in asyncio.as_completed(tasks):
+                result = await future
+                if result is not None:
+                    return result
+        finally:
+            for task in tasks:
+                if not task.done():
+                    task.cancel()
+
+        raise InvalidAppSecretError(secrets)
 
     async def _request_file_url(
         self,