Music & AudioAudioWeb

What are the best high-resolution music streaming services?

3

Options
Considered

31

User
Recs.

May 5, 2019

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

3 Options Considered

Best high-resolution music streaming services	Price	Platforms	Paid Plan Audio Quality
-- Deezer Music	$0 - $19.99/mo	Web, Android, iOS, Windows Phone	320 kbps MP3 (Premium) / 1411 kbps FLAC (HiFi)
-- TIDAL	$9.99-$19.99/MO	Web (Chrome only for HiFi), iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS	320 kbps AAC (Premium) / 1411 kbps FLAC/ALAC (HiFi)
-- Qobuz	$9.99–$24.99/mo	Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS X (macOS)	320 Kbps MP3 (Premium) / 16-bit 44.1 kHz FLAC (Hi-Fi) / 24-bit ≤192 kHz FLAC (Studio/Sublime+)

Deezer Music

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Top Con

Poor search and discoverability

It can be difficult at times to find the music you are looking for. Search can be hit or miss quite often. On top of this, the top tracks section for artists tends to be a pretty poor selection of tracks, nowhere near what anyone would consider "top tracks". See More

Top Pro

Available to customers living outside the US

The Deezer music streaming service is available in 182 countries. There are 192 countries on this world, which means Deezer is available in all but 10 countries. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web, Android, iOS, Windows Phone

Paid Plan Audio Quality:320 kbps MP3 (Premium) / 1411 kbps FLAC (HiFi)

Number of songs available:~40M

Offline download:Yes

Top Con

A lot of songs are cut at the end

Many songs are not played until final chords, and many others are of very low quality records, showing audio distortions. This is frustrating. See More

Top Pro

Personalised radio

The Deezer music streaming service offers a radio-like service called Flow which plays random music based on your favorites. See More

Top Con

Rips artists off

Deezer pays $0.0064 per play. See More

Top Pro

Outstanding CD quality (with Elite Service)

For those that subscribe to the Elite Service ($14.99/mo), the bitrate is hi-def CD-quality 1,411kbps at 16/44.1 kHz. See More

Top Con

Play queue can't be adjusted

On iOS the play queue can’t be adjusted See More

Top Pro

Available on a large number of platforms

Deezer (with a premium subscription) is available on a wide range of devices such as those running Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, smart TV and a web app. You can see the full list here. See More

Top Con

Elite is only available on Sonos systems

Elite is the highest subscription tier that Deezer offers. However it is only available on Sonos systems in the US. See More

Top Pro

Built-in lyrics

Deezer comes with a lyrics feature where users can see the lyrics when the selected track is playing. See More

Top Pro

Huge collection of music

The Deezer music streaming service has more than 40 million songs, which makes Deezer one of the largest music catalogs available now. See More

TIDAL

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Top Pro

Built-in audio search

The Tidal music streaming service mobile app has a built-in audio search, similar to Shazaam and Soundhound. See More

Top Con

Expensive

At $19.99 per month, it's one of the most expensive streaming services out there (there is a cheaper subscription available at $9.99/month). See More

Specs

Platforms:Web (Chrome only for HiFi), iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS

Paid Plan Audio Quality:320 kbps AAC (Premium) / 1411 kbps FLAC/ALAC (HiFi)

Number of songs available:~40M

Offline download:Yes

Top Pro

Amazing quality

The Tidal music streaming service has a maximum streaming quality of 1,411Kbps bit rate with FLAC-formatted lossless files. This is quite an upgrade compared to most music streaming services, which go at about 320Kbps bit rate. See More

Top Con

Songs may take some time to load

the Tidal music streaming service may take up to 10 seconds of buffering to load and play a song, sometimes even stopping a song mid-way to buffer. See More

Top Pro

Pays artists more

As of March 2018, TIDAL pays the artists 2/3 more than Apple Music and 3 times more than Spotify, for an equivalent catalog and subscription price. (40M songs on TIDAL and Apple Music vs. 30M on Spotify, $9.99/mo for all 3). Napster is the only service that pays the artists more than TIDAL. See More

Top Pro

Discounted student subscription

Tidal offers a 50% discount on monthly subscriptions for students with a valid university email account. See More

Qobuz

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Top Pro

More than High Quality

On a good sound system, not a 20K system, more around 5-7k, Hi-res gives a big difference with 16bits/44,4khz, which is very noticeable, some Symphonies may give you goosebumps if you listen to classical, jazz. See More

Top Con

Library is a bit limited

You won't find too many artists like you would on Spotify, not every records are on Hi-Res. See More

DreamerHanbi's Experience

Some limitations on availability of albums or artists but very good sound quality See More

Specs

Platforms:Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS X (macOS)

Paid Plan Audio Quality:320 Kbps MP3 (Premium) / 16-bit 44.1 kHz FLAC (Hi-Fi) / 24-bit ≤192 kHz FLAC (Studio/Sublime+)

Number of songs available:~40M

Price:$9.99 Premium / $19.99 Hi-Fi / $24.99 Studio / [$299.99/yr ≈ $25/mo] Sublime+

Top Pro

High quality streaming

Music streams at 16 bit, 44.4 khz, Flac, CD Quality. Also, high-res is available. See More

Top Con

Officially available in a limited number of countries

Qobuz is only officially available in 10 countries (which does not include Canada and the US). You can use a VPN in order to pay for the service in an unsupported country. Some users have mentioned success with contacting the country and being added manually (you can read more here). See More

Piotr Stöle's Experience

Got the Studio subscription, hi-res (which go up to 24bits/192khz) with a good DAC is stunning and make 16bits/44khz sounds like MP3 See More

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