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What are the best lossless music streaming services?

5

Options
Considered

318

User
Recs.

May 3, 2021

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

4 Options Considered

Best lossless music streaming services	Price	Platforms	Paid Plan Audio Quality
88 Deezer Music	$0-$19.99/mo	Web, Android, iOS, Windows Phone	320 kbps MP3 (Premium) / 1411 kbps FLAC (HiFi)
84 Qobuz	$14.99/Mo or $149.99/Yr or $249.99/Yr for Sublime+	Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS X (macOS)	320 Kbps MP3/ 16-bit 44.1 kHz FLAC/ 24-bit ≤192 kHz FLAC (Studio/Sublime+)
73 Tidal	$19.99/mo	Web (Chrome only for HiFi), iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS	320 kbps AAC (Premium) / 1411 kbps FLAC/ALAC (HiFi)
-- Amazon Music HD	$7.99-$14.99	Web, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS	Unlimited: 256 kbps AAC. HD: 16-bit 44.1Khz or 850kpbs to 24-bit 192Khz or 3,730 kbps

Deezer Music

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Top Pro

Outstanding CD quality (with Elite Service)

For those that subscribe to the Elite Service ($19.99/mo), the bitrate is hi-def CD-quality 1,411kbps at 16/44.1 kHz. See More

Top Con

Can't have multiple HIFI Accounts

There is no option for a family account with lossless, have to have multiple lossless accounts See More

CourageousHendursaga's Experience

The best service ever with fare billing plan 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 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

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

EnergeticNona's Experience

Deezer advertises this Hifi service works on Chromecast, well it does not, it buffers, clips, stops responding, losses connection, etc, there are thousands of threads of people complaining about this for the past few years, Deezer still could not get their streaming over Chromecast to work. I cancelled my subs today and am looking at other options. 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

Top Con

Most of the music is not hi-res and some is not even CD quality.

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 Con

Works poorly on Chromecast

It buffers, clips, stops responding, loses connection, etc. while streaming over Chromecast. 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

Playlists are too many clicks away on desktop app

All the other streaming services use a normal desktop folder view. See More

Top Pro

Can download and play selected music offine

Top Con

Playlist limits are set to 1000/2000 songs

A real deal-breaker. Why should they even care about how many songs you have in your playlist. Quite freaky really. Even if you like some marginal genre like Dn'B you will get more tracks in your playlist. 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

No student discount

No student discount for HiFi. See More

Top Pro

Inexpensive

It is cheap but you get what you pay for. For people not particular about audio quality it is fine. For Audiophiles, it is unacceptable. See More

Top Con

No Linux client

Compared to Spotify it has no native Linux client available. See More

Top Pro

Inbuilt music ID feature

Top Con

Doesn't pay artists enough

Deezer pays artists significantly less than other similar services. As of March 2018 it was paying $0.0064 / play, less than Apple Music and Google Play, half as much as Tidal ($0.0125). Not as bad as Spotify or Pandora, but could certainly do better. See More

Top Pro

Browser Deezer

If you use Deezer on PC you don't need to download it, as the web version is the same as the desktop app. See More

Top Con

Sometimes skipped songs occurred

Some songs skipped even if you are a premium user. See More

Top Pro

Add your MP3

You can import an MP3 file to listen as a normal song and add it to your playlists. See More

Top Con

No settings to configure “Flow” to work as advertised

Flow is a great idea, but it fails to work as suggested. The idea is it listens to what you like and adds suggestion tracks. But mostly it just plays your track over and over, and pops in a random track, usually nothing you like. They need settings and better algorithms for it to work. See More

Top Pro

Great choice of Musi Mixes

You can download mixes and save. See More

Top Con

No AirPlay or Mconnect

Top Pro

You can search straight from your playlist.

This is very handy way to find songs you already have. I wonder why others don't have the same. See More

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Qobuz

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Top Pro

High quality streaming

Music streams at 16 bit, 24 khz, Flac, CD Quality. 24 bit, 44.1 khz Studio quality is available for some albums, mostly newer releases. See More

Top Con

Bad metadata

Terrible metadata for lesser known artists. See More

Dominic Darby-Allinson's Experience

Much better cd/hi-res sound quality than tidal See More

Specs

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

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

Number of songs available:~50M

Free tier:30 days trial

Top Pro

High quality (CD+) streams; subscribers gain access to booklet, when available

Metadata, while better than many, still can't compete with physical media. New to N.A. at the time of this review so there are still some gaps in their catalog. 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). 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

DiligentTepoztecatl's Experience

Very good experience apart from the terrible metadata for lesser known artists. Lots of artist conflicts, which they do nothing about See More

Top Pro

WASAPI exclusive mode on desktop apps

Tidal

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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

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). Also, students get 50% off and military and veterans get 40% off. See More

DiligentTepoztecatl's Experience

Streaming isn't lossless as they claim. 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:~60M

Offline download:Yes

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 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

UnderstandingOshunmare's Experience

I canceled my subscription immediately when I discovered their explicit content was censored. I can't justify spending money on a service that doesn't give me the ability to choose the authentic track. See More

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

Not even basic features in user interface

Lacks them all really. Only drag and drop. See More

ImpartialHemithea's Experience

Great selection of lossless music with much of it at Hi-Resolution 24/96 format The Hi-Res recordings have a spectacular sound and presence. . See More

Top Pro

Awsome desktop app

Top Con

Hi-FI Can be expensive for some

CommunicativeVerminus's Experience

Great quality, no issues, great lib See More

Top Pro

Flac support

Flac is the only reason to get this service. See More

Top Con

Cannot quick search your playlists

Scrolling doesn't help either because you can scroll playlist only 50 songs at the time and then wait a bit and scroll another 50 songs. Very retarded very to go through playlists. See More

Top Pro

Military/veteran discount is a BIG plus

Top Con

Not actually HiFi

They claim it is uncompressed, but the streams in the browser are compressed. See More

Top Pro

Get one-month free Hi-Fi (FLAC, 24-bit music)

Almost all if not most songs are 24-bit FLAC files, "Master" is an ever higher quality. See More

Top Con

No free tier

The Tidal music streaming service has no free tier available. Only a 7-day trial. While the trial is helpful for learning what the service has to offer, it may not allow for a complete picture due to the time limit. 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

Top Con

Can only organize playlists alphabetically or by when they were created

Can't use a custom order with playlists, you're stuck with those two options. See More

Top Pro

Updates have improved personal recommendations

Top Con

After removing a song from playlist - Playlist jumps back to start point

Very frustrating. Especially when you managed to scroll to 2673. song in your playlist. It's true you need to have another streaming service to do all the playlist work. Tidal is only for streaming HiFi and nothing more. See More

Top Pro

Explicit content has clearly been added with options for clean version

Top Con

Mac app constantly freezing

At least when you're actually doing something instead of just listening music. See More

Top Con

Offline isn’t offline and mobile data is consumed in one song

Amazon Music HD

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Top Pro

Hi-Res Lossless FLAC Music up top 24-bit 192Khz or 3,730kbps

Top Con

No exclusive mode for Bit-perfect playback

IntuitiveNezha's Experience

Most musical sounding with the largest library and feature set. Beats every other streaming service I've tried. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS

Paid Plan Audio Quality:Unlimited: 256 kbps AAC. HD: 16-bit 44.1Khz or 850kpbs to 24-bit 192Khz or 3,730 kbps

Number of songs available:~40M

Free tier:Only available to current Prime subscribers and has a significantly smaller catalog

Top Pro

Mobile applications available

Mobile applications for Android and iOS. See More

Top Con

App cannot make breakfast

Alexa can deliver food to my house in a matter of hours but will not cook on demand, disappointed. App is close to perfect but can't do everything, yet. Chop chop Bezos. See More

GutsyLulal's Experience

GREAT SOUND NICE MUSIC SELECTION See More

Top Pro

Discount for prime customers

Prime customers get a discount on the service. See More

Top Con

Rips artists off

Amazon pays artists even less than Spotify! Per count, as of march 2018 Amazon paid $0.0040, Spotify $0.0044, Apple Music $0.0074 and Tidal $0.0125. See More

ImpartialHemithea's Experience

The HD is often only CD quality. See More

Top Pro

Desktop client

Desktop client for Mac and Windows. See More

Top Con

Clunky desktop app

This service's desktop app is clunky and nowhere near as nice as its web client. See More

Top Pro

Huge library, great desktop and mobile app w/Dolby Atmos available

Enormous amount of 24bit/192Khz music available, very smooth and highly detailed if your equipment is capable. Both desktop and mobile apps are intuitive, easily navigated and customized. Dolby Atmos music library also included. The largest and most refined sounding streaming service I've used. A+. See More

Top Con

Can't stream to Roon

Top Pro

Great web app

This service's web app works really well. See More

Google Play Music

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