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Which Music Streaming Service Has The Best Sound Quality – We compare the best music streaming services today and discuss what factors to consider when choosing the right one for you.
CDs and vinyl records may have seen an unprecedented increase in sales in 2021. But that doesn’t change the fact that music streaming services are now more popular than ever.
Which Music Streaming Service Has The Best Sound Quality
With such fierce competition, many platforms are upgrading their services. This includes expanding their premium offerings and highlighting unique features or content.
Best Music Streaming Services In 2023
Some advertise their extensive music libraries or music discovery features. While others offer more subscription benefits or discounted subscriptions. Some platforms even deliver excellent sound quality comparable to vinyl.
So yes, there are many options available. But figuring out which platform gives you the best listening experience, value and content remains a challenge. Especially since we all enjoy music in a way that is unique to us.
In this music app review, we hope to make the decision-making process a little less painful. We’ll focus on the key features to consider when choosing between platforms. We will also talk about the pros and cons of the best music streaming services today. Let’s start!
Most music streaming platforms use a freemium business model. This means basic features can be used for free while premium features are behind a monthly subscription.
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Basic features are limited to things like ad-supported playback and limited access to playlists. While Premium features give you unlimited access to everything. If you end up enjoying the free subscription experience, you can easily upgrade to a paid subscription for full access.
The subscriptions and pricing plans of music streaming services are quite similar. Aside from a free plan, most of them also have Premium, Student, and Family plans. These typically cost $9.99, $4.99, and $14.99 per month, respectively.
Amazon Music, for example, has discounted Premium subscriptions for Amazon Prime subscribers. While Tidal has special plans just for military personnel and first responders. And other platforms also offer more expensive high-resolution streaming plans that are made for audiophiles.
Instead of a free subscription, some platforms offer free trials. These basically give you access to all the Premium features, with the guarantee that you can opt out if you don’t like the service. It’s a great way to get a good feel for everything a platform has to offer.
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Music streaming platforms offer different audio quality settings. Here’s what you can expect from free and paid plans:
The higher the bit rate, the better the sound quality. But this also depends on device compatibility and system requirements.
Streaming music at standard stream quality (up to 320 kbps) is quite easy as all you need is a decent internet connection. On the other hand, streaming high-resolution lossless files on a paid plan requires more.
As an illustration, Tidal’s master plan streams music at 2,304 to 9,216 kbps and consumes a whopping 18.20 GB per hour. Huge data usage requires a fast and stable internet connection to avoid buffering or skipping music.
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Moreover, you also need the right hardware that can actually support lossless HD audio. Here are the main ones to consider:
If you want to take advantage of a lossless streaming plan, choose high-quality headphones with a wide frequency range. These have a more accurate sound reproduction. They are also better at reducing audio clipping and distortion in higher and lower frequencies.
You can also consider wired headphones instead of Bluetooth headphones. This is because Bluetooth codecs, even audiophile codecs like Sony’s LDAC, tend to sacrifice small bits of audio data during compression. And this affects the overall sound quality. Wired headphones, on the other hand, use analog signals that sound better. This is because they contain more audio data, so less detail is lost.
Headphone amplifiers work by amplifying weak audio signals for clearer sound quality. They are great when using high impedance headphones that require more power, or low voltage audio sources such as smartphones.
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DACs convert digital signals into analog signals, giving you better sound quality. Many devices come with built-in DACs. But they can be subject to electronic noise interference because they are mounted in the circuitry of the device. As such, external DACs are more preferable. In this way, they are not only housed separately, but also convert digital signals into analog signals more accurately.
The music library is an all-important feature on any music streaming platform. For many, it’s a make-or-break factor that tells you whether a streaming service is worth using or not.
Some music streaming platforms not only offer music, but also other types of content. This can be anything from podcasts, internet radio shows, audiobooks, ASMR tracks, live band sessions, artist interviews, and music videos. Some even offer virtual reality concerts.
Having a variety of content definitely makes a streaming app worth your money. But this also depends on your personal preferences. Some people may prefer a simple, uncluttered music-only streaming service. And others may consider having many options more valuable.
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The amount of music available is another important factor, and more is always better. Most platforms have an average of 70 to 75 million songs in their libraries, which is quite large. It’s a good indication that you’re likely to find a good range of mainstream and indie music, which is always exciting to have on a music platform.
An artist or label can remove their music from a streaming platform at any time. So any future disputes between both parties may affect the content of a platform.
For example, in 2021, a licensing dispute between Spotify and Korean music distributor Kakao M resulted in the removal of hundreds of K-pop songs from the platform. Taylor Swift also famously pulled her music from the platform due to unfair compensation.
In addition, Spotify’s problems continue to affect the variety of artists on their platforms. Due to the recent problems with Joe Rogan’s podcast, the number of artists leaving Spotify is growing, leading many users to move to other platforms.
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A similar incident occurred with Apple Music in 2016. An exclusive album release deal was made with Frank Ocean without the knowledge of Def Jam Recordings. This prompted parent company UMG to discontinue all exclusive album deals with music streaming platforms.
Beautiful, clean-looking aesthetics are great for any music streaming app. But this depends on the user’s preference as we all have different tastes. What you ultimately want is good functionality. After all, having a large music library is pointless if you can’t easily navigate through it or customize your listening experience the way you want.
Music discovery is what makes music streaming apps unique. It helps you discover new artists and music, expands your musical taste and is just plain fun to explore.
Human curation plays a big role in music discovery on many music streaming platforms. With the expertise of experienced music curators, you can listen to playlists based on specific moods, occasions, locations, genres and more.
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In addition, music streaming services also use computer algorithms to tailor your music experience. Some commonly used algorithms are:
Apple Music offers a great design and excellent sound quality. It has a packed music library and a lot of non-music content like video and radio. It meets all the minimum requirements of a great music streaming platform, making it our top pick.
Users can choose from 4 premium plans for individuals, students and families. The Music Voice subscription is their latest offering and is designed for Siri-enabled devices such as HomePod mini, AirPods, iPhone and more. It’s also an affordable option for those who want a hands-free listening experience that isn’t tethered to a mobile or desktop device.
When it comes to streaming quality, Apple Music has something for casual listeners and audiophiles alike. You can choose from 4 sound quality settings:
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High Efficiency is best for saving mobile data and High Quality is suitable for casual listening. Lossless and High-Resolution Lossless are for those who prefer ultra hi-res music and have the equipment to handle it. Just make sure that your net speed is also up to the task.
Unlike other platforms, you don’t need to subscribe to a separate plan if you want hi-fi streaming quality, as this feature already comes with all standard premium plans at no extra cost.
Apple Music also offers a 360-degree immersive listening experience with Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos. You can find this feature on Made for Spatial Audio playlists. You can also consult Apple Support to find out how to activate Spatial Audio on your device.
Content-wise, Apple Music shines. It has 100 million songs and over 30,000 curated playlists, covering a wide variety of genres. You can enjoy artist interviews or tune into hundreds of radio programs. You can also watch Apple Music TV, a 24-hour live stream of music videos.
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In terms of functionality, Apple Music is polished and easy to use. Playlist management is a breeze, thanks to a customizable sidebar and a simple drag-and-drop feature that lets you add any song to a custom playlist.
Discovering music is okay at best. The app mostly uses your listening activity, likes, and your friends’ likes when making recommendations. These recordings will then appear under the For You section on playlists such as Friends
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