Best music streaming services

As fun as it is trying out different headphones and speakers, it isn’t the reason the audio community exists. However good your favorite speakers or earbuds might be, you don’t love them. They’re just a tool to help you experience what really matters: music. Thanks to the internet and audio streaming services, it’s now easier than ever to access tens of millions of songs at your fingertips. More music than you could listen to in a lifetime. But with so many music streaming options and so much music, how do you know which one is right for you? We did all the research and picked a few of the best, but we also went over and compared some of the other alternatives as well.

Why is Spotify the best music streaming service for most people?

Spotify is one of the biggest and most prominent music streaming services available right now, and that’s one of the reasons it’s best for the majority of people.

Aside from having a massive library of music to choose it also excels at helping you discover new music thanks to a combination of curated playlists by people and smart algorithms that learn your preferences over time. One of its main features is the Discover Weekly playlist, which will suggest a playlist of new songs every week that the algorithm thinks you might like. On top of that, it’s also easy to share tracks between friends or on social media, which is part of the reason why we use Spotify links when reviewing products.

Features aside, Spotify is also available in several places and has a free model with many curated playlists you can choose from. Now, as far as sound quality goes, Spotify isn’t the leader of the pack by any means. Free users will max out at 128kbps (AAC), but if you’re a paid premium user, you can stream AAC at 256kbps or Ogg Vorbis at 320kbps. (Ogg Vorbis is an open-source alternative to the MP3 format.)

Although Spotify’s streaming quality isn’t the best, it is perfectly fine for most listeners who just want background noise during their gatherings or commutes. Now, if you want better sound quality and a similar music library, you can compare Spotify to Amazon Music Unlimited. However, Spotify HiFi is expected to launch in early 2024, which promises to offer a CD-quality, lossless audio format, potentially up to 24-bit/192 kHz, at a rumored price of $19.99/month. Although, given that it is two years late already, we aren’t holding our breath.

Best value: Amazon Music Unlimited

Amazon Music Unlimited, formerly Amazon Music HD, might not have the biggest user base, but it was one of the first big-name services to offer lossless playback. As a response to Apple Music’s new high-quality streaming option, Amazon made its HD service available to all Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers at no extra cost. It now costs just $8.99/month for Prime members and $10.99/month for non-Prime members. There are also family subscriptions which include the lossless FLAC audio at 24bit/192kHz.

To take advantage of Amazon Ultra HD Hi-Res quality, your device must support it. Additionally, certain speaker and headphone brands are more suited for streaming Amazon Music Unlimited. As of October 20, 2021, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can take advantage of spatial audio (Dolby Atmos or Sony 360 Reality Audio) through any mobile device without the need for specific headphones like the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) or Sony WH-1000XM5. Amazon Music Unlimited allows local media playback as well as downloading songs. However, remember that it doesn’t have any podcasts or music videos.

There are multiple plans available with Amazon Music and sub-plans within each plan. Amazon Music Unlimited is available for individual subscriptions, Prime individual subscriptions, and family subscriptions. There are also Amazon Music Unlimited and Amazon Prime Music. The Single Device plan is great if you want Amazon Music Unlimited only for your Alexa device.

Best for music videos: YouTube Music

The history of Google Play Music (GPM) is one of rebranding and confusing crossovers with YouTube. But YouTube Music is one of the better options out there. YouTube Music keeps some useful features people love about Google Play Music — including a large library of music — and the option to upload your own songs to a personal library. YouTube Music is also compatible with compressed lossy files like MP3 and lossless files like FLAC if you’re uploading music. Its advertised streaming quality is 256kpbs (AAC).

Google also does a pretty good job of helping you discover new music with playlists based on moods and genres. It isn’t as personalized as what you might get from Spotify, but it’s constantly improving. If you pay for YouTube Music Premium, you can play music with your phone screen locked and download music, something not allowed with the free, ad-enabled version of YouTube Music.

As you might expect, YouTube Music Premium offers expansive video options you won’t find anywhere else. You can enjoy live music performances or covers and add them to your playlists. This is a huge “plus” for YouTube Music if you follow a lot of smaller bands that may not be available on more mainstream music services.

If you want ad-free YouTube videos on top of ad-free music, we’d recommend getting YouTube Premium rather than YouTube Music Premium. You can download any video directly to your device, whereas YouTube Music Premium limits download functionality to songs and music videos. It’s Google; it’s also easy to get whether you’re on iOS, Android, or just in a browser.

YouTube Music saw significant UI redesigns in 2023 and focused considerably on podcasting. Expectations are high for more generative AI in the discovery experience, with new features like a custom playlist artwork creator.

Best for iPhone: Apple Music

Apple Music is one of Spotify’s biggest rivals, and it has plenty of deals with artists and record labels, which usually results in an artist’s newest album being exclusive to the platform for a set amount of time. So, if you wanted to stream “Views” by Drake when it was first released, you needed Apple Music.

Regarding quality, Apple Music has expanded into a high-quality music streaming service club and supports 16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/48kHz, and 24-bit/192kHz streaming of ALAC files. iPhone and Android users can enjoy spatial audio through Apple Music with any headphones at no extra cost.

Apple Music is the default streaming service for many, particularly for iPhone owners, and funny enough, the Apple AirPods line can’t take full advantage of the high-res tracks. The AirPods and AirPods Pro stream over Bluetooth only, while the AirPods Max requires a Lightning audio adapter, which loses some data during re-digitization.

Apple Music has plenty going for it, like a vast music library, an excellent music discovery feature, and a simple UI. You can upload your own music and take it anywhere, too.

On June 6, 2023, Apple announced a few changes to Apple Music with iOS 17. Listeners will get a crossfade to transition between tracks and a revamped UI smoothly with full-screen animated artwork for albums. Apple also announced the addition of collaborative playlists, but that won’t be available until a nebulous date of later in 2023 or early 2024.

Best sound quality: Qobuz

Qobuz is the first music streaming service to offer high-resolution audio playback directly through a Sonos speaker. Sonos S2 product streaming quality tops out at 24-bit/48kHz over FLAC files. This is great for anyone who is deeply invested in the Sonos ecosystem. Qobuz isn’t just for Sonos fans, though. It’s an excellent service for everyone, albeit a bit pricier than some of the other options listed.

Qobuz supports a host of audio quality tiers that you can jump from at any time when you’re streaming. It maxes out at 24-bit/192kHz lossless, which is great, but be aware: these files chew through mobile data fast. So it may be best for you to choose a lower quality option when out and about or to download your favorite tracks for offline playback. Plus, you’ll need the appropriate equipment to take full advantage of these files anyway. Prices range from $12.99/month for Studio Solo to $34.98/month for Sublime Family.

Qobuz is not a service for listeners who want social interaction with friends. For that, go to Spotify. Qobuz goes the opposite direction and veers away from the trend of highly personalized music recommendations in favor of broad, editorial playlists that make it easy to stumble onto music you’d otherwise overlook.

One of Qobuz’s most unique features is that it’s both a high-resolution streaming service and a standalone online store where you can purchase high-res music downloads (subscription not required). In that sense, it’s kind of like CD Baby or Bandcamp which let you stream artists’ albums, then buy and download your desired quality.

Is Deezer worth paying for?

Deezer is an excellent lossless audio streaming service and is one of the first to specialize in high-resolution audio. Deezer Premium costs $10.99/month (320kbps), which grants access to its FLAC library. This fair price is on par with other music streaming services. We like Deezer because it has a vast music and podcast library, similar to Spotify. Deezer’s UI is beautiful, and the custom EQ is a nice addition. It used to support 360 Reality Audio through the Deezer 360 app, but the company discontinued this in October 2022.

Should you get TIDAL HiFi?

Since the Fall of 2021, TIDAL HiFi has competed with Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited. TIDAL offers three tiers: free, HiFi, and HiFi Plus. HiFi offers lossless music streaming (1411kbps), while Master Quality Authenticated files are limited to HiFi Plus, as well as Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio.

Tidal is one of the more expensive options on the market. You’ll pay $10.99/month for a HiFi membership or $19.99/month for HiFi Plus. There’s also a free tier with ads, and this sound quality maxes out at 160kbps. Signing up for Tidal takes just a few moments, and the ad-supported version doesn’t require any payment method on file.

The best music streaming services: Notable mentions

For starters, these aren’t the only audio streaming services out there. These are just the best. There are also some others, like Pandora and SoundCloud, just to name a few. We included these services in the comparison charts, but they all fall short in one way or another.

For example, SoundCloud does have an on-demand service now called SoundCloud Go+, but its premium music library isn’t the biggest, and a lot of what’s available is user-uploaded content. Again, that’s not to say it’s bad; it’s just specialized. There are plenty of amazing independent musicians who upload great music every day. SoundCloud, however, is great for independent musicians because it’s free to upload your first three hours of music, whereas most of these services charge a fee for any upload. This means that you can find more niche music, including artist demos and covers than you can find on many of these other platforms.

What music streaming service has the best price?

This depends on your needs, but a handful offer free tiers. You can see the table below to see which suits your budget best.

If you don’t want to spend any money, it might be good to hear that you don’t have to. Most streaming services have a free model that lets you listen to music with varying levels of control. Just be prepared for ads. Lots of them. They have to make money somehow, right? Some services, like Spotify and Pandora, play a station on shuffle with ads dispersed in between. Spotify beefed up its free model to include a few of its most popular playlists.

What you should know about the best music streaming services

When shopping around for your next music subscription, you’ll want to bear in mind many factors. A common question we get is whether a service supports local music libraries. Many don’t, but some do. You can use Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music to play local media, but others like TIDAL or Pandora don’t support this feature. It’s worth noting that Amazon used to have this option but got rid of it.

Another thing to consider is whether or not your potential music streaming service offers an in-app EQ to adjust the sound. Some options have very basic equalizers like Spotify, while others (i.e., Apple Music) offer just EQ presets. If you want to take things a step further, you may need to experiment with a third-party EQ app.

Read on to learn more about your next potential service.

What bit rate does each music streaming service offer?

What’s the difference between MP3 and FLAC?

So when it comes to audio formats, it’s hard to really know what means what, especially if this is your first time hearing about such things.

MP3 is a compressed or “lossy” file and uses clever tricks to delete information that humans shouldn’t be able to hear. It does this with algorithms that delete bits of data at, for example, really high frequencies. It also deletes frequencies that are right next to each other since the human brain can’t differentiate between them. By deleting this information that’s technically inaudible, it’s able to make the overall file much smaller, which is perfect for streaming. But it’s still deleting data. The benefits of MP3 are all in its size. The files are so small that you won’t need super-fast internet speeds to stream your music.

But that convenience can sacrifice quality. If you want the full quality file with no data cut out, lossless files like FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and WAV (Waveform Audio File Format) come into play. The problem is these are larger files, so they aren’t ideal for mobile, especially if you’re worried about data usage.

Not all smartphones will be able to stream the optimal mobile quality. For example, we contacted a Qobuz representative about the maximum bitrate for smartphone streaming. We were informed that smartphones with a proper DAC can reach Qobuz’s maximum bitrate (24bit/192kHz), but some smartphones are limited to 16-bit CD quality for streaming. In that instance, you may need an external DAC.

What’s the best way to find new music?

With more music that you could listen to in a lifetime, finding songs that you like can be difficult. So, part of what makes streaming companies so successful is the ease with which their users can find new music that they actually like. With some services, like Spotify and Pandora, for example, you can start a “radio.” So, after listening to a song you picked, the service will continue to play songs by similar artists or in a similar genre. Other services, like Apple Music, take it further with a more traditional approach. One of Apple Music’s main features is a live internet radio with popular DJs doing what they do best: playing a mix of new and popular music.

Of course, the radio function in any of these services isn’t always enough to find new music, so we recommend you bust out of your comfort zone and hunt for new music using more than an automated feature. We feel like it’s really the only way to ensure you get the most out of your subscription.

Why you should trust SoundGuys

Each writer at SoundGuys has accumulated years of experience reporting on the consumer audio market, and our staff adheres to a strict ethics policy. We don’t use sponsored content on the website at a time when doing so is the norm. SoundGuys’ survival depends almost exclusively on readers enjoying their purchases. We pride ourselves on transparently outlining objective facts while accounting for the subjective experience to contextualize an audio product’s performance. When we do misspeak, we correct and own up to it.

Frequently asked questions about the best audio streaming services