In the world of audio, there are not a multitude of services available, in this post, I will shed some light on some of them. I will try to list more but I will only say something about the ones I actually used for a longer time.
Spotify
The most common service across people. Spotify is an excellent service that in my opinion still has the best feature set and interface. Sadly they do not offer Hi-Res music. It is still worth the money for things like podcasts.
Important features to note:
- Spotify connect
- Apple carplay / Android auto
- Podcasts
- Discovery of artists
- Largest library
Downsides:
- No Hi-Fi options
Qobuz
My current streaming service of choice. This is because they offer true Hi-Res 24-bit audio. Sadly they lack in a lot of other departments. The biggest one is that they do not have a good way to interface with a lot of streamers. So you need an application like Roon to interface for you adding to the cost.
Upside important features to note:
- Hi-Fi options up to FLAC 24-Bit / 192kHz
- Curated playlists
- Wasapi exclusive modes
Downside:
- Hard to use on streamers like Volumio without use of third party software
- Smaller library then most services
Tidal
An popular service among more “enthousiast” people. Sadly ruined by there integration with MQA. Even if you choose the HiFi plan you get unfolded MQA instead. It does offer an bigger library and feature set then Qobuz.
Upsides:
- Tidal connect
- Decent Apple carplay / Android auto
Downsides:
- MQA
- Smaller library then other non HiFi services
- Buggy app experience