For the roll-in price of a standard Apple Music subscription ($10/month), Apple has added Dolby Atmos Music and lossless audio files up to 24-bit/192KHz to the company’s immense streaming library. Strangely, Amazon doesn’t offer these tracks in its music store despite being the most popular online retailer to sell individual downloads.Ī newcomer to the game of lossless audio is Apple Music. Available for no additional charge on top of a standard Amazon Music subscription, you’ll get “millions” of tracks at 24-bit/192kHz, in addition to over 50 million in lossless CD quality. Then there’s Amazon, with the company hosting an HD tier of its own for Amazon Music. With one lossless, CD-quality tier and two hi-res, 24-bit/96kHz tiers, it definitely gives Tidal a run for their money. subscription plans are new to the audio market.

Qobuz has actually been around for a while, but its U.S. Best of all, many modern receivers have network connections, making it easy to pair a Tidal account with your hi-fi setup. Despite its quirks, Tidal allows subscribers to stream at up to 24-bit/96kHz quality, which is among the highest resolutions of the major streaming service. If you’re looking to stream music in the highest possible quality, you now have a few solid options.

Primarily, the issue stems from a lack of digital recordings at the high sample rates and bit depth (starting at 48kHz/24-bit and up) needed to produce crystalline sonic quality. At a glanceĪlthough more and more high-end stereo receivers and even cell phones have emerged with top-notch digital-to-analog converters onboard, there’s still the grand issue of finding reputable mediums to procure lossless music, a debacle leaving many wishful listeners stranded. While pristine high-res music has been available for some time now (with gradual improvements to codecs and processing), audio hardware has been creeping slowly behind. Taking advantage of premium audio formats has never been an easy feat, leaving starved connoisseurs in the dust.

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