(The same goes for Apple Music and Deezer’s hi-fi tier.) Even with the natural degradation you get with Bluetooth headphones, you can hear a marked difference in quality over Spotify. High-quality audio helped our winners stand out from the pack, and Tidal shows strongly here. It also recently added a free tier comparable to Spotify’s. It added Soundrop, nabbing the last big indie distributor it lacked and bringing its catalog in line with Spotify’s. Tidal’s quiet improvements propelled it into the top spot. It also has early access to some albums and singles, and a wide range of music videos for streaming. The basic HiFi plan has around 75 million songs, as well as exclusive content like articles and interviews. Tidal offers high-definition audio by default on all of its paid plans. It offers the best experience for Apple hardware owners. But Tidal’s free tier has the same weaknesses.įinally, if you're an iPhone user, you'll want to consider Apple Music. You can’t select your own tracks and albums on mobile, and you have to deal with ads. Its options for discovering new music give it a slight edge on Tidal’s free tier. Spotify’s free plan gives you a huge catalog and a strong user-tailored experience. Tidal recently adjusted their pricing to be more in line with their competitors, added a large catalog of indie artists, and now offers a free tier similar to our favorite free service, Spotify.

It offers an enormous catalog of songs, high-definition audio, and is easy to use. Some offer music videos, podcasts, or the ability to download tracks for offline listening.Īfter a significant amount of research and testing, we found that Tidal is the best streaming music service for most people right now. Music streaming services offer instant access to millions of songs and features to help you discover new artists or listen to old favorites.

Written by Don Melanson and Michael Garrett Steele

Pandora vs spotify free