Berlin. Sound, operation and a convincing offer: IMTEST has now evaluated where you can expect the best performance for your money.
Juliano Holandês
At home, on the go, at parties or alone: Music streaming dominates the music market, and Spotify has long dominated the industry, even as competition has grown. ON TESTthe consumer magazine of the media group FUNKE, in collaboration with HiFi magazine STEREO Five providers tested – in terms of operation, offers and music quality.
Cost: Prices are comparable
O Price for enrollment It is currently €10.99 per month for most services on the standard tariff (one person, no discount, all features). Deezer is a little more expensive, costing 11.99 euros, Qobuz costs more, costing 14.99 euros. There is always a free trial month, a reduced (student) subscription, an annual fee or a family subscription are also common. Apple Music automatically includes Apple Music Classical, a separate service dedicated just to classical music. On Amazon, Prime subscribers pay 10 euros instead of 11 euros for Music Unlimited.
Offer: If you want podcasts or audiobooks, you won’t be satisfied with every provider
According to statements from the companies, all services currently have approximately the same amount of songs – in a test with a wide variety of songs, every service always had all the songs on offer. There was a difference in the service catalog Music therefore it cannot be determined. If you want to watch music videos, you can go to Tidal, Litter and Amazon found it.
Amazon and Deezer have practically all the major Podcasts on offer, Tidal only has a small in-house selection and Qobuz none. Apple Music also doesn’t have podcasts itself, as Apple outsources them to its own free podcast app. Some audiobooks are also always included, and radio plays like “The Three ???” are also available on all services.
Sound quality: A provider clearly in the end
An important point to enjoy high quality music is this resolution the music. The upgrade from compressed to lossless to high resolution can sometimes be heard clearly – music files are larger and contain more information. So if you want the highest sound quality with lots of detail and natural timbres, high resolution is the best choice. That’s anything that exceeds 16-bit/44.1kHz CD resolution – Qobuz, Tidal, Apple, and Amazon all currently offer high-resolution music.
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The second group, to which Deezer belongs, offers the most CD quality at the. Since the music is not compressed, this level is also known as lossless. Finally, there are streaming services that only offer compressed music and are therefore not lossless. This also currently includes Spotify, despite rumors of higher resolution music from the market leader. As a result, the service only comes in sixth place in the broader overall comparison and is not included here. Additionally, Apple, Tidal, and Amazon have music in the Dolby Atmos 3D audio format, and Amazon and Tidal support the similar Sony 360 Reality Audio format.
Ease of use: clear winner
In practice, listening to music is done through the Applications, computer applications or browser interface of the Services. They are generally similar to each other, so if you are familiar with one streaming service, using most of the others shouldn’t be a big problem. However, there are differences, and the Deezer app was the most convincing, followed by Tidal and Amazon. Although much music is consumed on the go through headphones – music can be downloaded from any service and listened to offline – it is for Enjoy the music At home, it’s important that you can also connect the streaming service to a stereo system or smart speaker.
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And ideally this would be done directly via WLAN, as Bluetooth would compress the music. All services (except Apple Music on iOS) support Chromecast, which ensures plenty of connections. Additionally, Deezer and Tidal are the best here and are available on almost all of the biggest streaming products.
Data protection: poor ratings for all providers
A lawyer put all music streaming providers through a legal review for the correct wording, understandability and ease of use of general terms and conditions and data protection regulations – and the overall ratings were poor. Tidal’s general terms and conditions and Qobuz and Deezer’s data protection statements performed particularly poorly and received a rating of “poor – 5”, while all other services largely received a rating of “sufficient”. .
1st place: Amazon Music Unlimited label/ IMTEST: test winner
Price: 10.99 per month
Amazon’s music streaming service currently offers the best overall package and doesn’t disappoint at all except terms and conditions/data protection: hi-res music, 3D audio, lots of podcasts, good selection of subscriptions, good app.
+ Music in high resolution and 3D, large selection of tariffs, some exclusive podcasts
– no music videos, personalization could be better, sufficient terms and conditions/data protection
Result: good (1.9)
Whether during sports, at work or in everyday life: music is an important part of our lives.
©Getty Images | MixMedia
2nd place: Maré
Tide
Price: 10.99 per month
With lots of videos, good HiFi integration, as well as high-resolution, 3D audio and MQA, Tidal has a superior offering, while a lack of podcast selection, poor legal aspects and comparatively little bonus content hurt the grade.
+ 3D and high-resolution music, lots of videos, good HiFi integration
– no podcasts, inappropriate terms and conditions
Result: good (2.2)
3rd place: Apple Music
Price: 10.99 per month
Although Apple is a little weak in terms of operation, the offer here is also good, apart from podcasts: these are outsourced to another application and are therefore missing. Access to Apple Music Classical included with the subscription is a plus.
+ Hi-res and 3D music, music videos, Apple Music Classical
– no podcasts (Apple Podcasts), poor HiFi integration, app that needs improvement
Result: good (2.2)
4th place: Qobuz
Price: 14.99 per month
The most expensive streaming service in the test, Qobuz, focuses on high-res music as well as editorial recommendations and content and also operates a high-res download store, but it has no podcasts and few automatic features.
+ High resolution music, lots of editorial content, high resolution download store
– no podcasts, expensive, no lyrics, poor data protection
Result: good (2.5)
5th place: Deezer
Price: 11.99 per month
Deezer is the only service in this selection that doesn’t have high-res music or 3D audio, but still has solid, lossless sound quality. Handling is good and it has many nice but non-essential features.
+ Lossless music, many special features, good app
– No high-resolution music, poor data protection
Result: satisfactory (2.6)