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Few things have revolutionised the way we listen to recorded music as much as the advent of online streaming. The move to storing musical information on a vinyl disc was a landmark – as was the advent of the compact disc as the standard-bearer for the digital age – but doing away with discs altogether? That innovation surely deserves a place at the top table.
The genesis of this particular revolution was predictably modest. When streamed music first broke cover and flowed into the disc-playing public’s consciousness, it was touted by one or two fledgling firms juggling copyright-infringement issues and preaching a gospel of convenience. So-so quality MP3 files were the order of the day and quality-conscious audiophiles found little to get excited about.
But, like any other newborn, online streaming soon grew up. It threw off the shackles of lo-res formats and morphed into the multi-faceted medium we have today, loaded with useful features and flexible user options.
There are now dozens of services to choose from, including a core of very sophisticated ones. The main players boast tens of millions of tracks in their catalogues and with so many of them now offering much – sometimes all – of their music as hi-res streams, sound quality is no longer an issue.
As well as offering easy and largely affordable ways to listen to your tunes via a variety of file resolutions, music-streaming services are also a great way to discover new music. Elements that started life as crude mechanisms for suggesting alternative listening have evolved into complex and effective algorithms that can recommend all kinds of music based on sophisticated analysis of your previous listening.
The provider (or providers) that will suit you best is determined principally by your equipment and your budget, and our round-up will tell you all you need to know about the major players. So, whether you’re into Bartók or Bottleneck, online streaming is at your service.
Deezer appears to be stuck with a bit of an identity crisis. When we first reviewed this music-streaming service, it clearly saw itself as a Spotify rival, bringing a vast library of music to a mainstream audience as efficiently as possible.
By the time of our re-review, in early 2018, Deezer had begun courting the hi-fi crowd with a comprehensive catalogue of CD-quality tracks and murmurings of hi-res MQA support to come. In 2020, with hi-res yet to appear on the platform, Deezer partnered with Sony and started offering 360 Reality Audio streaming.
Now here we are in 2021 and 16-bit/ 44.1kHz FLAC files (ie. CD quality) are still the pinnacle of Deezer’s HiFi offering. It is a step up from the 128kbps MP3 files of ‘standard streaming services’, but those are now few and far between.
Deezer’s CD-quality tracks are available to those who subscribe to the $17.99 per-month HiFi tier, and while initially you also needed to own one of a handful of specific devices, they can now be enjoyed on almost any device that supports the core Deezer experience.
The tracks available in the 360 Reality Audio format (think Dolby Atmos for streaming) are included as part of the HiFi subscription. You will need to download the 360 by Deezer app, but this also gives access to all the non-360 tracks of the standard app, so you don't have to switch constantly between the two. The bad news is that 360 by Deezer is only available on iOS and Android devices.
Package options
Below Deezer HiFi there are three tiers. Premium ($11.99 per month) shares features with HiFi – no ads, unlimited streaming and control on mobile apps, and offline access – but limits sound quality to 320kbps. Deezer Family ($17.99) gets you everything on Premium for up to six profiles. There’s also a free, ad-supported tier with 128kbps streaming and limited mobile app use.
As well as smartphones and computers, the Deezer app is also available on many other devices, including TVs from the likes of Samsung, Sony and LG, and wireless speakers by Sonos, Amazon, Bluesound and Bose.
Regardless of the device used, subscribers can access a catalogue of over 56 million songs, more than 52 million of which it
