Primephonic

What’s the story?

If we’re talking about standing out, Primephonic certainly does that. It’s purely about classical music, with the widest selection you’ll find this side of the BBC music archive – over 3.5 million of them, which is not too shabby when you consider how long some classical tracks are.

After your free 14-day trial, Primephonic charges £9.99/m for its 320kbps Premium tier or £14.99 for Platinum (24-bit FLAC). Subscribing for a full year will get you a 17% discount.

Is it any good?

People who enjoy the odd bit of Beethoven while doing the ironing aren’t really the target market here, but the 10-week Ludwig introductory course (£17.99) gives you access to the entire catalogue as well as sending you listening tips and other background information via email. If you don’t know your arias from your oboe, this might be the way to go – plus it offers a slight discount on the regular subscription price.

Furthering the educational tone, the service also comes with its own regularly released podcast as well as Maestro: live listening notes that can be made to pop up as you listen to a piece. If you want to learn as you listen, it’s a genuinely useful feature, and speaks to the fact that Primephonic employs expert curators and editors to ensure it really is the best place to stream classical music.

All that, coupled with strong audio quality, makes this a very solid offering for harpsichord heads (or those who aspire to be). In that sense, it’s slightly unfair to compare it to the more generalised music platforms. While it’s obviously not the streaming service for everyone, Primephonic is walking its own path with some swagger.

Price from £9.99/m / primephonic.com

Key specs

● Over 3.5 million songs

● Up to 24-bit FLAC

STUFF SAYS An admittedly niche product that fills its niche very well ★★★★✩