Each of our trio has its own special merits, but in the end it comes down to sound quality

If your priority is affordable music streaming on as many devices as possible, our advice would be to use Spotify’s free tier, or trial the £10-permonth tiers offered by that service, Apple Music and Tidal. These are the three most versatile streaming services on the market.

A question of quality

But affordability and accessibility might not be your main concerns. If you want better sound quality, of those services only Tidal can offer it. It’s the best all-rounder of the three Cd-quality services we’ve tested over the past few pages – mostly for its competitive value and free inclusion of thousands of hi-res tracks. Tidal has come a long way with its discovery features and playlists (which almost rival Spotify), and also scores as highly on usability as any other service.

It’s hard to find fault with it as a 320kbps and Cd-quality service, but it’s not perfect in overall terms. For that, we’d like to see improved search for hi-res music, support on mobile devices and identification of bitrate and sampling frequency. We can only keep our fingers crossed in the hope that these things come with time.

While sharing the former bugbear, Qobuz does have hi-res mobile support and playback information. It also has a bigger hi-res library, slightly bettersounding Cd-quality streams, and a download initiative that will no doubt appeal to some. The most advanced streaming ecosystem out there? Arguably, yes.

But Qobuz has issues. They lie in part with its second-best discovery features and hi-res sound quality, but mostly with its upfront (and pricey) annual payment and commitment. That will be less of a problem for some than others, but we just wish there were greater flexibility.

Hi-res hiccup

Meanwhile, the elephant in the room with Deezer is its lack of hi-res support. Its recent partnership with MQA suggests that may not be the case for much longer but, even as a Cd-quality service, it suffers from a comparative lack of discovery features and zero support for 16-bit/44.1khz streaming on its mobile apps. Tidal and Qobuz’s Cd-quality streams sound a little crisper and cleaner, too.

Industry standards

The great thing about streaming services today is that the popular ones have reached an almost-level playing field where interface, device support and catalogue size are concerned. Indeed, Deezer’s all-inclusive catalogue, wide-ranging device support (for 320kpbs streaming) and interface navigation is as good as its rivals, and its standout comprehensive playlist section is wonderful. The fact it can be used free is a bonus.

Streaming services look set to be around for a while yet – they have the whole music industry to uphold after all – but who knows what the future will hold? Spotify may finally introduce a Cd-quality tier.

But right now, the service offering the best-sounding and best-value streaming is our current Award winner, Tidal.