Best Place to Download Hi Res Music UPDATED

Taking advantage of premium audio formats has never been an easy feat, leaving starved connoisseurs in the dust. While pristine high-res music has been available for some time at present (with gradual improvements to codecs and processing), audio hardware has been creeping slowly behind.

At a glance

HDtracks
Qobuz
Acoustic Sounds
Chandos
ATMA Classique
Bluish Coast Records
Pristine Classical

Although more and more than high-finish stereo receivers and even jail cell phones accept emerged with summit-notch digital-to-analog converters onboard, there'southward still the thousand result of finding reputable mediums to procure lossless music, a debacle leaving many wishful listeners stranded. Primarily, the event stems from a lack of digital recordings at the high sample rates and scrap depth (starting at 48kHz/24-flake and up) needed to produce crystalline sonic quality.

Subscriptions

If you're looking to stream music in the highest possible quality, you now have a few solid options. The get-go is the Tidal music service. Despite its quirks, Tidal allows subscribers to stream at upwards to 24-bit/96kHz quality, which is among the highest resolutions of the major streaming service. Best of all, many modern receivers have network connections, making it easy to pair a Tidal business relationship with your hi-fi setup.

The 2d is relative newcomer Qobuz. Qobuz has actually been around for a while, but its U.S. subscription plans are new to the audio market. With one lossless, CD-quality tier and two hi-res, 24-bit/96kHz tiers, it definitely gives Tidal a run for their coin.

Then there'south Amazon, with the company hosting an Hard disk drive tier of its own for Amazon Music. Available for no additional charge on tiptop of a standard Amazon Music subscription, you'll get "millions" of tracks at 24-chip/192kHz, in addition to over 50 1000000 in lossless CD quality. Strangely, Amazon doesn't offer these tracks in its music store despite being the well-nigh popular online retailer to sell private downloads.

A newcomer to the game of lossless sound is Apple tree Music. For the roll-in price of a standard Apple Music subscription ($ten/month), Apple has added Dolby Atmos Music and lossless audio files up to 24-bit/192KHz to the company's immense streaming library.

If you're looking for new cloth and want to own the music for all eternity — rather than "rent" information technology monthly — you withal have options. In that location are quite a few online stores out in that location that offer a wealth of music to add together to your itemize if you lot know where to find them, and afterward you lot're done with this article, you most certainly volition. Read ahead for what we feel are some of the all-time music download websites to satisfy your how-do-you-do-res audio ready.

HDtracks

File formats: WMA/WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC
Highest resolution: 24-bit/192kHz

The veritable Mac Daddy (or is information technology Daddy Mac?) of online stores, HDtracks has i of the near extensive collections of loftier-resolution pop, rock, classical, and jazz music on the web. David Chesky, a noted composer, musician, and producer, co-founded and chairs the site, and continues to develop its catalog.

Virtually all of the files on the site are available in multiple formats, with resolution rates that reach upwards to the highest industry standard, though many are merely bachelor at CD quality. You'll observe a host of your favorite artists here, from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley, Rush to Marvin Gaye — every bit well as meridian-tier tracks from The Beatles. If you're looking to amass a large hi-res sound collection speedily, this is a great starting point.

Qobuz

File formats: WAV, WMA, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, MP3, WMA, AAC
Highest resolution: 24-bit/192kHz

Retrieve we mentioned that Qobuz was one of two options for streaming hi-res music? Well, it's also a place where you tin buy and download information technology, also. Qobuz operates its ain hi-res music store, with a broad pick of genres — everything from pop/rock to classical and plenty in between. Though information technology doesn't offer as many hi-res file formats as some of the other stores, information technology'southward the obvious choice to buy your music if yous're a Qobuz Sublime Plus streaming subscriber.

With a membership — the privileges of which tin be yours for a $250 annual payment — you have access to over 50 one thousand thousand tracks in lossless CD-quality (sixteen-bit/44.1kHz), with a minor fraction of those available in hi-res. To be articulate, the easier-to-swallow $15 Studio Premier monthly plan (in that location's a gratuitous month on avail to endeavour) nets a similar haul, merely with Sublime Plus, you'll get preferred pricing on downloads, often saving as much as five dollars per album. If y'all buy a lot of hi-res music, that discount lonely could justify the cost.

Acoustic Sounds

File formats: FLAC, ALAC, DSD
Highest resolution: 24 fleck/192kHz

Acoustic Sounds is then much more than than its title implies. This site offers a bevy of popular and rock selections from familiar artists that are sure to terminate that all-too-common HD feeling that yous've wandered into a soundtrack from a Sundance picture show. Y'all'll find big names like Norah Jones, Aerosmith, Steely Dan, Depeche Style, and Eric Clapton, besides every bit more indie stuff like The Ceremonious Wars.

There'south even a squeamish peppering of funk and bluegrass in the mix, plus choice selections from many other popular genres, all of which are offered in high-resolution DSD, ALAC, and FLAC files. If you want to eternalize your choice of quality radio hits and classic recordings, this site should be on your shortlist.

Chandos

File formats: WMA, WAV, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, FLAC Studio surround v.one
Highest resolution: 24 scrap/96kHz

Formerly known as the Classical Shop, and now going past the proper name Chandos (featuring the Classical Store), this shop hosts music from more than 200 labels and boasts a massive drove of classical and jazz tracks numbering over a one thousand thousand. There are also a claimed 80,000(!) new tracks existence added every calendar month across other musical genres such as pop and rock, though many are offered with only CD quality as the highest resolution. A host of subgenres in the classical and jazz realm are also available in hi-res studio masters.

Unfortunately, since Chandos took over, the helpful search tools for sorting past format are now gone. However, this is a massive database of instrumental mastery with tracks that are totally affordable.

ATMA Classique

File formats: FLAC, CD
Highest resolution: 24 fleck/96kHz

Though not nearly as all-encompassing as The Classical Store, this 15-yr-former French-Canadian site has a smashing selection, good organisation, and even a cool itemize section with pages that turn like a virtual book. The site hosts hundreds of titles, and can easily be navigated by composer, artist, or genre, though nosotros also love perusing the curated album collections. Atma makes it piece of cake to check out all albums that prominently feature the piano, for instance. There's even a moderate list of exclusive releases that you won't find anywhere else. Perhaps best of all, the prices are very competitive, coming in at around $thirteen to $15 per album.

Blueish Declension Music/Downloads At present!

File formats: WAV, DSD, FLAC
Highest resolution: 24 fleck/192kHz

For those looking for something a flake more than eclectic and under the radar, Blue Coast Records offers a nice selection of indie stone and pop hits, many of which were recorded past the characterization. Users get a few gratis downloads upon signing upwardly, and there are more selections available on the excitably titled sister site, Downloads NOW! These sites aren't the prettiest on the web, but they practise have some absurd live music from artists you lot're unlikely to notice elsewhere. With a $fifty annual subscription, yous tin take xv% off whatsoever buy and a few dozen Prime number tracks, which were recorded directly to DSD256 formats past Grammy-nominated recording artist (and founder of Blue Coast) Cookie Marenco.

Pristine Classical

File formats: FLAC, CD
Highest resolution: 24-bit/48kHz

Pristine Classical has a large pick of music that offers a serious blast from the recording past, with many selections pulled from recordings that accomplish back into the early 1940s, plus occasional additions from the early scenes of jazz and dejection. All of the tracks accept been meticulously remastered, though they will cost you lot a pretty penny in some cases.

Speaking of which, Pristine offers a streaming arm with over ten,000 tracks from thousands of composers and artists, and 1,000 of those are exclusive. Collectors and connoisseurs may besides be interested in the Pristine Collection. The company delivers a 2TB hard bulldoze to your doorstep with the entirety of Pristine's recordings. That's worth $1,300 right now, so this route is mostly reserved for major enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, Pristine's best bachelor resolution sits in the lower realm of the spectrum at 24-bit/48kHz, but if you want to hear the music your grandparents (or slap-up-grandparents) went to come across alive, this is one of the all-time ways.

Niche Music Sites

The sites above are just some of our favorites for grabbing the most quality choices for your precious online fourth dimension. However, there are plenty of others to choose from, and nosotros've listed more of the notable ones below. All of the sites on this extended listing offering HD audio files, merely some are hosted outside the U.S., which may impact your ability to actually buy the music you so desire. With so many choices, though, you shouldn't accept too many issues.

Analekta Records: Classical
Boston Symphony Orchestra: Local performances from the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras, etc.
Cedille Records: Music from the Chicago Classical Recordings Foundation
Channel Classics: Classical
Gubemusic: Classical, jazz, world
High Definition Tape Transfers: Classical, jazz
Melba Recordings: Classical performances from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Naim Sound: Indie stone, classical, folk, pop
Sound Liason: Classical, ensemble works, pop covers

Editors' Recommendations

Lossless Bluetooth sound? Qualcomm says it's coming in 2022
The best Bluetooth speakers for 2022
Spotify'due south HiFi tier was MIA in 2021. Will 2022 exist any unlike?
The best gratuitous music apps for iOS and Android
The all-time earbuds for 2022

Best Place to Download Hi Res Music UPDATED