6 Apps That Play Hi-Res Audio At Full Quality On Android

In the previous couple of years, there’s been a big shift within the ubiquity of a product that had spent a long time on the fringes: High-resolution digital audio. Extra particularly, hi-res audio refers to recordings the place the bit depth (variety of bits per pattern) and/or pattern fee rises above the “Redbook” CD commonplace of 16-bit/44.1kHz. As soon as the area of failed bodily media codecs like DVD Audio and area of interest obtain websites comparable to HDTracks, it is now a key promoting level for large title subscription music streaming companies like Tidal, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Limitless. (Spotify has been promising hi-res and losslessly compressed streaming for years, but it surely’s nonetheless unavailable.) The jury is out as to only how a lot of this distinction is audible, however there are additionally research that counsel the upper frequencies captured by hi-res (and analog) may nonetheless affect how our brains reply to the music.

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There’s one drawback for adoption, although: Till 2023’s Android 14, Android gadgets did not natively help higher than 24-bit/48kHz playback, even utilizing outboard digital-to-analog converters (DACs). This required builders to search out workarounds to supply Android apps that might absolutely harness the facility of hi-res DACs, and even because the replace, some hi-res streamers nonetheless do not help bit-perfect playback via their official Android apps. As somebody who’s spent years navigating this challenge to get probably the most out of my Android gadgets, let’s take a look at which apps make sure you get each bit and pattern you are paying for, primarily based on each documentation and testing on my telephones.

For taking part in again hi-res audio on Android gadgets, USB Audio Player PRO (“UAPP” for brief), which sells for $7.99, might be probably the most versatile app. It each will get across the 48kHz restriction on older variations of Android and helps bit-perfect playback from Android 14-forward. It has a ton of customization choices, and it exhibits what the file and playback resolutions are. For taking part in again your private music assortment, it helps native playback. That is not all, although: It might probably additionally play again hi-res music over your own home community from a DLNA server, making the most of a function that is constructed into many network-attached storage gadgets and trivial so as to add to any private pc in software program. And in case your music is in your cellphone, it even has its personal DLNA server software program in-built so you may simply beam it to a DLNA-capable speaker system.

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Arguably, the killer app for UAPP is that on prime of the native and networked playback options, it’s also possible to log in to your Qobuz and/or Tidal account on it and use the app to stream both service’s hi-res content material. (You possibly can’t use it for offline listening to their catalogs, although.) Qobuz even directs Android users to UAPP, though it confusingly says “some” DACs can entry hi-res playback via the native Qobuz app; that lack of steerage retains Qobuz’s app off this listing. As for UAPP, its mixture of a satisfying UI, customization, and streaming options make it troublesome to beat.

Along with offering API entry that permits it to be built-in into different apps like USB Audio Participant PRO, Tidal helps hi-res playback natively in its Android app. The Tidal website lists Android gadgets as being able to taking part in again its hi-res FLAC-encoded tracks, because it ought to because the transition from the lossy MQA format to FLAC for hi-res titles — after MQA’s claims about its fidelity had been exposed as misleading — got here virtually a 12 months after the rollout of Android 14.

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As well as, although, Tidal sports activities the excellence of being the uncommon “mainstream” Android music app that, since Summer time 2021, makes use of a workaround to take management of the DAC and bypass the Android audio drivers. Which means Tidal is absolutely able to bit-perfect playback on gadgets operating older variations of Android. This is useful you probably have cash sunk right into a hi-res playback machine, comparable to an previous LG flagship cellphone, that hasn’t gotten Android system updates in years. If you happen to’re like me and do not personal a DAC that has indicator lights that replicate the playback bit depth and pattern fee, then that is all helpful info, because the Tidal app doesn’t present the playback decision, simply the file decision.

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Although Tidal would not have the largest hi-res catalog (Qobuz does), it nonetheless has a reasonably huge number of hi-res titles. Personally, I’ve noticed albums the place Tidal had hi-res variations when different companies did not or did solely at a decrease sampling fee.

One other music streaming service that gives a big library of hi-res titles is Amazon Music Limitless. And in contrast to its rival streaming companies, its Android app is extraordinarily clear about what it is outputting to your DAC in comparison with what the file’s bit depth and pattern fee are. If you happen to faucet on the standard indicator throughout playback, you are introduced with a chart that helpfully lays all of that info out. Utilizing my Anker 24-bit/96kHz headphone dongle/DAC with my Samsung Galaxy S22, I am getting precise hi-res playback that is not downsampled to 24-bit/48kHz. (The identical cannot be mentioned for my LG G7 with a built-in hi-res DAC operating Android 10, so it is seemingly making the most of Android 14’s bit good mode with none workarounds for older OS variations.)

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Confusingly, it is not clear when Amazon began supporting bit-perfect playback on Android. I recollect it not being doable just a few months in the past, and from my analysis, the main points are opaque sufficient to counsel I keep in mind appropriately. A detailed September 2022 post to Reddit’s /r/AmazonMusic indicated that Android was one among many Amazon Music platforms not supporting bit good playback; years later, Amazon’s documentation would not make clear the scenario. Amazon.com’s HD music FAQ page sidesteps the difficulty of exterior DACs, whereas the Amazon.co.uk equivalent nonetheless says, “Presently, exterior DACs are usually not supported on Android.” Amazon being gradual to replace its FAQs is par for the course; it nonetheless lists Chromecast as compatible with Dolby Atmos music, regardless of pulling help in June 2024.

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The preferred music streaming service with hi-res content material is Apple Music, which has bundled lossless, hi-res, and Dolby Atmos content material into its major subscription tier since Might 2021. “Because of the massive file sizes and bandwidth wanted for Lossless and Hello-Res Lossless Audio, subscribers might want to decide in to the expertise,” learn Apple’s press release issued at the time. “Hello-Res Lossless additionally requires exterior tools, comparable to a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC).” The Apple support page for lossless music additionally has related verbiage about needing a USB DAC. 

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Sadly, the Apple Music app is not clear about what your DAC is outputting, simply the file decision. With hi-res lossless streaming enabled, my LG G7, which has a built-in ESS SABRE ES9218P DAC able to bit-perfect playback as much as 32-bit/384 kHz however is caught on Android 10 and thus would want a workaround for bit-perfect streaming, exhibits the identical information for hi-res songs as my Samsung Galaxy S22 does with a 24-bit/96kHz Anker DAC related. That even goes for songs that must be downsampled on the latter, like Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5,” which is 24-bit/176.4 kHz on Apple Music. In making an attempt to analysis this on-line, it appears like, at the very least pre-Android 14, Apple Music’s Android app did not have bit good mode. Nonetheless, discussion board posts from customers with DACs that show the file’s playback decision point out that Apple ultimately turned the function on after the OS replace made it a lot simpler for them to take action.

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Another choice for native and native community playback of your private hi-res music assortment, which predates the Android 14 replace, is the $8.99 Neutron Music Player, which additionally has a trial version available. “Neutron Participant is a complicated music participant with an audiophile-grade platform-independent in-house developed 32/64-bit audio engine which doesn’t depend on the OS music participant API and thus delivers really [sic] distinctive expertise to you,” reads the official promotional copy. “It outputs hi-res audio on to the interior DAC (together with USB DAC) and affords a wealthy set of DSP results.” In keeping with the app’s website, it has a singular function. Not solely can it play recordsdata throughout all generally used native community requirements for music sharing, however should you use Neutron Music Participant to ship songs out of your Android machine to a Chromecast or UPnP/DLNA receiver, it is able to doing so with all the app’s DSP results utilized, together with gapless playback.

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As for bit good playback, the official FAQ web page says that it requires a bit extra effort and digging round in menus than you may anticipate. (On this case, although, “bit good” seems to be referring to the broader idea of unmodified playback because it seems to nonetheless help full high quality hi-res playback with DSP turned on, whereas “bit good” requires turning off DSP results.) If you happen to depend on a private hi-res assortment plus the DSP and casting options attraction to you, Neutron Music Participant looks like a strong possibility.

Accessible by default as a trial version with a separate $7.99 full version within the Google Play Retailer, Poweramp Music Participant has lengthy been beneficial to followers of high-resolution music, going again to the times when LG was nonetheless making smartphones and their flagships had built-in hi-res digital to analog converters. Moreover fundamental native playback, the app’s official website touts a sturdy function listing that features broad format help together with hi-res DSD recordsdata, a graphic equalizer with “highly effective bass and treble adjustment,” numerous DSP results comparable to stereo enlargement, tempo management, reverb, and upsampling, and longtime digital music nerd favorites like help for gapless playback and ReplayGain. If you happen to’re huge on customization, it additionally helps customized themes, third-party skins, customized visualizers, “extremely configurable widget sorts,” and tweaking the app’s lock display presentation. It might probably additionally ship your on-device music library to Chromecast gadgets over your Wi-Fi community.

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Nonetheless, should you seek for recommendation on the best way to be sure to’re getting full high quality playback of hi-res recordsdata, posts on Reddit and different dialogue boards point out that getting it to take action — at the very least in a manner that is clear to the consumer — is considerably sophisticated. And even then, it may not play bit-perfect within the broader sense as a lot as it’s going to upsample decrease pattern charges to match the utmost pattern fee of your DAC. Total, it looks like there are arguably higher and easier-to-use choices, however Poweramp is much from a nasty one.