3 Essential TV Apps Every Audiophile Needs

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There was a time when streaming music was never a consideration for audiophiles, thanks to the compressed nature of the streams of yesteryear designed to save on bandwidth and, by extension, server costs. But broadband prices keep falling, and bandwidth is cheaper than ever, which is precisely how audio streaming services that offer high-resolution 24-bit audio come to be. While there are holdouts, like Google's YouTube Music, which is still limited to 256kbps AAC, there are plenty of competing music streaming services that have jumped on the high-res bandwagon to every audiophile's glee.

It's never been a better time to be an audiophile, from the wide availability of cheap IEMs to budget DACs, to a handful of major streaming services that serve up that oh so delicious Hi-Fi, even from the comfort of your smart TV. So, if you'd like to get groovy with it in your living room, we have compiled a list of three essential TV apps, drawing on our audio and app expertise while cross-referencing that data against popular blogs and social media alike, all to help you quench your audiophile needs on your TV.

A rather new entrant in the high-res audio streaming services, Spotify launched 24-bit audio to its subscribers in September 2025, and it doesn't even charge extra for this bump in quality. It comes with any Premium plan (starting at $12.99 a month for a Premium Individual plan), keeping things somewhat competitive with similar services like Tidal and Amazon Music Unlimited. You can expect lossless CD-quality with 44.1 kHz FLAC files streamed directly to your device. While this isn't the highest bitrate possible, where both Amazon and Tidal offer higher, it's still much better than the older 320kbps lossy AAC/Ogg Vorbis files Spotify serves to those without Premium plans with high-res support. Still, Spotify does not offer any details on how many 24-bit files are actually available on the service; it's far from perfect, but at least lossless FLACs are available for the vast majority.

Really, the main issue with Spotify's high-res audio is that its $12.99 monthly subscription is slightly more expensive than competitors' and was only recently increased in February 2026. While many music streaming services' libraries are over the hundred-million mark, like Spotify's, they can differ in genre curation. Spotify is best-known for its library that leans towards pop and hip-hop, though users agree its EDM selection is pretty fantastic, too. Spotify is the best choice for those interested in its mainstream music selection, with an algorithm that even bloggers consider one of the best in the business for recommendations and playlists.

Where Spotify is the generalist's high-res audio streaming service, Tidal is for the hardcore audiophiles out there. It launched in 2014 as one of the first major audio streaming services to offer high-fidelity audio. Born out of the Scandinavian service WiMP, Tidal made waves with its Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) files, but eventually started transitioning to the open source FLAC format in 2024, which are 24-bit with support up to 192kHz, triple that of Spotify's bandwidth, otherwise known as high-res FLAC. Dolby Atmos is also supported, setting Tidal comfortably in the front as the audio streaming service that (on paper) offers the highest-quality audio files. For $10.99 a month, clocking cheaper than Spotify, the Individual subscription with high-res FLAC support is comparatively a pretty good deal for access to over a hundred-million songs.

Now, the main thing to keep in mind with Tidal is that, even though it boasts a 192kHz bandwidth for its max-tier songs, like Spotify, Tidal does not share how many songs in its library are 24-bit. So that's a limitation to consider, though we do at least know there are over 6 million high-res FLACs. While its high tier is still CD-quality with 16-bit FLACs, which applies to the majority of its library, if you want that oh-so-sweet 24-bit audio on the Max tier, you may find that a good portion of this content consists of albums from older bands like Pink Floyd and Rush. Another issue that users and bloggers agree on is that Tidal's playlists are often lacking, especially compared to Spotify. Still, Tidal is certainly an essential audio streaming alternative for your TV if you're a hardcore audiophile, with audio equipment that can take advantage of its 192kHz/24-bit files.

If Spotify's too expensive, and Tidal's unknown number of 24-bit songs is a problem, then perhaps you'll find refuge with Amazon Music Unlimited. Amazon is daring enough to boast that it offers over 7 million songs in Ultra HD (out of its hundred-million-plus library), which is "better than CD quality audio (up to 24 bit, 192 kHz)." Of course, similar to Tidal, you can easily find user complaints on social media that say the general library of these 24-bit songs favors older, more established bands with record-selling classic albums. While this isn't Amazon's fault (or Tidal's, for that matter), when purposefully subscribing to a service that boasts it offers 24-bit audio files, it helps to know what the selection will be, and at the very least, Amazon isn't hiding from the number it offers.

Then again, Amazon Music Unlimited has a bit of a reputation for offering apps that leave users wanting, across PC and mobile, with blogs and social media users agreeing that both the UI and UX need some work. There is also the price, clocking in at $11.99 a month, sitting right in between Tidal and Spotify. There's also the fact that Amazon Music Unlimited is part of Amazon's ecosystem, so for those already heavily invested, staying within it can make a lot of sense. The price is competitive, and you get access to 192kHz files, unlike Spotify (which also costs more). Amazon Music Unlimited is basically the underdog, less polished than competitors like Tidal, but it easily ties into Amazon's other services like Audible and is not the most expensive, but not the cheapest either.

By combining BGR's expertise in the audio field with a heavy sprinkling of firsthand app experience, along with the data and user experiences provided by social media users and the opinions of technology blogs, we come away with a fuller picture of how each app discussed in this roundup fairs across the internet. This is how we ultimately decide which apps are worth using and why, diving deep into the positives and negatives of the most essential TV apps for audiophiles.