If you recently purchased a portable music player from the likes of Astell & Kern (plus an SD card to boost its storage) and you're primarily looking for classical music, this site may well become your new one-stop shop. Hi-res file formats available: DSD, DXD, WAV, FLAC View the 7digital downloads store (opens in new tab) Native DSD
Prices are affordable, though, and you can buy individual tracks as well as full albums – something that not every site offers. One drawback is that it only offers hi-res downloads in the FLAC format (while it's now possible to select 'MQA' as a filter option, we couldn't find any tracks in the format). You can preview 30 seconds of a song before buying it, too. You can easily spot hi-res recordings thanks to a yellow '24bit FLAC' badge on an album or song's thumbnail, and there's also a dedicated hi-res section for some focused browsing. With a strong catalogue of hi-res music from all genres and a website that makes buying music easy, 7digital is a good all-rounder.Ī helpful search bar runs across the top of the interface to help you find exactly what you're after and the website is simple to navigate.
View the Qobuz download store (opens in new tab) 7digital Pricing is competitive, and if you opt for the hybrid download-and-streaming Sublime+ service (£250/$250 per year) you can get discounts on hi-res albums. It's worth noting that you choose the file format and sampling rate you want to download your hi-res album in after making your purchase, and also that you can't buy individual tracks. There is a strong Francophile focus, although the hi-res catalogue is growing more varied every day. Hi-res albums in 5.1 surround sound are available too. Hi-res albums are clearly labelled, and you can search by genre or new releases, which can be sorted by sample rate. And with more than 220,000 albums available in hi-res 24-bit quality, it's worth taking a look.īoth the website and dedicated app are easy to navigate. The download store attached to the Qobuz streaming service gets full marks for music discovery and front-end intuitiveness. Hi-res file formats available: FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC View the HDtracks website (opens in new tab) Qobuz One issue is that HDtracks restricts purchases to certain countries, but that shouldn't prove too difficult to work around with one of the best VPNs. There's a selection of tunes in DSD and double DSD, too, which is great for audiophiles.
Where other download sites often offer FLAC as default (and in some cases, only FLAC is available), HDtracks lets you choose between FLAC, WAV, AIFF and ALAC formats – and the sampling rates within each – before downloading.
You can't really buy individual tracks and hi-res albums can be pricey, but the interface is fuss-free and easy to navigate, and you can sample 30 seconds of any album track before you buy.Īnother plus is the format and bitrate selection on offer. We've knocked HDtracks in the past for shunning more current or popular music in favour of jazz, classical and dad-rock, but glance at the home screen and the Top New Releases tab now includes the likes of Billie Eilish, Prince and P!nk remixes. HDtracks is one of the more established hi-res download stores, and it's never been stronger. Hi-res file formats available: FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC, DSD 2.8 and 5.6MHz Hi-res sampling rates available: 24-bit/44.1kHz to 24-bit/192kHz