As far as music streaming services go, Deezer isn’t exactly a household name, at least not in the U.S., but that may not remain the case for long. Like Tidal, Deezer offers a high-fidelity lossless streaming plan called Deezer HiFi. Last year, Deezer began offering lossless audio on the Google Home and other Google Assistant-powered devices to HiFi subscribers, but now that feature is finally available in the U.S.
In this case, the lossless audio is provided in the FLAC format at 44.1kHz/16-bit. That’s not quite up there with hi-res audio offerings, which reach up to 192kHz/24-bit but it is CD-quality, and technically it’s quite a bit better than Spotify’s 320kbps “Extreme” quality option, even if many people may never be able to tell the difference. Deezer says it currently offers more than 36 million tracks from around the world in lossless format.
While much of the nuance that FLAC offers over MP3 is going to be lost using a speaker such as Google Home (or any similar speaker in its class), using Google Assistant to stream lossless audio to your home theater or stereo setup is certainly a nice feature to have. Various voice commands are supported like “Hey, Google, play rock music” or “Hey, Google, play my Happy Playlist.” You can also use Google Assistant to play Flow, Deezer’s smart playlist that it describes as “your personal soundtrack.”
To lossless audio via your Google Home or other Google Assistant-enabled device, you’ll need to be subscribed to Deezer’s HiFi plan, which costs $20 per month. If you just want Google Assistant features but don’t need lossless audio, you can subscribe to Deezer’s Premium+ plan, which costs the same as Spotify at $10 per month. Also like Spotify and others, a Family plan is available for $15 per month.
While Tidal remains in the lead for now, that might not be the case forever, as that company has had some issues as of late, and Deezer making headway in the world of smart devices could give the company an advantage. In the meantime, be sure to take a look at our list of the best music streaming services to get an idea what else is out there.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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