These days, with the ongoing exception of Spotify, most of the best music streaming services let you stream in lossless audio, which can deliver the equivalent of CD quality (or better) music to your phone, tablet, or wireless speakers. However, a new entrant in the streaming landscape called Pure Audio Streaming, thinks it can attract an audience of audiophiles by taking lossless further, with 5.1 surround sound, and multichannel 3D sound at up to 192kHz. Originally slated to launch in 2024, the company now says the service will debut on July 25.
Pure Audio Streaming is the brainchild of Stefan Bock, the founder of Germany-based mastering studios, MSM-Studios. But perhaps more relevantly, Bock is also the founder and developer of the Pure Audio Blu-ray disc format, which lets artists present their albums in a wide variety of formats (both lossy and lossless) on a single disc that can be played on any standard Blu-ray player. According to a Pure Audio Streaming press release, “The service delivers hardware-optimized playback for high-end AV systems and exclusive high-resolution content, positioning itself as the ultimate streaming solution for discerning audio enthusiasts.”
The company hasn’t released any pricing details yet, but it will open up an early adopter program on May 15 that starts at $300 for one year of streaming access. The company is taking early adopter requests on its website, and participants must be approved before they gain access. Early adopters will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which prevents from discussing issues with the service prior to the official launch date.
When the service launches, there will be two subscription tiers: A stereo subscription plan that provides high-res stereo and binaural audio, and an immersive plan that adds up to 7.1.4, 96 kHz PCM immersive audio.
What’s more lossless than lossless?
Apple Music, Amazon Music, Qobuz, and Tidal all possess massive catalogs in excess of 100 million tracks, many of which are available in CD quality or so-called hi-res audio. Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal also offer smaller collections of songs in Dolby Atmos Music, an immersive spatial audio format. But all of the Dolby Atmos Music tracks are streamed using Dolby Digital Plus, a lossy form of compression that removes information in favor of smaller file sizes. Pure Audio Streaming says that its 3D music tracks will be available, without any loss, in 7.1.4-channel PCM, via the Auro-3D format. It will also have a collection of 5.1 surround sound music, also delivered losslessly. Essentially, it’s the streaming equivalent of Bock’s Pure Audio Blu-rays.
So far, we don’t know much about Pure Audio Streaming’s catalog size or even the kinds of genres that it will offer. On the site’s current FAQ page, the question, “Is this all classical music?” is answered with the somewhat vague, “Pure Audio Streaming has way more than just classical music. While we do have plenty of classic music for those looking, the labels we work with produce a ton of different genres.”
Artist Connection inside
While Pure Audio Streaming may be a new option for music fans, unlike Apple Music and other major players, the service isn’t being built from the ground up on its own infrastructure. Instead, it uses the Artist Connection platform, which has been designed to work as a white label streaming service — giving companies like Pure Audio Streaming sophisticated format support and streaming infrastructure without a major investment.
Required equipment
With the stereo plan, you’ll be able to stream lossless stereo and binaural spatial audio to any iOS or Android mobile device via the Pure Audio Streaming app (which is effectively the Artist Connection mobile app). However, if you want to listen to 5.1 or 7.1.4-channel immersive audio, via the immersive plan, you’ll need one of:
- Nvidia Shield TV Pro or Amazon Fire Stick 4K (2023), connected via HDMI to an AV receiver
- Mac or Windows computer using Chrome, connected via HDMI to an AV receiver
The FAQ notes that Mac devices must be 2021 or newer. The company says that support for the Amazon “Fire Cube” is coming, but there’s no mention of which Fire TV Cube model is needed.
It will also be possible in the future to stream from your phone to either the Nvidia Shield TV Pro or Amazon Fire Stick 4K via Artist Connection’s AC Connect protocol (similar to Spotify Connect/Tidal Connect).
