# Primephonic and Idagio



## Stockmann

What's your opinion on Primephonic vs Idagio? I only listen to classical music and have about 1,000 albums. They are mainly of older performances by Horenstein, Barbirolli, Furtwangler, etc. I have YouTube Music Premium but want a music service with better meta tags. Thanks!


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## Allegro Con Brio

As one of the only members here who does not own a single CD and who listens exclusively from streaming, I can help you out a bit. I have extensively tried both these streaming services and am currently subscribed to Primephonic. I have very similar tastes in performers as you and maybe these little comparison will help you out as both services have major pros and cons.

*Sound quality*
Both offer standard MP3 for their basic packages and charge something close to $14.99 per month for lossless (which I spring for). Both of them offer *gapless playback* (a non-compromising must for me) on mobile, but Idagio does not do so on their desktop app.

*Selection*
Idagio, in my experience, has the wider library. They have a lot of older performances that you might be interested in which Primephonic does not. However, Primephonic also has some very good recordings from all eras that Idagio does not. I would recommend trying the free trial on both (for the Primephonic free trial they don't even need your credit card info), searching for some specific recordings you're interested in, and seeing which service best provides what you're looking for.

*Search function*
Both services have a dreamy search function if you're used to searching for popular music on other services. Type any shorthand abbreviation for any work and you're likely to find what you're looking for. However, it's a bit tougher to search for the exact recording you want on Primephonic than it is on Idagio, in my experience.

*Interface/Arrangement*
If your eyes are strained with a purely black and white interface, go for Primephonic. But in general I think Idagio's interface is more sleek and handsome. Both services are not ideal for arrangement of your personal album/recording library. On Idagio there is no option at all to arrange your albums alphabetically; it saves in an infernal random order without even a search function to find what you're looking for. Luckily the main search function is so good that you don't really need to save albums. On Primephonic you are given the option to save alphabetically, but have to manually change it every time you open the folder.

*General downfalls of both and nice individual perks*
The main downfall for both is that they heavily push newer recordings and performers to such an extent that the vintage recordings get buried. They're easy to find if you know what to search for, though. Primephonic does some interesting exclusive podcasts and performer interviews that can be intriguing. Both offer "classical radio" which I find is pretty much non-applicable to "serious" classical listeners. I do kind of like the "mood" function on Idagio, though, which lets you spin a wheel and gives you a piece that matches a certain emotion.

So it looks like I've given more positives to Idagio. Why do I use Primephonic? Because I only do my "serious" listening on desktop (my audiophile headphones will only work on my computer) and Idagio's desktop app is non-negotiably bad - terribly slow, clunky, and without gapless playback. If they updated that and maybe fixed their alphabetization function, I would switch back to them. But Primephonic meets my needs about as ideally as could be for right now.

*General recommendation if you're on mobile - Idagio*.


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## Stockmann

Thanks so much for your detailed reply, Allegro Con Brio. That was very helpful. I am using the free version for Idagio and am about to sign up for the two weeks free trial of Primephonic. But, it would take me longer than that to have an accurate accessment of the selection between these two services. So, I especially appreciate your perspective on this aspect of these services. I have read that Primephonic claims to have around four million tracks whereas Idagio claims to have two million tracks. But, I know that so many classical recordings have multiple releases and remastering, etc. Yes, gapless playing is a must for classical music recordings.


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