The 7 Best Music Player Apps for Android [Detailed List]
Reviewed by Huzaifa Haroon- Spotify leads in streaming with its vast catalog and smart algorithmic recommendations, offering personalized playlists and a user-friendly interface.
- Neutron Music Player is the top pick for audiophiles, offering a high-resolution audio engine and comprehensive format support, though its complex interface might deter some users.
- For those preferring local, offline music, AIMP and Musicolet provide robust options with various customization features, while PowerAMP is lauded for its aesthetic customization and superior audio quality.
Our phones today have replaced many standalone devices like iPods and have become the go-to gadgets for listening to music for most people. In recent years, developers have made strides in enhancing your overall listening experience with updates to the media player UI.
However, with so many music apps available on the Play Store, it can sometimes be overwhelming to choose the right one. That’s why we’ve put together this guide, highlighting some of the best media players currently available for Android.
Table of Contents
1. Spotify
Spotify is the largest and most popular music streaming platform with a vast catalog of songs from artists worldwide. What truly sets it apart is its exceptional algorithmic prowess. The service boasts the smartest and most flexible recommendation algorithms among all music players.
With over 100 million songs and millions of users, Spotify excels at recommending music based on your habits like songs you like, share, save, or skip. Its popular playlists, “Discover Weekly” and “Release Radar,” are updated every Monday and Friday, respectively, offering a mix of your favorite tracks and exciting new ones tailored just for you.
The user interface is sleek and easy to navigate, allowing you to save unlimited songs and create playlists with up to 10,000 titles. Spotify also encourages social interaction; you can see what your friends are listening to and even create group sessions for shared listening experiences.
2. AIMP
If you’re considering listening to music locally, AIMP might be an excellent choice. As one of the oldest players in this roundup, it offers a clean interface with various customization and theme options. It also supports all popular music file extensions like MP3, MP4, and FLAC.
AIMP is great for playing tracks stored in folders, offering quick access to playlists through the hamburger menu and featuring a 29-band equalizer. Users can switch between “mono” and “stereo” outputs, adjust crossfade times between tracks, and enjoy online radio for variety. Overall, AIMP is a simple app perfect for distraction-free local music playback.
3. Neutron Music Player
The Neutron Music Player is as close as you can get to audiophile-level quality on Android. It’s one of the most popular music players known for its own 32/64-bit Hi-Res audio engine, which functions independently of the standard Android music player API.
Neutron Music Player supports all audio formats, including rarer ones like WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, and MPC, along with 5.1 surround sound. It features a 60-band parametric equalizer and a 21-preset graphic equalizer, catering to audiophiles seeking detailed audio control.
Despite a potentially complex interface, it offers rich features like real-time spectrum displays, waveforms, and RTS analyzers. Users can save audio settings to multiple profiles, and the media library organizes songs by album, artist, genre, and more. Connect to high-quality speakers or headphones to fully experience its superior audio quality.
4. Musicolet
Musicolet is a “small yet feature-rich” music player that delivers a pure offline experience with a refreshing UI. Its interface isn’t cluttered, and despite its small APK size, it offers quite a bit more than you’d expect.
Musicolet allows users to set up multiple queues for different folders, albums, artists, or playlists, and supports distinct equalizer settings for various output devices like mobile speakers, headphones, or your car. It even integrates seamlessly with Android Auto for enhanced usability on the go.
The app can create synchronized lyrics for songs and supports external .lrc files. While offering minimal customization, it provides both light and dark themes, a handy widget, and lock-screen controls. Users can add albums as shortcuts on the home screen for quick access. Overall, Musicolet is praised for its simplicity and efficiency, delivering all essential features without unnecessary complexity.
5. PowerAMP
PowerAMP, one of the oldest and most enduring music players on the Play Store, makes this list because of its comprehensive feature set and ability to execute the basics flawlessly. Its interface is snappy, modern, and minimal, akin to Spotify.
While many have moved to streaming services like Apple Music or Spotify, PowerAMP remains a favorite for offline listeners. It supports Android Auto, Chromecast, and Google Assistant, effectively replacing features once offered by Play Music.
PowerAMP shines in aesthetics, allowing users to download third-party themes from the Google Play Store and customize the UI with features like a track counter and Chromecast button. Designed for casual audiophiles, it supports most audio formats and lossless audio with a proprietary decoder. Features like gapless playback, replay gain, crossfade, a built-in tag editor, and a 10-band digital equalizer offer a premium listening experience in a sleek interface..
6. PlayerPro
PlayerPro is well-known for its retro, 90s feel, and stands out as one of the oldest contenders in this roundup. Supporting Hi-Res audio up to 32-bit/364kHz and offering various customization options, the app is also compatible with Android Auto, Chromecast, and Google Assistant.
Besides audio playback, PlayerPro also accommodates music videos. It features a 5-band equalizer with 15 default presets and a 10-band equalizer with 20 default presets. The app includes enhancements like an audio limiter, replay gain, pre-amp control, and mono output, among others.
PlayerPro also offers five home screen and two lock screen widgets alongside the capability to backup your playlists to Google Drive. Remarkably, the app supports gesture control, which can be incredibly useful in particular scenarios.
7. YouTube Music
With its integration with the YouTube platform, YT Music boasts the most extensive music library on this list, including exclusive content unavailable on other platforms. It features an array of music from community members who upload to YouTube.
Although audiophiles might point out its lack of high-quality audio, YT Music is excellent for casual listening. It provides a structured layout, allowing easy importation and recommendation based on your YouTube watch history. The app enables you to like, share, and save songs to your playlists and, with YouTube Premium, it offers ad-free listening and offline song downloads.
The app’s new Samples tab, somewhat reminiscent of TikTok, features vertical-format music that autoplays with swipes to navigate between tracks. It’s arguably the best app for enjoying both audio and music videos.
FAQs
Currently, Spotify is the leader. Apple Music and YT Music are close contenders, but the consistent efforts of the Spotify team over the past few years make it the top music streaming platform.
PowerAMP and AIMP are among the popular choices, although there are other options like PlayerPro and Musicolet.
For those seeking the highest audio quality, PowerAMP is a favorite, although Neutron Music Player is also great due to its professional-level customization options.
Reviewed by Huzaifa Haroon
