by 
Tired of the old, boring, stock audio player that came pre-installed on your android device?
In 2023, most of us have probably ditched the idea of storing MP3 and FLAC files on our devices and instead, switched over to music streaming services like Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, or YouTube Music. Streaming has become so much more convenient for music discovery, on-demand playback & more.
While streaming has become a lot more convenient, some people may not be able to fork out the cash, hate the idea of a monthly subscription, or just prefer to store their content locally and stream them without using any mobile data or WiFi. While some may argue that Tidal’s or Spotify free tier is more than sufficient, they do have some disadvantages such as ‘No offline downloads’, ‘Ads’ & Limited Audio quality.
If you are one of those guys that just prefers hosting your content locally you’re not alone! Many people have wondered which music player is the best for Android and if there are any better players than the stock android player.
Thankfully, there’s no shortage when it comes to options. The Google Play Store has many, popular audio players with each offering something different.
Best Music Player for Android 2023
If you have been searching for a great audio player, read along and I’m sure you’ll find an audio player that’s just right for you!
- Poweramp Music Player
- Neutron Music Player
- Simple Music Player
- BlackHole
- USB Audio Player PRO
1. Poweramp Music Player
No list of best music players is ever complete without mentioning Poweramp. PowerAmp is one of the most reliable and trusted music players.
Poweramp is a powerful music player for Android. The latest release, Poweramp v3, is a major update focused on the new Audio engine, UI, and navigation to offer a far better user experience.
With hundreds of features, it is easily one of the best music players available on the Play Store for anyone who is serious about their music.
What makes Poweramp ahead of the competition is its customization features. Don’t like the look of the app? No problem, simply search the Play Store and you’ll find 100’s of custom skins for Poweramp which will change the look & feel of the app. The app also allows you to make adjustments to the UI so that Poweramp just works for you.
Now we have to admit that the app is a little intimidating at first and this is because it offers all you could want in a music player. The app is designed for beginners all the way to enthusiasts.
The latest 3.0 version of Poweramp also adds the ability to have a custom music visualizer in the background of the player UI that is fully reactive to the frequency of the music you’re listening to. That’s a pretty neat touch!
The main highlight of this app is that it uses its own audio decoders & therefore the app is able to have consistently high sound quality across all devices. Since the app decodes the audio by itself without relying on the Android system to do any of the work, its equalizer is one of the best in the market. By using its own equalizer, it’s able to apply the changes that you choose to the decoded stream.
The amount of features this app offers is quite much and probably too much to cover in a single review. Instead, we will focus on and highlight some of the main features of the app.
Poweramp features:
- Automatic album artwork downloading
- Automatically resume playback when a headset is plugged back in/connected
- Advanced EQ
- Audio Visualiser
- HiRes Audio Support
- Advanced Audio Tweaker
- Allows for Custom Skins
- Very intuitive UI
- Lyrics support, including lyrics search via the plugin
- Compatible with Android Auto
- and a lots of more features!
If you’re on the fence wondering if you should get this app or not, then we have great news for you. Poweramp offers a 15 Day FREE Trial for you to test the app and its features before committing to it.
2. Neutron Music Player
Neutron Player is an advanced music player with an audiophile-grade platform-independent in-house developed 32/64-bit audio engine which much like Poweramp’s engine, does not rely on the OS music player API and therefore it is able to deliver a truly unique experience to you!
What makes Neutron unique is that it is the only application capable of sending audio data to the network renderers (UPnP/DLNA, Chromecast) with all DSP effects applied, including the gapless playback.
In terms of customization & features, Neutron doesn’t fall short! The app comes loaded with all the bells and whistles such as:
- 32/64-bit hi-res audio processing (HD audio)
- Hi-Res Audio support (up to 32-bit, 768 kHz)
- Lyrics
- Network music sources (music stores online)
- Output to Chromecast (up to 24-bit, 192 kHz, no limit for a format or DSP effects)
- Android Auto
- Tons of tools for geeks
- & A lot more!
That being said, Neutron Music Player is not a free app. The app is marked at $7.99 on the Play Store. Don’t get intimidated by the price as you can get a fully-featured trial for 5 days before committing to this paid version. If you don’t mind waiting, this app generally does go on sale for around $4.99 during mid-year or December (Christmas Sale).
If you are serious about offline music playback, claim the evaluation trial and check whether this app suits your style & meets your needs. We really enjoyed using this app even though we did feel a touch intimidated by all the features it offers. If you’re a true audiophile, you will really enjoy all this app is able to offer you.
3. Simple Music Player
Have you been feeling intimidated by all the ‘expert-level options provided by advanced media players like Poweramp & Neutron?
Then Simple Music Player is just right for you! As the name suggests, Simple Music Player is a simplistic, yet feature-packed music player. The app takes care of all the technical stuff so that you can spend more time enjoying your music and less time trying to figure out how to use the app.
The best part about this Simple Music Player is that it is 100% FREE and Ad-Free! That is just amazing!
This media player is also completely offline so you don’t have to worry about the app draining your data. Speaking of drainage, battery brain is not an issue with this awesome music player! Simple Music Player has a unique battery-saving feature so you do not have to worry anymore about running out of battery during the day.
This app is also available on F-Droid should you wish to download it from there instead of Google Play Store.
4. BlackHole
For those unaware, BlackHole is an Open-Source, Free Music Player App for all your needs!
What makes this app interesting is that in addition to playing your offline media, it is also able to stream online content in 320kbps AAC.
Out of the box, this app features awesome features such as:
- Song, Album, Artist, and Playlist Search
- Local and Global Top Spotify songs
- Playlists support
- Import Playlists from Spotify & YouTube
- Lyrics Support
- Play Online as well as Offline Songs
- Trending Search Results
- YouTube Search Support
- Ad-Free
For those that love the ability to stream content on-demand as well as play content offline without having to subscribe to any services, BlackHole is the perfect solution for you! This music player gives you a Spotify Premium-like experience without the cost.
5. USB Audio Player PRO
The ‘Must Have’ App For All Audiophiles! If you are a true audiophile that has access to equipment like DAC’s, then USB Audio Player PRO is a must-have app for you!
USB Audio Player PRO is a high-quality media player supporting USB audio DACs and HiRes audio chips. This app has support for a plethora of formats including unpopular formats (beyond the formats that Android supports) such as wav, flac, mp3, m4a, wavpack, SACD ISO, MQA, and DSD.
This app is a must-have for every audiophile, bypassing all audio limits of Android. Whether you use our custom-developed USB audio driver for USB DACs, our HiRes driver for internal audio chips, or the standard Android driver, this app is one of the highest quality media players around!
Another awesome feature of this app is that it has the ability to stream audio from Tidal (including Tidal Masters/MQA), Qobuz, and Shoutcast. For those that are serious about audio quality and want only the highest audio quality experience, this app is perfect!
Conclusion
Android has no shortage when it comes to customization & personalization. For some users, the stock Music Player app that comes pre-installed by the device manufacturer just isn’t all that great & therefore, an alternative option needs to be pursued. Luckily, there are many awesome music players out there with each having something unique to offer.
If you are a tinkerer, you’d really enjoy the 100’s features that Poweramp has to offer & if you are just chasing for the highest audio quality experience, then USB Audio Player PRO is a perfect choice. On the other hand, for someone looking for an app that’s minimal & straightforward, Simple Music Player offers just that.
