Lossless Listening Arrives on Spotify Premium

[shuppatsu]

If they raise the price without also raising the royalty payments to match the others, I’m out. 320 Vorbis is plenty for me, and I only chose Spotify because of my kids. But I later learned that they are fine with free, and I’d like more of my money to go to the artists. Raising prices would be the last straw.

The other great thing about Spotify is the jam mode, and the fact that just about everybody has an account. But I don’t need premium to join someone else’s jam.

I was also fed my first AI-generated song a couple weeks ago. That I know of, at least. I don’t really care if Spotify allows AI music but it annoys me that we can’t opt out.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Am I the only one who can hear the difference?

 

[Soria Moria]

Am I the only one who can hear the difference?

Have you done ABX testing?

 

[Pearljam5000]

Have you done ABX testing?

No

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

Did they also add an 'exclusive' output mode that would bypass the Windows / Android audio pipeline? If not then isn't this an empty gimmick?

 

[Multicore]

Well, Spotify's "Lossless" (24-bit/44.1 kHz) doesn't quite match Qobuz's high-res formats (24-bit/192 kHz), if that's any consolation.

Whether you'd hear the difference is a different question... I've used both Spotify (family plan) and Qobuz (just me 'cause I'm the only one who cares) for a long time. I think they're both excellent.

Sample rates above 48k and more than 16 bits don't interest me. But MP3/AAC is not consistent with how I built our audio systems here, although it may be sufficient for my rotten hearing.

What I care about is uncompressed playback from the network service through the WiiM to the Flex DAC. Do we trust the WiiM Home app's display of decoder output? I mean, has anyone confirmed that when you play a "hi-res" track from Qobuz (or Tidal or whatever) to your WiiM and the WiiM Home app says e.g. 96kHz/24bit that the bitstream on the coax or optical out of the WiiM corresponds?

 

[kmurp]

I wonder if version 1 LS50 wireless will support this?

 

[SKBubba]

I'm skeptical. They've been teasing it for years. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Burnside]

Sample rates above 48k and more than 16 bits don't interest me. But MP3/AAC is not consistent with how I built our audio systems here, although it may be sufficient for my rotten hearing.

What I care about is uncompressed playback from the network service through the WiiM to the Flex DAC. Do we trust the WiiM Home app's display of decoder output? I mean, has anyone confirmed that when you play a "hi-res" track from Qobuz (or Tidal or whatever) to your WiiM and the WiiM Home app says e.g. 96kHz/24bit that the bitstream on the coax or optical out of the WiiM corresponds?

Yes, since day one, even with my WiiM Mini as I feed my WiiM devices into my Linn amp which shows the resolution. I’m sure others have similar displays on their external DACs, plus WiiM devices have been tested to be bit perfect - probably reported here several years ago in the WiiM Mini thread.

 

[LearningToSmile]

I was reasonably happy with Tidal, particularly as they have been growing their library steadily over the years. But Spotify premium is a little over half the cost of a Tidal subscription, so maybe it's time to switch, at least when lossless becomes available in my country. I've been thinking of reducing my (not terribly high already)subscription costs anyway.

 

[Jokke]

I was reasonably happy with Tidal, particularly as they have been growing their library steadily over the years. But Spotify premium is a little over half the cost of a Tidal subscription, so maybe it's time to switch, at least when lossless becomes available in my country. I've been thinking of reducing my (not terribly high already)subscription costs anyway.

Interesting. In my country Spotify Premium is more expensive then Tidal Hifi.

 

[DanielT]

I was reasonably happy with Tidal, particularly as they have been growing their library steadily over the years. But Spotify premium is a little over half the cost of a Tidal subscription, so maybe it's time to switch, at least when lossless becomes available in my country. I've been thinking of reducing my (not terribly high already)subscription costs anyway.

Free now. Note that Spotify themselves have said nothing about increased prices.
This is precisely what prevented Spotify from launching lossless a few years ago. They had planned to do it, with a price increase, but then Apple and Amazon released their entire catalogs,without price increases, for free with lossless. That made it more or less impossible for Spotify to introduce lossless with an increased subscription cost.

BUT if Spotify now offers the option of lossless for premium subscribers, there is nothing to say that after a while they will introduce separate price increases for premium subscribers who want lossless. Once they have them on the hook, once premium subscribers get access to lossless now, they will pay extra. Spotify can reason along those lines.

Or there will be no additional price increase in the future. I think that is the most reasonable thing. Spotify would not dare. There are competitors.
Speaking of competition. Spotify is now releasing lossless for free, (with no price increases for lossless options in the future) to strengthen its market position.
I'm just speculating and guessing now, but I think the latter is the most reasonable way to look at it.

 

[pieterv1]

Anyone knows when it comes to Belgium?

Lossless is rolling out gradually to more than 50 markets through October. Premium subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK have already started to get access.

No confirmation of when exactly we should have access. I think we should just assume it'll arrive before the end of October. Adieu, Tidal!

 

[Burnside]

Did they also add an 'exclusive' output mode that would bypass the Windows / Android audio pipeline? If not then isn't this an empty gimmick?

Not an empty gimmick if you’re using Spotify Connect to send audio to a dedicated streamer like a WiiM device

 

[pieterv1]

Did they also add an 'exclusive' output mode that would bypass the Windows / Android audio pipeline? If not then isn't this an empty gimmick?

Can't answer your question as I don't have access yet. Someone on the WiiM forums did a quick test with a Poco F7 and his DAC reported 48Khz.

However, it's been almost 2 years since Tidal dropped this functionality from their Android app (it worked until version 2.91.0). So it seems like there's still some extra hurdles to overcome on Android?

 

[LearningToSmile]

Interesting. In my country Spotify Premium is more expensive then Tidal Hifi.

actually you're right, quick google search showed me the wrong result
they're nearly the same price then, so I guess I'll have to check if the few things that were still missing on tidal are available on spotify
still, good to see more competition

 

[Sjkrabbe]

too late

 

[pieterv1]

too late

I'd say good things come to those who wait? :')

 

[F1Fan72]

I’ll stick with Qobuz .. 24bit / 192

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

However, it's been almost 2 years since Tidal dropped this functionality from their Android app (it worked until version 2.91.0). So it seems like there's still some extra hurdles to overcome on Android?

Possibly. But there are apps like USB Audio Player Pro or Neutron Player that support this functionality for Tidal streams and local files.

BTW, this week UAPP received an update that includes capturing Android system audio and routing it to the USB DAC. It's an experimental feature, doesn't work with Spotify, and it was super glitchy when I tested it with the Bandcamp app. Regardless, I'm super excited to see where they go from here