Spotify announces HiFi music streaming

[jtwrace]

Spotify announces HiFi music streaming

Artists and fans have told us that sound quality is important to them. We agree, and that’s why today at Stream On we announced Spotify HiFi.

Beginning later this year, Premium subscribers in select markets will be able to upgrade their sound quality to Spotify HiFi and listen to their favorite songs the way artists intended.

Read on for five things you need to know about our new high-quality music experience:

• High-quality music streaming is consistently one of the most requested new features by our users.
• Spotify HiFi will deliver music in CD-quality, lossless audio format to your device and Spotify Connect-enabled speakers, which means fans will be able to experience more depth and clarity while enjoying their favorite tracks.
• Ubiquity is at the core of everything we do at Spotify, and we’re working with some of the world’s biggest speaker manufacturers to make Spotify HiFi accessible to as many fans as possible through Spotify Connect.
• HiFi will be coupled with Spotify’s seamless user experience, building on our commitment to make sure users can listen to the music they love in the way they want to enjoy it.
• Spotify HiFi will begin rolling out in select markets later this year, and we will have more details to share soon.

Want to learn more? Listen as American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and record producer FINNEAS speak about the importance of high-quality audio options for creators and fans:

For more information: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-02...ify-stream-on/​

 

[Tortie]

They're tardy for the party. I'll stick with Qobuz. Spotify's user base probably doesn't care about HiFi so I expect this to flop. The fact that UAPP does not have API access to Spotify is going to make this DOA for audio enthusiasts.

 

[Mnyb]

I’ll probably try this Spotify is very ubiquitous in the Swedish market it’s basically the only thing you can have if you have family and friends . Everyone just expects to be able to hog the stereo with a mobile app and they have playlists they want to share with you .

 

[Tortie]

I’ll probably try this Spotify is very ubiquitous in the Swedish market it’s basically the only thing you can have if you have family and friends . Everyone just expects to be able to hog the stereo with a mobile app and they have playlists they want to share with you .

It's true network effects benefit Spotify more than any other streaming service but I doubt many people will upgrade their Spotify accounts to lossless.

 

[BN1]

It's true network effects benefit Spotify more than any other streaming service but I doubt many people will upgrade their Spotify accounts to lossless.

With Amazon (and Apple ?) now offering lossless as part of their premium package at no cost, I suspect that Spotify will have to do the same. It seems that the consumer will benefit from this competition, whether you can actually hear the difference or not.

 

[BitPerfect_]

I think that it will be interesting. If the CD quality files will be also delivered via AirPlay, the users with AirPlay 1 devices, as we find in Apple Music case, will be able to use the Gapless, Crossfade and the Custom EQ if the Spoty app settings will remain the same.

For some, these are not important and Apple Music up to 24/192 will be preferred using USB cables iPhone, iPad / DAC but for those that still prefers wifi over cables, it could be a good alternative because in the end, at this moment at least, the maximum quality via AirPlay to AirPlay 1 devices will be the same 16/44.1 and Apple Music unfortunately doesn’t have the above described options.

 

[cybernaut667]

Any news on this?

 

[Jmudrick]

No

 

[Tortie]

It's like Spotify has been trolling people for 3 years now. The company keeps saying "lossless is coming...soon" and nothing ever happens.

 

[BN1]

Actually Mark Henninger started a thread on March 2, 2017 on the AVS forum that stated that it was confirmed that Spotify Hi-Fi was "on the way". So Spotify has been promising but not delivering lossless for almost 5 yrs !!! I recently started an Amazon Music HD subscription at less than what I could get the Spotify 320 kbps service. I think that Amazon is a bit less user-friendly than Spotify but the quality/value at Amazon is much better.

 

[Tortie]

Actually Mark Henninger started a thread on March 2, 2017 on the AVS forum that stated that it was confirmed that Spotify Hi-Fi was "on the way". So Spotify has been promising but not delivering lossless for almost 5 yrs !!! I recently started an Amazon Music HD subscription at less than what I could get the Spotify 320 kbps service. I think that Amazon is a bit less user-friendly than Spotify but the quality/value at Amazon is much better.

I knew it's been a while but that's a long time.

 

[BN1]

I've been a bit surprised how good Amazon Music HD sounds. Of course I'm coming from a free version of Spotify (160 kbps ?) and a free version of Pandora (< 100 kbps ?). With old ears & some hearing loss I didn't expect to perceive much difference but it was there when listening on my decent 5.1.2 system. Typically, we listen to music as a background played through distributed zones via ceiling speakers but now I actually listen to music on my primary HT system just for the enjoyment of how it sounds. I guess that you can teach an old dog new tricks