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Spotify Hi-Fi coming later this year?

_thelaughingman

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Spotify Hi-fi announcement

Seems to me that Spotify is finally wading into the Hi-fi water's after promising the service few years back. Wonder how much of it is going to be real Hi-fi quality, or if it'll be hampered with some Ogg Vorbis version of Hifi codec.
 

Tks

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Billie and Finneas sound like people trying to be audiophiles, and then going out and purchasing vintage gear thinking this is now Hi-Fi ...
 

BN1

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Spotify seems to be left in the wake of Apple, Amazon, & now even Tidal which offers some form of "CD-quality" music, or better, for around $10/mo. Not to belittle Spotify's 320 kbps lossy music, but empty promises made months and years ago about "hi-fi" music have been just that, marketing hype with no merit.
 

bevok

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Yes it must be highly embarrassing and undermine confidence in ‘ability to execute’ for a listed company like Spotify to announce a major feature in the market with such fanfare (including promo videos featuring Billie Eilish and Finneas) and over nine months later still not having implemented it. Aside from YouTube Music (who have never stated it is on their radar) now the only major streaming service without lossless, let alone Atmos which is far more interesting and on which there is no news. Of course these things will come in time but …
 

BN1

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Yes it must be highly embarrassing and undermine confidence in ‘ability to execute’ for a listed company like Spotify to announce a major feature in the market with such fanfare (including promo videos featuring Billie Eilish and Finneas) and over nine months later still not having implemented it. Aside from YouTube Music (who have never stated it is on their radar) now the only major streaming service without lossless, let alone Atmos which is far more interesting and on which there is no news. Of course these things will come in time but …
Apparently not for Spotify since they've talked about CD quality offering for about 5 yrs now. However until Apple & Amazon added lossless to their base premium tier at no addt'l cost Spotify reviewers suggested that Spotify could get a $5 - $10/mo premium for lossless. That ship has now sailed. Meanwhile Spotify has added to their portfolio of businesses and may feel that 320 kbps is "good enuf". I recently switched to Amazon Music HD, just a better quality service at a lower price.
 

Jimbob54

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There may still be some kind of gimmicky boxing day event? 3 months free trial of lossless?

Very odd though that there have been no comms regarding the Feb announcement. Massive own goal reputationally if they don't deliver and even if they do deliver in the last gasp of the year.
 

Morla

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Of the 365 Million (165 Million paying) users (in 2021) I believe only a small fraction really care about lossless. Spotify seems to be more interested in getting the podcast business to lower the operational loss which was the highest ever in 2020 (581 Million €).

Source
 

BN1

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Of the 365 Million (165 Million paying) users (in 2021) I believe only a small fraction really care about lossless. Spotify seems to be more interested in getting the podcast business to lower the operational loss which was the highest ever in 2020 (581 Million €).

Source
Yeah, no doubt that you are correct. 320kbps is a good level for casual listening. Spotify has been promising a lossless level for almost 5 yrs and now the competition has called their extended bluff. Spotify offers a great product but now others may very well offer a better product at equal/better pricing.
 

NHL99

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Deploying a service which will demand a lot more of bandwidth means staff needs to be at the office.
Not many days left!

Calendar
Sunday 13th December - In office
Sunday 19th December - Christmas holidays
Sunday 26th December - New Year holidays
 

bevok

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There have been rumours and reports of lossless for a number of years but Feb was when it officially became a coming feature.
I agree most listeners won’t care, a small number like me will regard it as ‘nice to have’ then there will be a tiny number who have to have it, but will probably stay with Qobuz/Tidal plus Roon as they’re also the people who want hires.
The spacial thing is much more interesting and we’re probably only seeing the beginnings of what is possible with it creatively. I think the headphone experience will improve too (already sounds good on speakers). As far as I know Spotify haven’t made any announcements on that front.
 

Peterinvan

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Of the 365 Million (165 Million paying) users (in 2021) I believe only a small fraction really care about lossless. Spotify seems to be more interested in getting the podcast business to lower the operational loss which was the highest ever in 2020 (581 Million €).

Source
Has anyone got the latest figures on Tidal top tier subscribers?
As the Audiophiliac said this week only 1% of listeners care about obtaining the best sound quality from their equipment.
I speculate that the sum of Qobuz + Tidal users is less than 1 % of total Spotify users.
 

BN1

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With old ears & damaged hearing I am far from an audioholic. I have tried some "hi-res" tests on the internet and, at best, my scores show that I am guessing. I moved from Pandora free to Spotify free and was looking for a premium ad-free service at the beginning of 2021. Got tired of waiting on Spotify and jumped to Amazon Music HD (which was cheaper than Spotify Premium anyway). I was amazed at the music quality of hi-res on my primary amp/speakers but not so much on distributed audio via ceiling speakers. I had previously used my amp/speakers for HT only and now I listen to music on that system as well. A new pleasure. I agree that the impact to Spotify might still be small but the folks who have gotten tired of Spotify's false promises plus those who are looking for better sound at a good price might be significant.
 

Peterinvan

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I confess that I keep searching for better sounding sources and playback gear, partly due to FOMO syndrome. I still enjoy this hobby and get some pleasant surprises every year. Just got the Cayin RU6 DAC/AMP and it is a good match with my Elegias.

This leads to my speculation that more people will hear about better quality music and concentrated listening, driving a demand for Spotify high resolution services.
 

JSmith

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After teasing the arrival of high-fidelity audio over two years ago, it appears that Spotify HiFi may finally be ready to launch – but it’ll come at a high cost.

Spotify HiFi was initially teased back in early 2021, with music stars Billie Eilish and Finneas promising that select markets would be able to try the feature “later this year.” Later never came in 2021, however, and Spotify has remained tight-lipped about the progress of HiFi ever since its announcement.

That could be set to change soon, however, with insiders telling Bloomberg that Spotify will soon get a new subscription tier that will support hi-res audio. Known as ‘Supremium’ internally, the new plan will be Spotify’s most expensive yet (more than Premium, which is $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$11.99 per month), though it’s not yet clear how much it will cost.


JSmith
 
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